Cherry Blossoms and the Kumamoto Castle Restoration

Kumamoto Castle Park as seen from Kumamoto City Hall.

Some 800 somei yoshino and other cherry trees in full bloom.

More than 60 somei yoshino cherry trees bloom along Miyukizaka slope.

Blossom-viewers converge on Kumamoto Castle in great numbers.

Beautiful blossoms on display near a collapsed rock wall of Kumamoto Castle.

The new shachihoko sculptures atop the main donjon. The brand-new roof tiles and mortar are set off by cherry blossoms.

A crane maneuvers the shachihoko sculptures into place atop the main donjon of Kumamoto Castle in April 2018. (Photo courtesy of Kumamoto City)

These shachihoko, symbols of the main donjon of Kumamoto Castle, were restored some two years after being damaged in an earthquake. The Nippon Foundation contributed funding to the manufacturing, which cost some ¥25 million. (Photo courtesy of Kumamoto City)

Fujimoto Kōsuke (right) and his son Shūgo at the Fujimoto Onigawara workshop, where work on the shachihoko sculptures is underway. (© Odasaki Tomohiro; all rights reserved)

Near right: a shachihoko sculpture prior to firing. Center: a Kumamoto Castle shachihoko sculpture currently on loan from the Kumamoto City Museum, and reputed to have been manufactured during the Edo period (1603–1868). (© Odasaki Tomohiro; all rights reserved)

The lesser donjon with scaffolding still in place as of this writing.

The stone wall, under reconstruction, and the cherry blossoms and the shachihoko sculpture of the main donjon beyond.