Yatsuhashi (160/365)

There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

Thornton Wilder (American, Playwright & Novelist, 1897-1975)

TIME: 10:03 AM
PLACE:  Missouri Botanical Garden - The Japanese Garden
SUBJECT:  Yatsuhashi - "eight bridges"

We embarked on our first "field trip"of the summer this morning.  We met up with my sister, her two children and her mother-in-law at the Missouri Botanical Garden or "Shaw's Garden" in St. Louis, Missouri.  We arrived when they opened at 9am and went to the Climatron first.  We then made our way to the Japanese Garden.  This zig-zag bridge is located in the southwest lakeshore of the Japanese Garden.  The Missouri Botanical Garden website states that it is "...called Yatsuhashi, a name meaning “eight bridges” and referring to a place in Mikiwa Province, Japan, where in the 10th century a single river branched into eight channels. Each channel was crossed by a bridge around which grew masses of irises. This ideal is emulated in Seiwa-en by soil-filled iris planters placed on both sides of the bridge."  My sister and I both remarked that the irises were just beautiful.  The sister then observed that we sounded just like two little old ladies.

Just around the bend from this bridge is another bridge were for a mere 25 cents, you could feed the Koi.  This I believe, was the highlight of the trip for the 5 children.  I spent about $2.50 in quarters feeding the fish.  We wandered a little more, then went to the Children's Garden so the kids could play for awhile.  We left a little after noon.  About 3 hours is all they can handle.  I'm thinking that I need to come back sans children and with my tripod, in order to get some really good flower shots.