Photo/Illutration Visitors enjoy the rare sight of water from the stem spouting from the tip of the leaf's veins at an early morning lotus-viewing event in Sankeien Garden. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

“Lotus flowers make a popping sound when they open,” one of my Japanese friends said. “Really?” I responded, amazed. “Someday, I’d love to witness such a sound.” Then another friend, who recently moved to Yokohama, said that maybe we could.

She told us that every summer at Sankeien Garden, an early morning lotus-viewing event is held. The next day, we met at 6 a.m., when Sankeien opens their gates during the annual eight-day event.

The garden, whose name means “three creeks,” was designed by Tomitaro Hara (1868-1939), who was also nicknamed Sankei. He made his fortune in silk.

It all started when his grandfather-in-law, Zenzaburo, purchased the 175,000-square-meter plot of land in Yokohama in the first year of the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and built a villa.

I wondered what it would be like to inherit such a vast piece of real estate. A mere mortal like myself would probably squander it, and today the whole area would be a nondescript residential area or shopping complex.

Seventeen historic architectural gems from around Japan were relocated and placed among trees, flowers, ponds and meandering paths, making Sankeien Garden unlike most other such parks at first glance.

Among the highlights of the morning viewing was seeing a lotus leaf showerhead. Water goes from inside the leaf stem and sprouts radially out from the veins’ tips, creating a soft shower.

It’s hard to put into words; perhaps you’ll need to see a picture above to get it. Free lotus seeds are distributed for those who’d like to try growing some.

Three tea houses offer a special breakfast menu consisting of a variety of rice gruels or grated Japanese yam and raw egg over rice. I slurped the delicious scallop adductor muscle gruel (which sounds more appetizing in Japanese: "hotate kaibashira no okayu") using a renge spoon.

Do you know the etymology of renge? If you answered that it comes from the shape of a lotus petal, you’re right!

People pointed their smartphones at something, so we peered through the crowd to see a heron with its eyes set upon a frog. It slowly crept up on the unsuspecting amphibian and, in a split second, grabbed the poor soul with its long beak.

The frog tried to squirm free, but to no avail. In a matter of minutes, it was devoured. I sighed.

Try as I may, I couldn’t hear a single lotus flower pop open. Still, spending time at Sankeien Garden was more than satisfying.

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the Sept. 20 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s In and Around Tokyo," which depicts the capital and its surroundings through the perspective of the author, a professor at Meiji University.

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