On May 9, 2026, I photographed the rose garden of Kyoto Botanical Gardens just after opening. Though not yet in full bloom, the morning brought wonderful photographs, a rare Great Mormon butterfly, and a swallowtail that seemed to answer my call. This version is accompanied by Reynaldo Hahn’s Le bal de Béatrice d’Este, a visual poem of fragrance, elegance, and the memory of civilization.

May 9, 2026.
Although the rose garden of Kyoto Botanical Gardens had not yet reached full bloom, ever since I began photographing the Nakanoshima Rose Garden, I had also been checking the weather forecast for Kyoto…and I had decided that today would be the first day to go to Kyoto.
Yesterday, cutting short the rose garden in Yokohama and boldly returning home early was absolutely the right decision.
I went to bed at midnight.
When I woke up before 6 a.m., one thought crossed my mind.
As I once did during a certain period, I would enter Kyoto Botanical Gardens the moment it opened and begin photographing.
It was absolutely the right decision.
I was able to take very good photographs.
On top of that, while I was photographing in the rose garden, the king of black swallowtails, the Great Mormon butterfly, appeared.
It had been a very long time.
For a certain period, I had been fascinated by black swallowtails and kept photographing them…above all, the Great Mormon.
There was even a day when I encountered one at the water-lily pond and was able to photograph it for quite some time.
This time, it was completely unexpected, and it did not stop at all.
As if to console me, a swallowtail appeared just as I was leaving.
I was on the phone with my close friend, but I spoke to the swallowtail.
Come here, come here…
My wish was answered, and he, or she, stopped right in front of my eyes.
In the past, I would surely have kept photographing it endlessly.
Because it is no exaggeration to say that I have visited and photographed this rose garden more than anyone else, my photographing time was only one hour.
I had more than enough time to return home for the Ohtani game starting at 11 a.m.
I spent just a little of that time on him, or her.
I found the piece of music most fitting for Kyoto Botanical Gardens and for myself.
I was overcome with tears.
My long relationship with Kyoto Botanical Gardens.
The days of immense photographing hours.
It is no exaggeration to say that there is no piece more fitting than this.
And then I found another piece of music that is fitting for this rose garden.
Reynaldo Hahn’s Le bal de Béatrice d’Este.
This music contains the fragrance of roses, the memory of an ancient civilization, and a longing for lost time.
Rarely does music so naturally accompany the quietness and dignity that drift through the rose garden of Kyoto Botanical Gardens.
The audio source is from YouTube.
Reynaldo Hahn: Le bal de Béatrice d’Este.
Harmonie Ensemble New York.
Conducted by Steven Richman.