This flower is beautiful, but I was attracted to its name, “Yugiri-so”, not its flower. If translated in English, it would be “Evening mist flower”. At first I thought that it might be related to the “Yugiri” that appears in the Tale of Genji, but Yugiri is a male because he is the son of Genji. So there is no connection between Yugiri-so and Yugiri. It is a flower with a diameter of about 20 cm that forms a dome with a collection of innumerable bluish-purple flowers of about 2 mm. When in full bloom, a long white pistil protrudes from the center, which looks like a mist to some people. It seems this is the origin of the name of this flower, and it must have been given by one sensitive person, not the name that was unknowingly given like many other flowers. Even so, it is a beautiful and elegant flower as the name implies.

花も美しいのですが、夕霧草という名前に惹かれました。英語で直訳で綴れば「Evening mist flower」です。最初は源氏物語に出てくる「夕霧」と関係があるのかなと思ったのですが、「夕霧」は光源氏の息子だから男性です。この花との接点が見つかりません。青紫色の2㎜ほどの小花が無数に集まって直径約20センチの花をドーム状につける花ですが、満開になると、中心から長い白色の雌しべが突き出て、これが見様によっては霧のようにみえます。これがこの花の名前の由来で、他の多くの花のように知らず知らずのうちに付いた名前ではなく、誰か一人の感性豊かな人が命名したに違いありません。それにしても名前通り気品のある美しい花です。

There is a tea cafe beside the pond in the park. There is a long stool covered with a red rug in the tea café surrounded with reed screens, and it has a very elegant appearance. Comfortable tones flow from the hanging wind chimes. I entered the café so that I may be invited. When I look at the item description, my favorite Zenzai is listed. Both a hot and a cold one are listed, but I ordered the hot one. The hot Zenzai is the best to me. First of all, I eat the salted kelps, and eat the hot Zenzai with blowing it. It’s a blissful moment. Suddenly, the wind chime that had been ringing did not make a sound, and the strip of paper remained hanging. I finally made the wind chimes angry.

公園の池のたもとに茶店があります。葦簀張りで緋毛氈(ひもうせん)を敷いた床几(しょうぎ)といかにも風流な佇まい。吊した風鈴からは心地よい音色が流れます。誘われるように入ります。品書きを見ると大好きなお善哉が載っています。熱いのと冷風とが有りましたが、熱い方を注文しました。お善哉は熱い方に限ります。まず、運ばれてきたお善哉に添えてある塩昆布を口にし、熱いお善哉を吹きながらいただく至福のひと時です。ふと気が付くと、今まで鳴っていた風鈴が音を出さず、短冊が垂れ下がったまま。とうとう風鈴を怒らせてしまいました。

In the vacant lot along the waterway, Yukinoshita are blooming in profusion. The atmosphere is sober despite the small white flowers are in full bloom. However, when I looked closely at one flower, it was a very lovely flower, and it looks like a snow fairy. When I was a child, if I had a slight burn or a pain in my ears, she immediately picked the leaves of Yukinoshita, kneaded them, and dripped or kneaded the juice to me. My aunt often said, “Yukinoshita keeps the doctor away,” but if I look it up, that’s true.

水路沿いの空き地にユキノシタが群れて咲いています。小さな白い花が咲き乱れている割には地味な雰囲気です。しかし近寄って一つの花をよく見ると実に愛らしい花で、まさしく雪の妖精の様です。子供の頃、ちょっとやけどをしたり、耳が痛くなったりしたら、大叔母が直ぐにユキノシタの葉を摘んできて、揉んで、その汁を滴らしたり練ってくれたりしたものです。大叔母はよく「ユキノシタは医者要らず」だと言っていましたが、調べてみると本当にその通りです。

To be exact, it is Nejibana or Mojizuri. It is a wild orchid that is often seen in familiar areas where people live, such as lawns in parks and vacant lots. In many cases, it grows naturally in clusters, and in early summer the flower stalks grow and small flowers bloom one after another while twisting as if they were climbing a spiral staircase. It has been widely known throughout Japan and has been known for a long time as it is read in Manyoshu. The scientific name Spiranthes comes from the Greek word “speira(spiral)”.

正確にはネジバナ、またはモジズリ。公園の芝生や空き地など、人が生活する身近な所にもよく見かける野生の蘭です。群生状態で自生していることが多く、初夏に花茎を伸ばして、小さな花が螺旋階段を上るかのように捻れながら次々と咲いていきます。日本中に広く分布し、万葉集にも読まれているくらい、古くから知られています。「芝付きの 御宇良崎(みうらさき)なる 根都古草(ねつこぐさ) あい見ずあらば 吾恋ひめやも」、万葉集らしいおおらかな歌ですが、この「根都古草」(寝つ娘草)はオキナグサが通説ですが、多分ネジバナです。小倉百人一首には「陸奥の のしのぶもぢずり 誰ゆゑに 乱れ初めにし 我ならなくに　河原左大臣(源融、光源氏のモデル)」で歌われている「もぢずり」もネジバナです。

Ooamana is a flower with a Japanese name, commonly called Ornithogalum. There are about 100 varieties of ornithogalum, but the one with black pistils as shown in the photo is called ornithogalum arabicum. Also known as Star of Bethlehem. It originates from the fact that the “Star of Bethlehem”, which is said to have shined in the night sky of Bethlehem on the day of Christ’s birth, was called Ornithogalum. Six stamens are scattered like stars in pure white petals, and black diamond-like pistils are seated in the center of the stamens. Pure white petals are like a pedestal of a jewel, a bezel.

オオアマナは和名で一般的にはオーニソガラムと呼ばれる花です。オーニソガラムには100種程の品種がありますが、写真のように雌しべが真っ黒になる品種はオーニソガラム アラビカムと呼ばれます。別名スター・オブ・ベツレヘム。キリスト誕生の日、ベツレヘムの夜空に光り輝いたと言われている「ベツレヘムの星」をオーニソガラムと呼んだことに由来します。透き通るような純白の花びらの中に、六つの雄しべが星のように散らばり、その中心にブラックダイヤモンドのような雌しべが鎮座しています。純白の花びらはまるで宝石の台座、ベゼルのようです。

The sun has come after a long time. I didn’t go to the daily routine for walking in the past few days. The weather forecast said it was cloudy today, but the weather started to get light so I went to a nearby park. By the time I arrive at the park, I can see the blue sky and occasionally the strong sunlight shines on. The cicada’s voice, which I didn’t notice so much before, is louder today. Although the main character of the voice is still Niiniizemi, occasionally Abrazemi’s voice is mixed. The end of the rainy season is close evidence. There are small holes here and there on the ground of the boardwalk. It is a hole through which the larvae of cicadas have come out. Well, what kind of summer will this summer be?

久しぶりに日が差しました。日課にしているウォーキングもここのところ滞りがちです。今日も予報では曇りでしたが、薄日が差し始めたので近くの公園に出掛けました。公園に着いた頃には青空も見え、時折強い日差しが照りつけます。この前にはそれほど気にならなかったセミの声が、今日は一段と激しく鳴いています。まだ主役はニイニイゼミで時折アブラゼミの声も混ざります。梅雨明けが間近な証拠です。遊歩道の地面にはあちらこちらに小さな穴が空いています。セミの幼虫が抜け出た穴です。さあて、この夏はどんな夏になるのやら。

When traveling in Hokkaido, you find Hamanasu flowers are always blooming on the white sand beach from this time to summer. It became famous at once when it was sung at the beginning of “Shiretoko Journey” by Tokiko Kato. Hamanasu is distributed in the temperate and cold regions of East Asia. In Japan, it is often found in Hokkaido and is also a “flower of Hokkaido.” In Honshu, it is said that the sand dunes of Ibaraki Prefecture on the Pacific Ocean side and Tottori Prefecture on the Sea of Japan side are the southern limit, but some have even seen them on the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture on the Pacific Ocean side. The fruits are rich in vitamin C and are used for raw food, tea and candy. It is also a rich source of medicinal properties and is an important ingredient in Chinese herbal medicine. Recently, the number of native species has decreased and many cultivated species have been seen.

北海道を旅すると、今頃から夏にかけて、白砂の海岸には必ずハマナスの花が咲いています。加藤登紀子の「知床旅情」の出だしに歌われて、一躍有名になりました。ハマナスは東アジアの温帯から冷帯にかけて分布します。日本では北海道に多く、「北海道の花」にもなっています。本州では、太平洋側は茨城県、日本海側では鳥取県の砂丘地帯が南限と言われていますが、太平洋側の静岡県の海岸でも見かけたという人もいます。果実はビタミンCが豊富で、生食にもお茶やのど飴にも供されています。また薬効成分も豊富で、漢方薬の重要な原料でもあります。最近は自生種が少なくなり、栽培種を多く見かけるようになりました。

The flower of buckwheat is in full bloom right now. When going around Togakushi in Nagano prefecture, you find the plateau is covered with white buckwheat flowers. It is thought that buckwheat flowers are white, but red buckwheat is now in a quiet boom. It is said that buckwheat is originated from Yunnan province in China to the Himalayas, where pink and red buckwheat are common. The red buckwheat “Takano Ruby” the breed was improved and made by the late Professor Teruo Ujihara of Shinshu University who was fascinated by its beauty and brought it back from the Himalayas at an altitude of 4000 meters. Red buckwheat is quite different from ordinary buckwheat and has a little peculiarity, it is strong for eating and it is easy to stick to each other unless boiled immediately, but it is a buckwheat with two birds with one stone that you can eat deliciously after watching.

今ちょうど夏ソバの花が見頃です。長野県の戸隠辺りに行くと高原が白いソバの花で覆い尽くされています。このようにソバの花と言えば白いと思われていますが、今赤ソバが静かなブームになっています。そばの原産地は中国の奥地雲南省からヒマラヤにかけてと言われており、そこでは、ピンクや赤色のソバが普通にあります。その美しさに魅せられた信州大学の故氏原暉男教授が、ヒマラヤの標高4000メートルの場所から持ち帰って品種改良しできたのが赤ソバの「高嶺ルビー」です。赤ソバは普通のソバとかなり違い、少し癖があるのと、コシが強く、ゆでてすぐ食べないとソバがくっつきやすいですが、美しい花を見て楽しんだ後, 美味しくいただける一石二鳥のソバです。

Hanayama Onsen, located in the eastern part of Wakayama City, is a natural hot spring that everyone knows. The open of the hot spring is said to date back to the Heian period in 803. This is a hot spring where the successive Emperors stayed during the time of theirs visiting to the Kumano sacred places. Since some point, hot springs stopped running due to geological changes caused by natural disasters. Today’s hot springs sprung naturally after excavating 500 m in 1965, and are known as Japan’s leading hot springs with natural carbon dioxide as the main component. The hot water column in the photo is made by crystallizing hot spring ingredients.

和歌山市東部の街中にある花山温泉は知る人ぞ知る天然自然温泉です。開湯は遠く803年平安時代まで遡るといいます。歴代天皇が熊野行幸の際に逗留した温泉で、ある時天変地異による地質変動で湧出しなくなりました。現在の温泉は昭和40年に500m掘削したら自然湧出、天然二酸化炭素を主成分に、日本有数の薬効高い温泉として知られています。写真の湯柱は温泉の成分が結晶してできた物です。

Over 400 years ago, Yoriyasu Kira, the Setagaya castle owner, had a beautiful concubine, Tokiwahime, who was a daughter of Dewa-governor Ohira, the Okusawa castle owner. Tokiwahime had monopolized Yoriyasu’s love upon herself. The ladies-in-waiting who were jealous of it told Yoriyasu the lie of Tokiwahime. Believing that, Yoriyasu gradually moved away from Tokiwahime. Tokiwahime, who was doubted her love to him and was sad, decided to die, and tied a suicide note to her father to the legs of the white egret that she usually had loved, and released. Yoriyasu, who was hunting just in the time, shot down the egret. After seeing Tokiwahime’s suicide note that was tied to the egrets foot and found out the truth, Yoriyasu quickly returned to the castle, but Tokiwahime had already harmed herself. The blood of a dead egret permeated the ground, and the following year, a pure white egret-like flower bloomed. Eventually, people who knew this story came to call the flower the White-Egret.

今から400年以上も昔、世田谷城主の吉良頼康には奥沢城主の大平出羽守の娘で常盤という美しい側室がいました。常磐姫は頼康の愛を一身に集めていました。それを妬んだ側女達が嘘の告げ口を頼康にしました。それを信じた頼康は、常盤姫をだんだん遠ざけるようになりました。愛情を疑われ悲しみにくれた常盤姫は死を決意し、普段から可愛がっていた白鷺の足に父宛の遺書を結び付けて放ちました。丁度狩をしていた頼康がその白鷺を射落としました。足に結びつけられていた常盤姫の遺書を見て真実を知った頼康は急ぎ城に帰りましたが、常盤姫はもう自害した後でした。死んだ白鷺の血が大地に染み込む、翌年そこには純白の白鷺のような花が咲きました。やがてこの話を知った人達がその花をサギソウと呼ぶようになりました。