The annual “Scarecrow Contest” is held in September every year at the Tanada (the terraced paddy fields) in the “Inabuchi District” of Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture, which is famous for the Takamatsuzuka Tomb. The terraced paddy fields, which are one of the most famous spots for Higanbana (cluster amaryllis) in the prefecture, are lined with Scarecrows who applied from all over the country, and many tourists come to see the “original scenery of rural areas”. However, this year, as in the case of the whole country, both the “Scarecrow Contest” and the “Higanbana Festival” have been canceled to prevent the infection of the new coronavirus. Last night, I had a dream of having an online date with Scarecrow by means of ZOOM which became a hot topic this year.

高松塚古墳で有名な奈良県明日香村の「稲渕地区」の棚田では、毎年9月になると恒例の「かかしコンテスト」が開かれます。県下有数の「彼岸花」の名所でもある棚田には、全国から応募した案山子が並び、「農村の原風景」を見るために多くの観光客が押し寄せます。しかし今年は全国の例に漏れず、新型コロナウイルスの感染防止のため、「かかしコンテスト」も「彼岸花祭り」も中止になりました。昨晩は、今年一気に話題になったZOOMで案山子とオンラインデートする夢をみました。

“Neither heat nor cold lasts beyond the equinox”. It is the equinoctial week of autumn from today. The temperature this morning was 21 ° C and yesterday morning was 27 ° C, which is exactly what the saying goes. I admire this maxim because everything is record-breaking and extreme weather continues these days. The movements of the people at the radio calisthenics held in the nearby park are also freely. I could hear crickets crying from the grass, and I finally realized that it was autumn.

暑さ寒さも彼岸まで。今日から秋のお彼岸です。今朝の気温は21°で、昨日の朝の気温は27°でしたから、まさに格言通り。何もかもが記録破り、異常気象続きの昨今ですから、この格言に敬服します。近くの公園で開かれているラジオ体操会の人達の動きも伸び伸びとしています。草むらからはコウロギの鳴き声も聞こえ、やっと秋になったと実感する今朝でした。

Once Kudzu has taken root, it entangles with utility poles, covers trees, spreads into the wilderness, and it can no longer be controlled. In North America, it was brought from Japan as a forage crop and for wilderness greening and soil erosion prevention, but due to its fertility, it is now designated as a harmful invasive alien species. However, starch that can be obtained from kudzu is used as a high-class foodstuff such as kuzdu-yu, and kudzu is a medical material for a popular cold medicine such as kakkonto, and is also useful as a material for textiles and handicrafts. Now, hiding in the leaves of Kuzunoha, sphenoid flowers that emit a sweet fragrance of dark blue purple are blooming beautifully in tufts.

電柱に絡み付き、立木を覆い、荒野に広がり、いったん葛が根を下ろしたらもう手が付けられません。北アメリカでは、飼料作物として、また荒野の緑化や土壌流出防止用にと、日本から持ち込まれましたが、その繁殖力の強さから、今では有害な侵略的外来種に指定されているほどです。しかし一方で、葛から取れるデンプンは、葛湯のような高級食材、葛根湯のような人気風邪薬にも利用されたり、織物や手芸品の素材としても重宝されています。今、その葛の葉に隠れて、濃紺紫色の甘い芳香を発する蝶形の花が房になって美しく咲いています。

Gerbera now has a variety of flower colors and flower shape variations such as single, double, spider bloom and semi-double, and it has a cheerful and bright atmosphere, and it is bustling with flower shops. The gerbera in the photo is called Gerbera jamesonii, which is an original species native to Africa. The crimson petals are thin and the number is small, but the looks is clear and it has the style of an African queen. By crossing with several other original species, a large number of horticultural varieties have been cultivated, and now there are 2000 varieties, and new varieties are born almost every year.

今やガーベラは、多彩な花色と、一重、八重、スパイダー咲きやセミダブルなど花形のバリエーションがあり、陽気で明るい雰囲気をもつ花で、フラワーショップの店頭を賑わせています。写真のガーベラはガーベラ・ヤメソニーと言い、アフリカ原産の原種です。真紅の花弁は細く、枚数も少ないのですが、目鼻立ちがはっきりしていて、アフリカの女王の風格があります。ほかのいくつかの原種との交配により、多数の園芸品種が育成され、いまでは2000種にもなり、毎年のように新品種が生まれています。

Hagi is one of the seven autumn herbs and is a representative plant of autumn. Nowadays, various flowers are on the market, and Hagi flowers are not noticeable. However, Hagi has been familiar to Japanese people since ancient times than the cherry blossoms that represent spring, and is the most read in the Manyoshu. Hagi is also a flower that symbolizes women, just as there is a truly passionate song in the tanka of Princess Shikishi, “Haji blooming on the coast of Mano is rubbing the flowers like waves coming together and is blooming like writhing with love”. It is a tanka by Princess Shokushi, who loves Sadaie Fujiwara but does not get what he wants, comparing her painful heart to Hagi flowers.

萩は秋の七草の一つで秋を代表する植物です。今では様々な花が出回っていて、萩の花は目立ちません。しかし、萩は春を代表する桜よりも古くから日本人に親しまれ、万葉集でも最も多く読み込まれています。式子内親王の歌に「寄せかへる波の花摺り乱れつつしどろにうつす真野の浦萩」と言う誠に情熱的な歌があるように、萩は女性を象徴する花でもあります。藤原定家に心を寄せはするがままならない、式子内親王の千々に乱れる我が身を萩に擬えた歌です。

On July 15, only 197 saury were first landed in Hiroo, Hokkaido, and weighed 20.9 kg. This was less than half of last year, which was said to be a record poor catch. In the first auction, the bid was sold at a record high of 41,040 yen per kilo, and it was surprising to say that the price was a shocking price of 5,980 yen per fish at the store. It is said that there are various causes of poor fishing, but the most important cause is probably the rise in seawater temperature due to global warming. This is because the sea area where Pacific saury roam is no longer near Japan. Recently, at a nearby supermarket, the price of a new item was 498 yen (excluding tax), the price of two items was 980 yen, and the price of frozen items was 200 yen.

7月15日、北海道広尾町で初水揚げされたサンマはわずかに197尾20.9kgで、記録的な不漁と言われた昨年の半分以下だったそうです。その初競りでは1キロあたり4万1040円の過去最高値で落札され、店頭ではなんと1尾5980円と衝撃の値がつけられたと言うから驚きです。不漁の原因はいろいろと言われていますが、やはり一番の原因は地球の温暖化による海水温の上昇でしょう。秋刀魚が海遊する海域がもう日本近海ではなくなったからです。近くのスーパーでは、新物で一尾498円（税抜）、二尾で980円、冷凍物は二尾で200円という値が付けられていました。

A Blue heron stops on the railing of a wooden promenade over a swamp and is shaking its head. It seems to be a young bird. If it is an adult bird, it must have a partner. Young birds that hatch from eggs take two years to become adults. The Blue heron is monogamous and acts as a family until the chicks grow up, and does not flock. A blue heron has bluish-gray feathers and is called Blue heron in Japanese, but is called Gray heron in English. It is the largest of the herons, and the herons in Hokkaido migrate, but the herons south of Honshu are resident birds.

沼地に架かる木製の遊歩道の手摺りに青鷺が一羽ポツンと止まって首を振っています。若鳥らしい。成鳥なら必ず相方がいるはずです。卵からから孵った若鳥は２年掛かって成鳥になります。青鷺は一夫一婦制で雛が成長するまで一家で行動し、群れることはありません。羽根は青味がかった灰色で日本では青鷺と呼びますが、英語ではGrey heron と呼びます。鷺の仲間では一番大きく、北海道の青鷺は渡りをしますが、本州以南の青鷺は留鳥です。

Hyakujitsuko (crape myrtle) means a flower that keeps blooming for 100 days in Japanese, and similarly, Sennichiko (globe amaranth) means a flower that keeps blooming for 1000 days. Both do not represent a specific period, but mean a flower that blooms for a long time. It is the same expression as “3000m long White hair” in Chinese poetry or “Naniwa’s 808 bridges” which means that there are many bridges in Osaka. There is a word called “Tohkako (Flowers that bloom for ten days), but this is not a specific flower name, but means “No flower keeps blooming for ten days.” and is used to express which is likened to the fragility of human life.

百日紅はサルスベリのことで、およそ百日は咲き続ける花と言うことでしょうね。それでは、千日紅は千日咲く花と言う意味かと言うと、そうではなく、百日紅よりは長く咲くとと言う意味が込められているのでしょう。いずれにしろ、百日とか千日は「長く」と言う意味で使われています。「白髪三千丈」とか「難波八百八橋」と同じ表現です。十日紅と言う言葉がありますが、これは具体的な花の名前ではなく、「花に十日の紅なし」と言う意味で、生きとし生けるものの命の儚さを表現する時に使います。

“Lettuce was 461 yen, cabbage was 298 yen, and Chinese cabbage was 1580 yen, which was taken at a supermarket on the weekend, but it’s a shocking price,” says caster Yuko Wakabayashi. It’s the same price everywhere in Okinawa, Fukuoka and Osaka. Vegetables are soaring nationwide. (August 24th Livedoor ’News article)

It is said that the cause is the long rain and lack of sunshine that the end of the rainy season is put off to August, and the intense heat and light rain as soon as the rainy season begins. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website states that it will return to normal levels later this month, but it is still expensive.

「レタス461円、キャベツ298円、ハクサイ1580円と、週末のスーパーで撮影されたものですが、衝撃的な価格ですね」とキャスターの若林有子アナが伝える。沖縄、福岡、大阪、どこでも同様な値段だ。野菜が全国的に高騰している。(8月24日 Livedoor’ News)

梅雨明けが８月にずれ込むほどの長雨と日照不足、明けた途端の猛暑と少雨などが原因と言われています。農林水産省のホームページには今月下旬には平年並みに戻ると書いてありますが、まだまだ高いです。

Ayu, which had been running upstream, began to descend downstream and approached the edge of the river when there was a sign of autumn. They’re looking for a spawning place. It starts spawning when the water temperature drops below 20 degrees Celsius, and finishes spawning around 16 degrees Celsius. The hatched Ayu spend about one-third of their lives in the sea near the mouth of the river, and in the spring of the following year, they return to the river where they were born and begin to run up. The best time to eat Ayu with its unique aroma is early summer, and grilled sweetfish is the best. No, some people say that the Ayu with eggs going downstream is the best. Ayu’s dance eating and sashimi are delicious, but raw food is not recommended due to the presence of parasites.

秋の気配が漂う頃、川上に遡上していた鮎は下流に下り始め、川の淵に寄ってきます。産卵場所を探しているのです。水温が20度を下回る頃から産卵し始め、16度位の頃には産卵を終えます。孵化した鮎は河口付近の海で一生の３分の1ほどを過ごし、翌年の春頃には生まれた川に戻って来て遡上し始めます。独特の香気を持つ鮎の食べごろは初夏で、それも焼き鮎が一番です。いや、卵を孕んだ落ち鮎が一番だと言う人もいます。鮎の踊り食いや刺身も美味しいのですが、寄生虫がいることがあり、生食はお勧めできません。