Lately, the nightfall has become much earlier, and it begins to dim after four o’clock.  At that time, thanks to the autumn leaves that reflect the afterglow, the nightfall road becomes brighter.  Looking up, the red and yellow colored leaves are dazzling.  The beauty of these autumn leaves is taken for granted by us Japanese, but in fact it is by far the most beautiful in the world.  The reason is that Japan has about twice the world average in both types and proportions of broad-leaved forests.  In addition, the exquisite temperature changes of the four seasons and the humid climate have a great influence.  As evidence, even the same maple has a completely different color depending on the area and location.  Japan is a beautiful country in every sense, both nature and humans.

最近は日暮れも随分早くなって、四時を過ぎると薄暗くなり始めます。そんな時、残照を照り返す紅葉のお陰で、心なしか日暮れ道が明るくなります。見上げると、赤や黄に色づいた紅葉は眩しいほどです。この紅葉の美しさは、私達日本人は当たり前に思っていますが、実は世界でも飛び抜けて美しいのです。その訳は、まず、日本は広葉樹林の種類も比率も共に世界平均の２倍ほどあることです。さらに、四季の絶妙な気温変化と湿潤な気候が大きく影響しています。それが証拠に、同じカエデでも、地域や場所によって全然色が違います。自然も人間も、あらゆる意味で、やはり麗しの国、日本なんですね。

Chrysanthemum flower exhibitions are being held in various places.  In Hirakata City, Osaka, the “Hirakata Dai-Kiku Doll” at Hirakata Park, which had been held every year, had been popular with many people as an autumn tradition, but it is regrettable that 2005 was the last regular event. Now, the citizen’s “Kiku-flowr exhibition” is now being held.  A variety of chrysanthemums grown by enthusiasts are on display.  The “three tailoring” that perfectly tailored “Ten (sky), Chi (ground) and Jin (people) is a masterpiece.  The English name for Kiku is Chrysanthemum, which is a combination of the Greek words “chryso-” “golden” and “-anthemon” “flower”.  Speaking of “The land of the chrysanthemum”, it means Japan, and in the West, it seems to be associated with chrysanthemum → golden color → Japan.  By the way, “The throne of the chrysanthemum” means the emperor of Japan.  The spelling “chrysanthemum” is really long, and “mum” usually stands for chrysanthemum.  In the UK, “mum” has the meaning of “mother” and also means “shut up”, for example, “Keep mum about it.” means that you should keep it a secret, and there is also an idiom “Mum the word (Don’t tell others).”

菊花展が各地で開催されています。大阪・枚方市では、毎年開催されていた「ひらかたパーク」の「ひらかた大菊人形」は、秋の風物詩として多くの人々に親しまれてきましたが、惜しまれつつも2005年を最後に定期開催を終え、今は市民の菊花展が開催されています。愛好家が手塩にかけた育てた様々な菊が展示されています。天地人を見事に仕立てた「三本仕立て」は圧巻です。菊の英語名はChrysanthemumですが、これはギリシア語の “chryso-“「黄金の」と “‐anthemon”「花」が合成された言葉です。”The land of the   chrysanthemum”と言えば日本のことで、西洋では、菊→黄金色→日本と連想されているようです。ちなみに”The throne of the chrysanthemum”は日本の天皇を意味します。”chrysanthemum”という綴りはさすがに長く、普通には”mum”で菊を表します。”mum”はイギリスではお母さんと意味もあり、また、「黙っている」という意味もあって、Keep mum about it. （そのことは、黙って）と言ったり、Mum the word. （他言無用だよ。）という慣用句もあります。

Almost no roses can be seen in the garden that spreads out from the cafe window in the rose garden. The faintly flowing “Shiki no Uta (A Song of Four Seasons)” violently shake my heart.  This song, written and composed by the lyricist Toyohisa Araki in the early 1960s, became a big hit in the mid-1970s, ten years later.  Various singers have sung by then, but the songs sung by Yoko Seri spread all over the country in a blink of an eye.  Since NHK was broadcasting this song on overseas broadcasts, it became even more popular in China.  Yoko Seri was invited to China many times as a national singer and was presented with a Chinese dress by President Hu Jintao at the time, and has been friends from that time with the wife, Peng Liyuan, of Xi Jinping who is hated from all over the the world as if an enemy now. In this way, “Shiki no Uta” became a big bridge during the day.  Since Heine in this song was a friend of Marx, it seems to be related to having been loved by Mao Tse Tung or Lu Xun.

バラ園に建つカフェ窓から広がる園内にはもうほとんどバラも見えません。微かに流れてくる「四季の歌」がやけに心を震わせます。

1960年代前半に作詞家の荒木とよひさが作詞・作曲したこの歌は、10年後の1970年半ばにひょんなきっかけで大ヒット。それまでにもいろんな歌手が歌ってきましたが、芹洋子の歌う歌が瞬く間に全国に広がりました。NHKが海外放送でこの歌を流していた事もあって、中国でも大人気。芹洋子は国民的歌手と言う事で、何度も中国に招かれ、当時の胡錦濤主席からチャイナドレスを贈られたり、今や世界中から目の敵にされている習近平の夫人である彭麗媛とはその頃からの付き合いであったりで、「四季の歌」は日中の大きな架け橋になりました。この歌に出てくるハイネがマルクスと友達であったことから、毛沢東や魯迅にも愛されたことも関係がありそうです。

The trees in the park have also become quite colored.  Colorful flowers are also in bloom on the flowerbed.  The flower in the photo was in bloom.  The flower lips are stretched like an octopus.  It looks like salvia from the appearance of flowers and leaves, but it is a little different from Salvia Splendence that is usually seen.  I immediately searched with Google Lens of my smartphone and found that it is a variety called Salvia Doriciana, which has sweet and very nice scented leaves.  It is called Fruit Sage in Japan.  In Japan, sage refers to salvia for herbs, but sage is in English and salvia is in Latin, both of which are the same variety of flowers.

公園の木々もだいぶ色づいてきました。花壇にも色とりどりの花が咲いています。その中に咲いていたのが写真の花です。まるでタコのように花唇を伸ばしています。花の着き具合や葉からサルビアの様ですが、普通に見られるサルビア・スプレンデンスとちょっと違います。早速スマホのグーグル・レンズで検索したら、サルビア・ドリシアーナと言う品種で、甘く非常に良い香りの葉を持つサルビアだそうです。日本ではフルーツセージと呼ばれているそうです。セージとは日本ではハーブ用のサルビアを指すそうですが、セージは英語、サルビアはラテン語で、どちらも同じ品種の花です。

I received a lot of astringent persimmons from a farmer I knew.  I wanted to make a hanging persimmon once, so I had been asking for it for a long time.  When I was a kid, around this time of autumn, every farmhouse had a lot of hanging persimmons hanging under the eaves.  When I went to a friend of such a farmer, I often received dried persimmons, and I didn’t have all kinds of sweets like I do now, so I thought it was very sweet and delicious.  However, come to think of it, nothing is so sweet and delicious even now.  Even if I am a little concerned about the price, I often end up buying it. This is why I met the challenge of hanging persimmons. May I can make sweet and sweet dried persimmons.

知り合いの農家の方から渋柿を沢山いただきました。いちど吊るし柿を作ってみたくて、前々からお願いしていたわけです。子供の頃、秋のこの頃になると、どの農家にも軒下に沢山の吊るし柿がぶら下がっていたものです。そんな農家の友達の所に行くと、よく干し柿をいただき、今のようにいろんなお菓子もなかったので、なんて甘くて美味しいものだろうと思ったものです。しかし、よく考えてみると、今だってこんなに甘くて美味しいものはありません。多少お値段が気になっても、つい買ってしまうことがあります。と言うことで、吊るし柿に挑戦とあいなった次第。どうか、甘い甘い干し柿ができますように。

 The word “Kare Susuki (withered pampas grass)” inevitably gives the feeling of “shabby “. I think that the influence of popular songs such as “Sendou Kouta” and “Showa Kare Susuki” that we have often heard from long ago is great.  Both are depressing songs that make us feel the twilight of our life.  Susuki (Japanese pampas grass) is also called Obana and is one of the seven autumn herbs.  Senryu of Yokoi Yayu, a poet from the Edo period, also sang it as “if you look at the true nature of the ghost, it’s a beautiful Obana”. The English saying is “One always proclaims the wolf bigger than himself”.  Susuki  is also called Kaya, and was used as a material for the roofs thatched by Kaya and as feed for livestock by farmers.  In this way, the relationship between Susuki and people has been around since the days of Manyoshu, but Susuki is now exclusively one of the autumn landscapes.

枯れ薄と聞けばどうしても「うらぶれた」と言う感じが拭えません。昔からよく耳にした「船頭小唄」とか「昭和枯れすすき」と言った歌謡曲の影響が大きい様に思います。どちらも気が滅入る様な歌で、人生の黄昏れを感じさせます。枯れ薄の薄は尾花とも言い、秋の七草の一つです。江戸時代の俳人である横井也有の川柳にも『幽霊の正体見たり枯れ尾花』として歌い込まれています。幽霊と思い込んだものを良く見たら、なんと枯れ尾花だったことを詠んだ句です。また薄は茅(萱)とも呼ばれ、農家で茅葺屋根の材料に用いたり、家畜の餌として利用しました。この様に薄と人との関わりは、古くは万葉集の時代からあり、今ではもっぱら秋の景観の一つになっています。

There are three best times to see the roses: “spring roses” that begin to bloom when the cherry blossoms begin to fall, “summer roses” that bloom with hydrangeas, and “autumn roses” that are the forerunners of the autumn leaves season.  Speaking of roses, spring flowers are the most gorgeous and gorgeous.  The life of each flower is short because it blooms at the time when it gets hotter, but it looks gorgeous as a whole because it keeps blooming one after another and it blooms like a bell in one plant. While, autumn roses are lonely because there are only a few flowers that bloom in one plant, such as the return blooms of summer roses and roses that bloom in four seasons, and there is only one flower.  However, each rose is tasteful and rich in fragrance, and the appearance of it blooming and dying is perfect for the image of autumn, and there are many fans of autumn roses.

バラには、桜が散り始める頃から咲き始める「春バラ」、紫陽花と共に咲く「夏バラ」、紅葉シーズンの先駆けになる「秋バラ」の、三回の見頃があります。バラと言えば春の花と言うほど、やはり春のバラが一番豪華で華やかです。だんだん暑くなる時分に咲くので、一つ一つの花の寿命は短いですが、次から次へと咲き続けるのと、一つの株に鈴なりに咲くので、全体的に華やかにみえます。その点、秋バラは、夏バラの返り咲きとか、四季咲きのバラだけで、一株に咲く花の数は少なく、一輪だけと言うのもあって、寂しい感じです。しかし、一つ一つのバラは味わい深く、香りも豊かで、咲き切って枯れて行く姿は、秋のイメージにぴったりで、秋バラのファンも沢山います。

Normally, Nara Park, which is crowded with tourists at this time of year, is lonely this year.  The deer also seem to be lonely, wandering slowly between the autumnal trees.  No one gives the deer Shika Senbei, so they occasionally stop and eat the acorns and grass that have fallen to the ground. These deer are wild and have been designated as a national natural monument as a “Nara deer”.  These deer which have been deeply protected as deer gods of Kasuga Taisha Shrine since the Nara period gave rise to many tragedies as a result of excessive protection. For example, a child who was about to be eaten calligraphy paper by a deer threw a paperweight at the deer and killed it, and he was sentenced to “Ishikozume (punishment buried in the ground) and was killed. Beware that deer bowing is not because they are polite, but because it is a threat to demand Shika Senbei.

例年なら、この時期、観光客で賑わう奈良公園も、今年は人もまばらです。鹿も手持ち無沙汰な様子で、紅葉した木々の間をゆっくり徘徊しています。鹿煎餅をくれる人もなく、時折立ち止まって、地面に落ちたドングリや草を食べています。この鹿は野生で「奈良のシカ」として国の天然記念物に指定されています。奈良時代から春日大社の神鹿として厚く保護され、時には過剰な保護の結果、鹿に書道の半紙を食べられそうになった子供が、その鹿に文鎮を投げつけて死なせ、「石子詰め」の刑で死罪になると言う悲劇も生まれました。鹿のお辞儀も、礼儀正しいのではなく、煎餅を要求する威嚇ですから、ご用心下さい。

In Japan, it has long been a custom to leave the last one or a few persimmons after harvesting them.  There are two theories about this custom, one is to leave it with the meaning of “Bridging this year and next year” in the hope of a good harvest next year, and the other is that we have eaten enough so will leave the last persimmon for the birds. Some say it makes sense for both.  The sight of a few persimmons remaining on a persimmon tree that has completely lost its leaves in the clear autumn sky makes me feel a complex feeling of loneliness, gratitude, and hope.

木守柿と書いて、「こもりがき」とも「きもりがき」とも読みます。昔から柿の収穫を終えた後、最後の一個から数個を残しておくと言う習慣があります。この習慣には二つの説があって、一つは、また来年の豊作を願って「継なぐ」と言う意味を込めて残して置くと言う説、もう一つは、十分食べ尽くしたんだから最後は鳥達に残して置いてやろうと言う説です。両方の意味があると言う人もいます。澄み切った秋空に、すっかり葉を落とした柿の木に二、三個の柿が残っている光景を目にすると、寂しさと感謝と希望の混ざり合った複雑な気分になります。

There is a small bush alongside the nearby field, and Karasu-uri fruits are formed in a fixed place every year.  At this time of year, the vermilion-colored fruits stand out.  Until now, I was only interested in this fruit, but since I see that the flowers introduced on the website were mysterious flowers that were not ordinary flowers, I searched for them during the rainy season,  and finally found the flowers. It’s a really mysterious flower according to have been introduced, and it looks like wearing a lace dress.  Four months after that, the long-awaited fruit was in the same place.  It must be the fruit of that flower. It looks like a young nobleman born of a noble lady.  This is the best harvest this fall.

近くの畑の傍に小さな藪があって、毎年決まった場所に烏瓜ができます。この時期になると朱色に色づいた実が一際目立ちます。今まではこの実にしか関心がなかったのですが、サイトに紹介されていた花が、普通の花ではない妖しげな花で、ぜひ見たいものだと、梅雨時分に注意していたら、その花が見つかりました。紹介されていた通りの実に妖しげな花で、レースの夜会服を纏った様な姿です。それから四か月、待ちに待った実が同じ場所に成っています。きっとあの花の実に違いありません。貴婦人から生まれた貴公子と言った趣きです。この秋いちばんの収穫です。