The camellia suddenly falls as a single flower.  There is a different view of this as ominous or innocent.  The view of ominousness spread in the late Edo period. The Satsuma domain and the Choshu domain, which are trying to defeat the Tokugawa shogunate, have traditionally cherished camellia and loved it. The Shogunate side, who paid attention to it, compared the appearance of a camellia falling with a whole flower to a decapitation, and ridiculed that the camellia was ominous, and spread the view. Even now, there is a remnant that camellia flowers are forbidden when visiting the sick.  Somewhere, camellia has been loved by many as a flower that represents winter since ancient times, and it often appears in songs and paintings.  In particular, Japanese camellia was introduced to Europe early on because it was beautiful, and was prized by the aristocratic class as Camellia Japonica.  Marie Antoinette was one of them.  Camellia is a closely related species to Sasanqua, and Kantsubaki(Camellia sasanqua) is a hybrid of it.

椿は突然花丸ごと落ちます。これを不吉とみるか潔しとみるか、見方が異なります。不吉と言う見方は江戸時代末期に広がりました。倒幕派の薩摩、長州は伝統的に椿を大切にし、愛玩する風習があります。そこに目を付けた幕府が、椿が花丸ごと落ちる様を斬首に擬え、椿は不吉と揶揄し、そう言う見方を広めました。今でも、病人のお見舞いに椿は禁物と言う名残りがあるほどです。それどこか、椿は万葉の昔から冬を代表する花として多くの人々に愛され、歌や絵画にもしばしば登場します。特に日本の椿は美しいと言うことで早くからヨーロッパに移入され、カメリア・ジャポニカとして貴族階級には珍重され、マリー・アントワネットもその一人でした。椿は山茶花とは近縁種で、寒椿(カメリア・サザンカ)などはその交配種です。ちなみに、藪椿はカメリア・ジャポニカのことです。

February is also known as Kisaragi. We are using the solar calendar now, but until the beginning of the Meiji era we were using the lunar calendar. Kisaragi is the name of the lunar calendar. There is a difference of about one month between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar. This year’s lunar new year is February 10, which is also called Kyu-Shogatsu. In China, the Chinese New Year starts from this day, which is the New Year in Japan.     Until recently, there were places in Japan that celebrated Kyu-Shogatsu, but now there are few. Therefore, Kisaragi is about March in the solar calendar. The origin of “Kisaragi” is said to be “Kinusaragi” because it is still cold at this time and more clothes are layered, and this is said to be the etymology. From this too, we can see how global warming is progressing.

２月は別名如月(きさらぎ)とも言います。私たちが今使っているのは太陽暦で、明治の初めまでは太陰暦を使っていました。如月は太陰暦の呼び名です。太陽暦と太陰暦とではおよそ１か月ほどのずれがあります。今年の太陰暦による正月は２月10日で、旧正月とも言いました。中国ではこの日から春節と言って、日本の正月にあたります。日本でも最近まで旧正月を祝う所がありましたが、いまはほとんどありません。だから、如月は太陽暦では３月位に当たる訳です。「如月」の由来は、この時期はまだ寒さが残っていて、衣を更に重ね着することから「衣更着（きぬさらぎ）」と言い、これが語源だと言われています。こんなことからも地球の温暖化がいかに進んでいるかが分かります。

A restaurant with luxuriously decorated roses, stocks, sweet pea, lilies, cherries, and spring flowers. The restaurant which is full at the lunchtime and where customers waiting to enter are lined up outside are now sparse. The state of emergency seems to be working. The number of infected people is also on the decline, but we should be still alert. The extension until March 7th is a matter of course, and this is the point of patience.  It is said that the corona vaccine will start to be taken from around mid-February, so it is necessary to reduce the number of infected people as much as possible and shift medical resources there. We want to finish taking the vaccine by summer and somehow suppress the corona infection.

バラ、ストック、スイートピー、ユリ、ケイオウザクラ、春を代表する花々が豪華に飾られたレストラン。昼食時はいっぱいで入店を待つ客が並ぶレストランも客もまばら。緊急事態宣言は効果を発揮しているようです。感染者数も減少傾向にありますが、まだまだ油断はなりません。３月７日までの延長は当然の措置で、ここが我慢のしどころ。コロナワクチンも２月中旬ころから摂取が始まるそうなので、感染者数をできる限り減らし、医療資源をそちらにシフトする必要があります。夏までにはワクチン摂取を終え、なんとかコロナ感染を押さえ込みたいものです。

Yesterday (4th), it seems that Haru-Ichiban(the first spring blow) blew in the Kanto region.  It is said to be the earliest record since 1951 when the Japan Meteorological Agency began collecting statistics.  Last year (2020), Haru-Ichiban in the Kanto region blew on February 22, which means that it is 18 days earlier than last year.  In recent years, the weather of “record breaking” has become commonplace, but I have a feeling that “record breaking” will continue this year.  I’m happy that spring is coming early, but I don’t overjoy to it.  It may be evidence that global warming is becoming more serious, and personally, the passage of time is so fast that I feel like I’m in a hurry.

昨日(4日)、関東地方で春一番が吹いたそうです。気象庁が統計を取り始めた1951年以降、最も早い記録だそうです。昨年(2020年)、関東地方で春一番が吹いたのが2月22日ですから、昨年と比べても18日も早いということになります。近年「記録破り」の気象が当たり前になりましたが、今年も「記録破り」が続出しそうな予感がします。春の訪れが早いことは嬉しいことですが、手放しで喜べません。地球の温暖化が深刻になっている証拠かもしれませんし、個人的には、余りにも年月の流れがはやく、何か急き立てられているような気がしてならないからです。

Mt. Fuji in the beginning of spring is still a snowy landscape. The hard buds are also covered with light snow on the branches of the cherry blossoms, and at first glance it looks like a blooming cherry blossom.  This is also a landscape of Mt. Fuji and makes me feel that spring is approaching. Mt. Fuji is one of the 110 active volcanoes in Japan, and it has been active for about 5,000 years in a long span. The most recent eruption of Hoei era in 1707 seems to have caused enormous damage due to volcanic ash. About 300 years have passed since this eruption, and it is in a situation where the eruption could happen at any time. If possible, I would want Mt Fuji to become an extinct volcano and retain its beautiful appearance, but I hope that it will continue to live as it is and become the anchor of the heart of us Japanese people.

立春の富士山はまだ雪景色です。蕾も堅い桜の枝に薄雪が被り、一見花開いた桜に見えます。しかし、春近しを感じさせる風景でもあります。その富士山、国内に110ある活火山の一つで、長いスパンで見ると約5000年前から続く活動期にあります。直近では1707年に宝永大噴火が起き、火山灰などにより甚大な被害が出たようです。今はこの噴火から約300年経過しており、いつ噴火してもおかしくはない状況にあります。できたら、このまま死火山になってこの美しい姿を留めて欲しいとも思うこともありますが、富士山はやはり生きているからこそ私たち日本人の心の拠り所となっているんですね。

February 3rd is Risshun(the beginning of spring today).  Perhaps many people think that it is a day of Setsubun.  This is because the setsubun for the past 123 years was set to 3rd, except that Setsubun in 1984 was 4 days.  And for the first time in 124 years, this year’s Setsubun was on the 2nd, and today is the rare calendar year of Risshun.  One year of the calendar is 365 days, but astronomically it is 365 days, which is less than 6 hours, so there is a leap year once every four years, and the lunar calendar is involved, so it becomes complicated like this.  In the nearby plum garden, flowers have begun to bloom on the weeping plums, but the hanging young green branches are still conspicuous.

今日２月３日は立春です。多分節分の日だと思っておられる方は多いのではないでしょうか。1984年の節分が４日であったことを除いては、過去123年間節分は３日と決まっていたからです。そして124年ぶりで今年の節分は２日、そして今日が立春という珍しい暦の年に今年はなりました。暦の１年は365日ですが、天文学的には365日と６時間足らずということで、４年に一度閏年があったり、太陰暦も絡んだりで、こういう複雑なことになります。近くの梅園では、枝垂れ梅にも花が咲き始めましたが、垂れ下がった若緑色の枝がまだまだ目立ちます。

February 2nd is Setsubun today and tomorrow 3rd is Risshun(beginning of spring).  Normally, it is 3rd and 4th, respectively, but this year, Setsubun and Risshun have betwbeen advanced by one day for the first time in 124 years.  In 1984, the 4th was Setsubun, so Setsubun and Risshun may change for the first time in many years.  Speaking of Setsubun, Mame-Maki(a bean-scattering ceremony),  was the mainstream a long time ago, but now Ehomaki has become the mainstream.  Ehomaki is more luxurious and worth eating than beans.  I think this is because, in addition to changes in eating habits, the emphasis has shifted to realistic tastes rather than the meaning of traditional events.

今日２月２日は節分、そして明日３日は立春です。例年ならそれぞれ３日、４日なのですが、なんと今年は124年ぶりに節分、立春が１日早まりました。1984年は４日が節分でしたから、この様に節分、立春の日は何年ぶりかで変わることがあるんですね。節分と言えば、一昔前は豆まきでしたが、今や恵方巻きがすっかり主流になりました。豆よりも恵方巻きの方が豪華で食べがいがありますよね。食生活の変化もさることながら、伝統的な行事の意味よりも現実的な嗜好に重点が移ったからだと思います。

When I show you these pictures, many people say, “It’s a beautiful plum and a warbler.” However, this bird is not a warbler, but a white-eye. The warbler has a beautiful cry, but the color is brown, which is close to brown, and it is not a noticeable color. In the first place, the Japanese bush warbler does not come to the prominent flowers such as plum blossoms, and sings in invisible places such as bushes and bamboo grove. The idiom “Uguisu to Ume” is a symbolic word that is representative of spring and is simply a combination of plums with colors and scents and Uguisu with a beautiful cry. There are many such idioms such as “pine and crane” and “autumn leaves and deer”. Even so, most of the things that have a young green color, such as the warbler rice cake and the warbler bun, have “warbler” attached.

こういう写真をお見せすると、多くの人が「綺麗な梅と鶯ですね。」とおっしゃいます。しかしこの鳥はウグイスではなく、メジロです。ウグイスは鳴き声は綺麗ですが、色は褐色に近い茶色で目立つような色ではありません。そもそも鶯は梅のような目立つ花にはやって来ず、薮や竹林のような人目には付かない所で囀っています。「梅に鶯」という常套句は、春を代表する、色と香りの梅と美しい鳴き声の鶯を組み合わせただけの象徴的な言葉なわけです。「松に鶴」、「紅葉に鹿」のようにこうした常套句は沢山あります。それにしても、鶯餅とか鶯饅頭とか、若緑色をした物には大概「鶯」が付いていますね。