門前に あるじ偲ぶや 生けた初夏

I visit here every season to see the flower arrangement in front of this gate.  Early summer flowers are laid out as expected.  This village, which is reminiscent of the old days when mandarin orange cultivation was popular, is now a marginal village, and I hear that most of the inhabitants are elderly.  The wind that blows through the winding road that runs as sewing the houses on both sides is too cool for the cheerful early summer.  The ikebana arranged by the road that is unlikely to be visited by anyone makes me intersect with the warm personality of the owner of this house and  somehow melancholic thoughts in my mind.

この門前の生け花を見たくて四季折々にここを訪ねます。期待に違わず初夏が生けられています。みかん栽培が盛んであった往時が偲ばれるこの集落も今や限界集落。住民のほとんどがお年寄りと聞きます。両側に立ち並ぶ家々を縫うように通じる、曲がりくねった道を吹き抜ける風も、初夏の陽気にしては涼し過ぎます。誰訪れることもなさそうな道沿いに生けられた生け花に、この家の主人の温かいお人柄と何故かメランコリックな思いが複雑に交差します。