Chestnuts have arrived from Shinshu.  The chestnuts around Osaka are still in a state of chestnuts in burs, so I’m a little surprised.  I immediately made chestnut rice and enjoyed a sense of taste in the early autumn.  The Japanese archipelago is long from north to south, so if we travel from Okinawa to Hokkaido, we can enjoy two or three seasons, if not four seasons.  Also, if there is a high mountain, the same is true from the foot of the mountain to the top.  Autumn is the season of autumn leaves, and it is said that the autumn leaves are the most beautiful in the world.  “Great Yamato, of all lands most supreme! Enclosed by ranks of verdant banks on surrounding hills, Great Yamato-unmatched for beauty!”  sung by Yamato Takeru thinking of his hometown. When I’m immersed in the taste of autumn in this way, it seems that not only Yamato but the whole of Japan is like that.

信州から栗が届きました。大阪近辺の栗はまだ毬栗状態ですからちょっと驚きです。早速栗ご飯にし、一足早い秋の美香に舌鼓を打ちました。日本列島は南北に長いですから、沖縄から北海道を旅すれば、四季折々とは言わないまでも、二つか三つの季節を楽しめます。また高い山があれば、山の麓から天辺まででも同じです。秋は紅葉(こうよう)の季節、その紅葉振りも世界で最も美しいと言われています。倭建命が故郷を思って歌った「倭（やまと）は　国の真秀（まほ）ろば　たたなづく　青垣（あをかき）　山籠（やまごも）れる　倭し麗（うるは）し」は、こうして秋の味覚に浸っていると、大和だけでなく日本全体がその様に思われます。