Even when visiting the same rose garden, spring and autumn offer entirely different charms. In spring, every flower bursts with vigor, blooming abundantly, creating a vibrant and uplifting atmosphere. It brightens one’s mood effortlessly. In contrast, autumn features fewer blooms, setting a tranquil and serene ambiance. Perhaps it’s the setting that influences one’s mood, as each individual rose becomes dear, causing us to linger longer. The rose that caught my eye might be called ‘Nostalgia.’ It starts to bloom towards the end of summer, initially with a white center and pink edges, gradually deepening in color with a yellowish center and crimson edges. Eventually, the edges turn black, just before wilting. Nostalgia, illuminated by the evening sun, seemed to convey something, drawing me in irresistibly. With a heavy heart, I left the place, feeling as if I were leaving a part of me behind.

同じバラ園に行っても、春と秋では全く趣が違います。春はどの花も勢いがあってたくさん咲きますから、華やかで、こちらまで気分が晴れやかになります。秋は花の数も少なく、しっとりと落ち着いた雰囲気です。こちらの気分がそうさせるのか、一つ一つのバラが愛おしく、つい足を留める時間が長くなります。目に止まったバラはノスタルジーと言う品種かも知れません。夏の終わり頃に咲き始め、最初は真ん中が白くて縁がピンク色をしていますが、段々色が濃くなって、真ん中が黄色っぽくなり、縁の色も真紅に染まります。やがて縁の先端が黒くなります。枯れる一歩手前です。夕陽に照らし出されたノスタルジーが何か語りかける様に迫ってきます。居た堪れなくなって、後ろ髪を引かれる思いでその場を立ち去りました。

I thought there were lilies blooming in the sunny spot of the park, but as I approached, I realized they were not lilies. They had no leaves at all, much like higanbana. Lilies should have leaves on their stems. The color was a pale pink, quite similar to the sasayuri (Easter lily), but larger and with different stamens and pistils. I promptly took a photo and searched for it, and I found it called Jersey Lily. All explanations about Jersey lily are in English. Its native habitat is the Cape region of South Africa, but it was brought back to the UK and bloomed on the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands for a long time, hence the name Jersey Lily. It’s officially called Belladonna Lily and is known as ‘Honma-amaririsu (real amaryllis)’ in Japan. Although it’s called Lily in Western countries, it’s actually the original species of amaryllis. When we think of amaryllis, we usually imagine them blooming in early summer with leaves attached. The amaryllis that bloom in spring are a subspecies, derived from this Belladonna Lily. That’s why we call it ‘Honma-amaririsu’ in Japan. I agree.

公園の陽だまりにササユリが咲いていると思って近付いたらユリではありません。彼岸花の様に葉が全くないのです。ユリなら茎に葉がついているはずです。色は薄いピンク色で良く似ていますが、ササユリより大きく、雄蕊雌蕊も違います。早速写真に撮り、検索したら、Jersey lilyとありました。ジャージー・リリーと読み、英文の説明ばかりです。原産地は南アフリカのケープ地方ですが、イギリスに持ち帰られ、イギリス、チャネル諸島のジャージー島に咲いたいたので長くJersey lilyと呼ばれていました。正式にはベラドンナリリーと呼ばれ、日本ではホンアマリリスと呼ばれています。洋名はリリーと呼んでいますが、アマリリスの原種です。アマリリスと言えば普通初夏の頃に咲くと思われていて、開花時には葉も付いています。春に咲くアマリリスは亜種で、このベラドンナリリーから別れた品種です。それで日本ではホンアマリリスと呼んでいる訳です。納得です。

Yesterday (10/7) and today (10/8) mark the Danjiri Festival for the entire Izumi region. While the Danjiri Festival in Kishiwada City, known nationwide, takes place in September along the coastal area, the Yamate Festival spans these two days. Yesterday, though it was mostly overcast, we had occasional sunshine, making it perfect Danjiri weather. Unfortunately, today’s weather is less favorable with misty rain. Nonetheless, from late September to early October, the entire Izumi region is painted in the colors of Danjiri, marking both the end of summer and the full-fledged start of autumn. Days like today emphasize this feeling even more.
This year, thankfully, we haven’t experienced major disasters nationwide and have welcomed a fruitful autumn. However, the effects of gradual climate change are manifesting themselves in various ways. Concerns persist, such as the prediction that the Nankai Trough earthquake has a 70% chance of occurring in the next 30 years, along with frequent earthquakes near the Izu Islands, which connect to Mount Fuji. The uncertainties continue.
If only the last Danjiri Festival of the year could have been held under clear autumn skies, we might not feel this way.
It’s definitely a man’s (?) heart and an autumn sky.

昨日(10/7)と今日(10/8)は泉州一体がだんじり祭りです。岸和田市のだんじり祭りも、海側が９月で、全国的によく知られていますが、山手はこの二日間です。昨日は曇りがちでしたが、時折日も差してだんじり日和でしたが、今日はあいにくのお天気で、霧雨模様です。ともかく、泉州一体は9月下旬から10月上旬にかけてだんじり一色で、夏の締めくくりと秋の本格的な幕開けを強く感じさせます。今日の様なお天気だと余計にそれを感じます。
今年は幸いにも全国的に大災害にも遭わず、実り多い秋を迎えたわけですが、じわじわと押し寄せる気象変動の影響が様々なかたちで現れています。また、東南海地震が今後30年の間に70%で起こるとか、富士山に繋がる伊豆諸島沖の度重なる地震とか、不安な材料は尽きません。今年最後のだんじり祭りが秋晴れの元に行われたら、こんな気分にはならなかったでしょうに。
まさに、〇心と秋の空、ですね。

I debated whether to use ‘Kare-susuki (withered pampas grass)’ or ‘Kare-obana (withered susuki grass).’ ‘Kare-susuki’ seemed to carry a somewhat dark connotation, possibly influenced by the songs ‘Sendo Kouta’ and ‘Showa Kare-susuki.’ ‘Sendo Kouta’ became popular immediately after the 1923 Kanto earthquake, while ‘Showa Kare-susuki’ experienced a boom in 1974. I can better understand the historical context of ‘Sendo Kouta,’ which was the aftermath of the Kanto earthquake, but the background of ‘Showa Kare-susuki’ is complex and somewhat challenging to grasp. It was a time marked by the post-war economic boom, and student movements, as symbolized by the ‘Asamayama Sansou Incident,’ were waning and losing their momentum.
Today’s scenery, with susuki grass gleaming silver during the day and turning golden in the evening, inspired me to choose ‘Kare-obana.’ This scene can be found on the ‘Oishi Plateau,’ which stretches across Kishimoto Town and Aridagawa Town in Wakayama Prefecture, at an elevation of approximately 870 meters.

「枯れ尾花」にしようか「枯れススキ」にしようか迷いました。「枯れススキ」はどうも暗いイメージが付き纏います。「船頭小唄」と「和昭枯れススキ」の歌に影響されている様です。「船頭小唄」は1923年の関東大震災直後に、「和昭枯れススキ」は1974年に大流行しました。「船頭小唄」の時代背景はよく理解できますが、「和昭枯れススキ」は時代背景が複雑でちょっと理解し難いですね。戦後の高度成長が頭を打ち、学生運動も「浅間山荘事件」が象徴する様に、挫折し、下火になっていった時代です。今日の風景は、昼には銀色に、夕暮れには金色に輝くススキを歌いたかったので「枯れ尾花」としました。和歌山県の紀美野町と有田川町にまたがる「生石高原(おいしこうげん)」、標高約870mに広がるススキです。

The road that passes through the thick forest is a concrete road.　At best, bicycles pass each other; cars do not pass. Currently, both sides of the road are adorned with wild orchids. During the twilight hours, while walking there, I can hear the buzzing of bees. Their wings are small, and their bodies are petite, so it seems to be Japanese honeybees. The widely raised honeybee species globally for honey production is the ‘Western honeybee.’ Japanese honeybees have a weaker ability to gather honey, so most of the bees gathering nectar from flowers like yaburans in Japan are indeed Japanese honeybees. However, Japanese honeybees are originally native to Japan and have played a significant role in Japanese agriculture since ancient times. Speaking of which, the bees congregating on the wild orchids are covered in pollen all over their bodies.

こんもりとした林を抜ける道はコンクリート道です。自転車がすれ違うのがせいぜいですから、車は通りません。今その道は両側に薮蘭が咲いていて、夕暮れ時、そこを歩いていると、蜜蜂の羽音が聞こえます。羽音も小さく、体も小ぶりなので日本ミツバチのようです。蜂蜜を採る目的で、人の手によって世界的に飼われているのは「セイヨウミツバチ」です。日本ミツバチは、蜜を集める能力は弱いで、薮蘭の様な花に集まる蜜蜂はたいがい日本ミツバチです。しかし、日本ミツバチはもともと日本に住んでいる蜂で、古来日本の農業を支えてきたと言っても過言ではありません。そう言えば、薮蘭に群がっているミツバチは体中に花粉を付けています。

Today, October 5, we received news of the first snowfall on Mount Fuji. It is three days later than average and five days later than last year. The earliest record to date is August 9, 2008, and the latest record is October 26, 2016. Last year (2022), it was observed on September 30. In addition, the first snowfall cap of the season was yesterday, on the 4th, at Mt. Asahidake in the Daisetsuzan Mountains in Hokkaido, and the snowfall cap of Mt. Fuji is second.
By the way, the first snowfall cap on Mount Fuji is observed by the Kofu Local Meteorological Observatory in Yamanashi Prefecture. The condition for the first snowfall cap is that the area around the summit is seen to be white from the Kofu Local Meteorological Observatory after the average daily temperature is the highest day of the year. Even if the first snow is observed earlier in Mishima or Kawaguchiko, that day will not be the first snowfall cap.
Because Kofu is further away from Mount Fuji than Mishima or Kawaguchiko, and there is a high possibility that Mount Fuji will be obscured by clouds in between, the day of the first snowfall cap on Mount Fuji tends to be later than the first snow. There have been many times in the past when the first snow and first snowfall cap on Mount Fuji have differed.
Today, unfortunately, the sky was cloudy, but the sight of Mount Fuji’s snow-capped peak on a clear day is beautiful and clearly tells us the arrival of autumn and the subsequent arrival of winter.

きょう5日、富士山の初冠雪の便りが届きました。平年より3日遅く、昨年より5日遅いそうです。これまでの最も早い記録は8月9日(2008年)、最も遅い記録は10月26日(2016年)で、昨年(2022年)は9月30日に観測されました。なお、今シーズンの初冠雪は、きのう4日の北海道の大雪山系旭岳に続き、富士山の観測は2番目です。ところで、富士山の初冠雪は山梨県の甲府地方気象台が観測していて、「一日の平均気温が、その年の最も高い日」の後に、山頂付近が雪などによって白く見える様子が、麓の甲府地方気象台から見えたことが初冠雪の条件です。もし、三島や河口湖でもっと早く初雪が観測されていても、その日が初冠雪にはなりません。甲府は、三島や河口湖に比べて富士山から遠く、途中の雲によって富士山が見えない可能性が高くなることから、富士山の初冠雪の日が初雪から遅れがちとなります。今までにも富士山の初雪と初冠雪が食い違うことは何度もありました。今日はあいにくの曇り空でしたが、晴れた日の富士山の冠雪の姿は美しく、秋の訪れとその後の冬の到来をはっきりと教えてくれます。

It is now the “mizu hajimete karuru” (water begins to dry up) period of the autumnal equinox. This means that it is the time to drain the water from the rice fields and begin harvesting the rice. It’s about the time that the higanbana (the spider lilies) that were blooming in the ridges also wither. However, the higanbana that are blooming in the hedges along the sidewalks are in full bloom. It seems that this is the case everywhere in Japan. Higanbana will not bloom unless the temperature is below 25 degrees Celsius. Since the time of the equinox, it has been a series of hot days and summer days. The temperature has started to drop below 25 degrees Celsius in the morning and evening in the past week. This must have been the condition for the higanbana to bloom, and they have bloomed two weeks late. As this high temperature phenomenon is likely to continue every year, we need to find a new higanbana. And we need to give a new name to the current higanbana. We might as well change the calendars and seasonal almanacs that we have been using to something completely new.

今は秋分の末侯「水始涸 (みずはじめてかるる)」 です。「田んぼの水を抜き、稲穂の刈り入れを始める頃」と言う意味です。畦に咲いていた彼岸花も枯れる頃です。でも、歩道の生垣に咲く彼岸花は満開です。全国どこともそうらしいです。彼岸花は気温が25°以下にならなければ咲きません。お彼岸の頃からこっちは真夏日と夏日の連続でした。ここ一週間前辺りから朝晩の気温が25°を下るようになりました。これで彼岸花の咲く条件が揃い、２週間遅れの満開となったのでしょう。これからも毎年この高温現象が続くでしょうから新しい彼岸花を見つけねばなりません。そして今の彼岸花には新しい名前を付けねばなりません。いっそのこと、今まで使ってきた暦や歳時記も全く新しいのに変えたらどうでしょうね。

The recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, who made significant contributions to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, are Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. I believe their award is timely.
The Nobel Prize selection committee states that “their discoveries were essential for the development of effective mRNA vaccines against the novel coronavirus, which began in early 2020.”
Vaccine development, which typically takes several years to a decade, was achieved in less than a year using the methods they discovered, an unprecedented speed. Their contributions are immeasurable. Without the development of these mRNA vaccines, the current pandemic could have brought about a disaster on par with or even greater than the pandemic of 100 years ago.
For reference, the previous pandemic infected approximately a quarter of the world’s population at the time, estimated to be around 500 million people, with a death toll estimated between 17 and 50 million. In comparison, it is estimated that the total number of people infected with the new coronavirus has reached 676.57 million, or one-twelfth of the world’s population, and the number of deaths has reached 6.88 million.

今年のノーベル生理学・医学賞の受賞者に、新型コロナウイルスのワクチン開発で大きな貢献をした、カタリン・カリコ氏とドリュー・ワイスマン氏ら2人が選ばれました。時宜を得た受賞だと思います。
ノーベル賞の選考委員会は授賞理由について「2人の発見は、2020年初頭に始まったパンデミックで新型コロナウイルスに対して効果的なmRNAワクチンの開発に不可欠だった」としています。
通常なら数年から10年は掛かると言われるワクチン開発が、お二人の発見した方法により、一年未満で済むという前例のないスピードでワクチン開発ができるのですから、その貢献は計り知れないものがあります。もしこのmRNAワクチンの開発が無ければ、今回のパンデミックは100年前のパンデミックと同等かそれ以上の災害を地球上にもたらしたかも知れません。
因みに、前回のパンデミックは、世界中で当時の人口の4分の１程度に相当する5億人が感染した とされ，死者数は1,700万人から5,000万人と推計されています。それに比べて、今回の新型コロナウイルスの累計感染者は世界人口の12分の１に当たる6億7657万人、死者は688万人に達していると推計されています。

I had been curious about Sanma, the epitome of autumn flavors.
When this season’s Sanma fishing began in August, it was initially disappointing, with catches expected to be at the same low level as the record-low year of 22 years ago. In mid-August, the first Sanma catch in Hokkaido was small, weighing only around 125 grams, and despite being considered ceremonial, it fetched a record high price of 200,000 yen per kilogram or 25,000 yen per fish.
Looking back, the peak of Sanma fishing was around 575,000 tons in 1958, but it has been steadily declining since then, dropping below 18,000 tons in 22 years, a mere 1/32 of the peak amount.
With such a decline, it seemed like this year’s Sanma would command prices akin to eel. However, from early September onwards, catches gradually improved. The volume of Sanma entering the Tokyo Toyosu Market was nearly triple that of the previous year, the size of the fish had grown, and retail prices had dropped by 30% compared to the previous year, making it more affordable.
So, I had the opportunity to enjoy Sanma for the first time this year.

秋の味覚の代名詞であるサンマのことが気になっていました。
今シーズンのサンマ漁が始まった8月には、水揚げは過去最低だった22年と同水準になると見込まれ、実際に当初は不振でした。8月中旬に北海道で初水揚げされたサンマは、ご祝儀相場とは言え、初荷の中で最も大きな125グラムほどのサンマで、卸値が１キロ20万円、１匹当たり2万5000円の過去最高値がつきました。
過去に遡ってみれば、サンマ漁獲のピークは1958年の約57万5000トンで、それからは下がる一方。22年には1万8000トンを割り込みました。なんとピーク時の32分の1に落ち込んだのです。
この分では、今年のサンマはウナギ並みの値段が付くかと思っていたら、9月上旬以降、徐々に水揚げが上向いてきたとのこと。東京・豊洲市場への入荷量は昨年の3倍近くになり、サイズもひとまわり大きくなっている、店頭価格は昨年より3割下がっており、買いやすくなっているとのニュースが流れました。そこで今年のサンマの食べ初めにあいなりました。

In 1876, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, Japan, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of American independence, sent numerous carpenters to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. On a vast site that rivaled those of advanced countries at the time, Japan constructed a dedicated pavilion showcasing Japanese architecture. There, they exhibited a wide range of Japanese products with the aim of promoting exports and earning foreign currency. Japan’s exhibits garnered significant interest and acclaim, rapidly elevating Japan’s reputation, even though it had been considered a backward nation. A reporter from the New York Herald went so far as to write, ‘Why should we call Japan a nation still in the process of civilization when it surpasses France in bronze products and silk, and leads the world in woodworking, furniture, and ceramics?’
Among the exhibits, there was kudzu, which became extremely popular at the exposition. The kudzu plant, with its beautiful flowers, was not only visually appealing but also a favorite food for cattle and horses. Being a leguminous plant, kudzu had symbiotic bacteria in its roots that improved soil quality, and its roots and vines also helped stabilize the edges of fields and roads. As a result, it quickly spread throughout the United States.
However, the vitality and reproductive ability of Kudzu became a disaster, and after that, “Kudzu” came to be referred to as “Vine that ate the South” and “Green monster”, and was also listed as one of the “World’s 100 Worst Invasive Alien Species”.

1876年、アメリカ独立100周年を記念して開催されたフィラデルフィア万国博覧会に、明治維新間もない日本は多数の大工を派遣し、当時の先進国に見劣りしないほどの広大な敷地に日本家屋の専用パビリオンを建てました。そこには、輸出振興と外貨獲得を図るための日本のあらゆる産品が展示されました。そして日本の出展物は後進国と見なされていた日本への関心と評価を一気に高めました。『ニューヨーク・ヘラルド』紙の記者は、「ブロンズ製品や絹ではフランスに優り、木工、家具陶磁器で世界に冠たる日本をなぜ文明途上と呼べるだろうか」と言う記事まで書きました。
その出展物の中にクズがありました。博覧会では大人気になりました。花が美しいうえに、飼料として牛や馬の大好物。マメ科植物なので根に共生するバクテリアが土壌を改良し、さらに根やつるが畑や道路の周縁を固めてくれるというわけで、瞬くうちに全米に広がりました。
しかし、クズの生命力と繁殖力が災いし、その後、「kudzu」は「Vine that ate the South（南部を食べてしまったツル）」とか「green monster」と言われる様になり、「世界の侵略的外来種ワースト100」にも指定される様にもなりました。