Late summer is lonely. It was so hot that I was hoping that autumn would come soon, but when I feel the signs of autumn, I miss the heat. The swamps on the plateau are really cool. It’s a sign of autumn at once. A cotton cloud floats in the sky, and I can still hear the voice of a cicada, but there is no momentum. Memories of one summer float like a revolving lantern and disappear. Like last summer, this summer was even more monotonous. I often stayed at home and could hardly meet the people I wanted to meet. A pheasant jumped over the head with a high-pitched voice. It’s partner may be waiting somewhere.
I am forced to have a homestay. The fun is just watching YouTube. Now I’m watching videos of the mountains of the Japanese Alps that I visited a long time ago. Yesterday I watched a video of traversing from Mt. Yari to Mt. Okuhotaka. This is the most difficult course in Japan. Among them, “Daikiretto” is one of the most difficult challenges in Japan. The first challenge was around 20 years old. It was my first time to traverse the Japanese Alps, so how reckless I was when I think about it now. Even if I watch the video, I’m trembling with fear. A knife ridge like a knife blade is only wide enough for one person to pass through. Both sides are deeply depressed several hundred meters. Clouds occasionally rise from the bottoms of the valleys on both sides. All you can count on is a chain and a few scaffolds. I hear that some people are stiffened by fear and helped by rescue teams. Now it’s an old memory.
On a summer day, I visited Nosegawa Village, the last unexplored region located in the southern part of Nara Prefecture. Nosegawa Village is the least populated municipality in Japan except for remote islands. In the north of the village is Koyasan, a mountain of worship that has been open for a long time, and in the south is the Koya Ryujin National Monument, which is lined with steep mountains. A nice Sscent is drifting when I follow a narrow mountain path. When I was attracted to the scent, small white flowers were blooming here and there. If I take a picture with my smartphone and look it up with Google Lens, it says Jasmine. This flower is my first encounter. Further, when I traced to the pass, the mountains of the Kii Mountains suddenly spread in front of me.
When I was seeing that a fireball rushed up in the dark night, a plosive sound of a dawn echoed, and a large flower bloomed in the jet-black night sky. It brings us the real feeling of summer. A person who just gets intoxicated with beauty. A person who looks back on the memories of one summer. A person who realizes that everything is evanescent in this world. The person who think of fireworks is various. Many of the fireworks festivals have been canceled this year, and the already depressed world is just closing the unfocused heart. We are now in the midst of a fierce battle for supremacy on Earth between humans at the highest level of the ecosystem on Earth and viruses at the lowest level. The Spanish flu pandemic 100 years ago is said to have infected 500 million people worldwide, and about 27% of the world’s population (1.8-1.9 billion). It is estimated that the death toll was over 50-100 million, perhaps over 100 million. This pandemic hasn’t gotten that far, but the situation is still unpredictable.
The second son’s family living in Shanghai came to Japan in February of last year, during the Chinese New Year, which corresponds to the Japanese New Year. It was about time that the coronavirus infection begins to spread. Many Chinese were still visiting Japan for sightseeing. For a year and a half since then, the power of the Communist Party government has been successful with coronavirus measures, and the spread has been almost stopped. In Shanghai, the number of infected people is less than 10 per day. On the other hand, in Japan, the number has been increasing, and it is now in a state of infection explosion. However, there are again concerns about the spread of new coronavirus infections also in China, and the city of Shanghai is stepping up its epidemic prevention measures. On July 29, city officials said that visitors from high-risk areas in the country would be given a uniform 14-day intensive isolation and two PCR tests, and those from medium-risk areas would be given a flat 14-day period, and announced that it will conduct community health observations and two PCR tests. On August 3, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission is calling on citizens not to leave Shanghai unnecessarily or to go abroad or to high-risk areas in the country. With this amount, I can’t hope for a reunion with my second son’s family. Even if this year is not possible, I would like to meet again next year.
The summers of last year and this year, which should be fun, many people were forced to stay in a homestay due to refraining from going out due to corona infection. Last summer was the second wave of corona infections, and this summer we are facing the fifth wave. Moreover, the number of infected people is 10 times that of the second wave, exceeding 25,000 and approaching 30,000. At the time of the 3rd and 4th waves, the number of people did not exceed 10,000, so this 5th wave is exactly the situation where an infection explosion is occurring. Fortunately, the number of deaths per day is about 25 so far, which is about the same as the second wave, which is about one-fifth that of the third and fourth waves. is. It seems that the effect of the corona vaccine is appearing. However, it is still unpredictable. Since many infected people are forced to take care of themselves at home, I think the number of deaths will increase rapidly. This summer is about to end. It is a series of patience and patience.
Sparklers are no longer seen in urban areas. In the olden days, as the night goes on, neighbors who have finished the dinner come out little by little with a fan in their hands to enjoy the cool evening breeze. From children to adults, those who play shogi under the street lights, those who sit on the floor and have a good time, are quite lively. Among them, fireworks were especially popular with children. The set fireworks and the mouse fireworks are popping here and there. Sparklers are one of them, and unlike other fireworks, many girls and elderly people gather. The sparklers that change with buds, peonies, pine needles, willows, and scattered chrysanthemums are gentle and varied, and are a way of scattering that reminds us of human life. Finally, when the fireworks core solidified and fell to the ground, sighs could leak from the people around me.
Hibiscus is the summer flower. It is a flower reminiscent of Hawaii and Okinawa. Since ancient times, it has been popular in Japan under the names of Bussoge and Fuyobana. Since becoming the state flower of Hawaii, it has come to be called hibiscus in Japan. It is said to be native to southern China and is named “China rose” in English. Hibiscus is a one-day flower that begins to open early in the morning and withers in the evening. However, since new flowers bloom one after another, the flowering period is long, and it continues to bloom from June to October. When a woman puts it on her hair, the unmarried woman puts it on the right and the married woman puts it on the left. Besides appreciating, hibiscus is also used as a raw material for food and textiles. Since it contains vitamin C and potassium, it is drunk as an herbal tea that has a fatigue-relieving effect and as a natural sports drink. In addition, hibiscus fibers are transparent, easier to dye than cotton and linen, and have excellent hygroscopicity, so they are also used as raw materials for woven yarns in Okinawa.
I wrote “Henohenomoheno” on the watermelon and did the charm of exterminating the corona. In Osaka, the birthplace of “Henohenomoheno”, it is said like this, but according to Wikipedia, “Henohenomoheji” seems to be the standard. There are ideas all over the world to draw pictures with letters, but in the first place, the ideographic kanji and the kana and hiragana created from them are easy to get used to and express. Perhaps “Henohenomoheno” seems to have begun to look like the face of Scarecrow in a rice field. I hope that “Henohenomoheno” will get rid of the corona after getting rid of the sparrows in the rice fields.
“Kyoto Gozan no Okuribi” will be held today. It’s been a hot and humid season with heavy rain these days, but the temperature in the morning and evening has dropped, and the wind that blows has begun to show signs of autumn. This okuribi, which is ignited in the order of Capital letter, Myoho, Boat shape, Left capital letter, and Torii shape every 5 minutes from 8 o’clock in the evening, means that the spirits of the ancestors who returned in Obon will be sent back to the Netherworld. This year, when the end of the corona disaster cannot be foreseen, it is said that the number of ignition points will be significantly reduced in each mountain so that spectators will not be crowded. It is said that this event became widespread after the Middle Ages and the Muromachi period, when Buddhism was deeply ingrained among the common people. The capital letters are located so that you can see them from anywhere in the city center, but for the Ashikaga family to have the best view-they are designed to reflect to the pond of the Kyoto Imperial Palace with Ichijo-dori in front. Last night, also in Nara, “Capital Sending Fire” was held at Takamadoyama in Tobihino, the precincts of Kasuga Taisha Shrine, and could be seen from various places in Nara City, such as the Heijo Palace site and the Ukimido in Nara Park. I feel a little bit lonely through in the being gone away summer.