Kakitsubata is blooming looking up at the cloudy sky near the rainy season on the side of the pond that has calmed down in the evening calm. The bullfrog suddenly screamed as if to break the silence. It seems that the iris shook slightly in the mirror-like pond. This place constitutes a world by itself. For the past year and a half, when a storm of coronavirus infection has blown and forced us to stay home, this is the only place I can rely on. It seems that the rainy season that may begin today and tomorrow is more than half a month earlier than usual, and it seems that I will not be able to go to the rose garden that I have been waiting for. As the seasons change too early, confusion and anxiety about the future grow.
For the past year and a half, the battle with the new coronavirus is exactly like the weird world war. And in today’s Japan, despite taking various measures, its spread and seriousness only increase. Under these circumstances, is it okay to hold the Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed for a year? Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso described the Tokyo Games as a “cursed tournament”, saying that problems had occurred every 40 years at the Olympics, and it was controversial. But certainly the Olympics have been canceled five times in the past, and two times of them were the Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Japan.
■ Canceled Olympics <Summer> 1916 Berlin (6th tournament) Canceled due to World War I 1940 Tokyo (12th tournament) Returned two years before the event due to the Sino-Japanese War 1944 London (13th Games) Canceled due to World War II <Winter> 1940 Sapporo Same as the Tokyo Summer Olympics 1944 Cortina Dampezzo (Italy) Same as the London Summer Olympics
If the Tokyo Olympics are canceled this time, in the history of the Olympics, three of the six canceled times will be the Olympics held in Japan, which is exactly a “Cursed Olympics”. ..Of course, I do not want to cancel the Tokyo Olympics, but on the contrary, I would like to hold it to overcome the coronavirus. But I think that this pandemic is in the same or better situation as the cancellation due to the past war.
Campanula is a plant of the Bellflower family native to Southern Europe. It means “small bell” in Latin and entered Japan in the Meiji era. The Japanese name is “Huurinsou”, but it is also called “Tsuriganesou” in horticulture. Many flowers bloom from late spring to summer, and most of the flowers are blue, purple or white, and some are pink. Most of them bloom sideways, but some of them bloom upwards or downwards. The one that always has connected me with Campanula is the List’s “La Campanella.” Campanella means bell in Italian. However, “La Campanella” is a piano practice music arranged by Liszt from Paganini’s Violin Concerto. It is the most difficult practice music in the piano music , but it’s known to many as a song that goes beyond practice songs because of its beauty reminiscent of the bell at the beginning of the music.
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.
Moss phlox is in full bloom on the foot of Mt. Fuji where the remaining snow is dazzling. It is one of the most beautiful Japanese landscapes that change from spring to summer. Every year, many people from all over the country come to the “Shibasakura Festival” held in Motosu, Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, a spring event where 800,000 stocks and seven types of turf cherry blossoms bloom on the vast site at the foot of Mt. Fuji. It has been held since 2008, and it has expanded from a planting area of about 2.4ha at the beginning to an area of about 20ha (for 4.3 Tokyo Domes), which is more than eight times as large in 2020, and its grandeur attracts the world. It was introduced in “Japan’s 34 most beautiful places” selected by the major American news broadcasting station “CNN”, and many tourists from overseas also visit. However, due to the influence of the new coronavirus, the number of Japanese tourists decreased due to the limited event last year, and the number of Japanese tourists increased this year, but few foreign tourists are found.
残雪が眩しい富士山に芝桜、春から夏に移り変わる折節の最も美しい日本の風景のひとつです。80万株、7種類の芝桜が富士山麓の広大な敷地に咲きほこる春のイベント、山梨県富士河口湖町本栖で開催される「芝桜まつり」には毎年全国各地から多くの人が押し寄せます。2008年から開催されており、当初は2.4haほどの植付面積から、2020年には8倍を超える約20ha(東京ドーム4.3個分)の面積にまで広がり、その雄大さは世界中を魅了するまでになっています。アメリカの大手ニュース放送局「CNN」が選んだ「日本でもっとも美しい場所36選(Japan’s 34 most beautiful places)」にも紹介され、海外からも多くの観光客が訪れます。しかし、新型コロナウイルスの影響で、昨年は限定開催で日本人観光客も減少、今年は日本人観光客は増えましたが、外国人観光客はほとんど見当たりません。
The early blooming Kawazu cherry blossoms also are bearing small cherry fruits. From now on, cherries will be lined up in stores from mid-June. When I was little, I remembered that after eating cherries in the park with my friends in the neighborhood, I competed with him to fly seeds. When I looked it up online, I was surprised to find that there are large-scale events in the Tohoku region, where they compete to fly seeds. It has been held for 20 years in Sagae City and Higashine City, which are known for producing cherries in Yamagata Prefecture. It is said that the seeds after eating cherries are blown by mouth with the signal of “Cherry GO!” and compete for the distance. The humorous appearance comes to my mind. I don’t know if I imitated this, but in Minabe Town, Wakayama Prefecture, which is known for producing ume, there is a ume seed flying competition, and the prize money is 300,000 yen.
Emperor Sutoku, the emperor of tragedy, was born in 1119 between Emperor Toba and Chugu(Empress), Fujiwara Tamako, as the first prince. However, Emperor Toba’s suspicion that Sutoku was the son of his grandfather, Emperor Shirakawa, did not disappear, and this lingered until later, and after all, in the first year of Hogen (1156), the imperial court split into the party of Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the party of Emperor Sutoku, and this caused the outbreak of “Hogen Rebellion”. Emperor Sutoku, who lost the battle, was exiled to Sanuki in Shikoku and died here. Three years later, Saigyo, who has served as Hokumen no bushi (the Imperial Palace Guards for the north side) since he was young, visited and consoled the souls. This tragedy has been handed down as Ueda Akinari’s “Ugetsu Monogatari” and Noh’s “Matsuyama Tengu”.
There is a Shakuyaku Garden in the Kyuhoji Green Area in Yao City, Osaka Prefecture. From the end of April to May of the season, about 1,600 stocks of 51 species and 50,000 Shakuyaku bloom in full bloom. You will be healed by the elegant charm of the colorful and vivid Shakuyaku of red, white, pink and yellow. Last year it was closed due to corona, but this year it was opened by the ingenuity to prevent corona infection. From early blooming to late blooming, it keeps blooming for about a month according to the speed of each variety. There are names suitable for each variety, such as “Sakura-no-sono”, one of Kagoshima’s famous Higo flowers, which was considered to be a secret, “Suigetsu”, which has the best scent in the garden, and “Yang Guifei” which is very elegant. The sky looked a little stagnant due to the influence of yellow sand, but I got sweaty while going around the park.
The human world is hard in Corona, but flows of each season are in bloom and competing. As a recent trend, the seasons are changing one to two weeks earlier than usual this year. It is not uncommon for daily temperature changes to exceed 20 degrees Celsius depending on the day. Yesterday, I received the news that Somei Yoshino cherry blossoms bloomed in Hokkaido, but from Okinawa, I received the news that the rainy season had begun, and everything is in a chaotic situation. Now that it’s been less than three months before the Olympics are held, I am worried that the spirit of the Japanese Special Attack Units is raising the sword again as to whether it is okay to hold the Olympics in such a situation.
“Peony when standing, Japanese peony when sitting, lily flower when walking” — A word often referred to as an expression that describes a beautiful woman. It is said to be a word that was sung and spread in Dodoitsu(a traditional popular love song sung to a samisen accompaniment) during the Edo period, but it seems that the original text is “Shennong Ben Cao Jing”, a classification book of Chinese herbal medicines. By approaching it, the roots of peony have the effect of relieving pain and muscle stiffness, the Japanese peony skin has the effect for “blood static (a state in which blood is stagnant in the abdomen)”, and the bulbs of lilies have the effect of relieving psychosomatic disorders. Both were used as Chinese medicine for women. It has become a Dodoitsu that represents the beauty of women’s behavior. Also, during the Edo period, gardening became very popular, and Dodoitsu came to be used as a way to appreciate flowers. Peony is best viewed standing up, Japanese peony is most beautifully viewed while sitting, and lily is best viewed while walking.