In December 1998, eight objects of temples, facilities, historic sites, natural monuments, etc. were registered on the World Heritage List as “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara”. Tobihino spreads out in front of one of them, “Kasugayama Primeval Forest”.  In ancient times, it was also called Kasugano, and from its spacious lawn square, you can overlook the mountains such as Mt. Wakakusa, Mt. Kasuga, and Mt. Takamado.  The scenery rich in seasonal colors is really beautiful, and the scenery where deer, the sacred beast of Kasuga Taisha, are scattered in twos and threes and eating the lawn is really peaceful.  Now, the Japanese andromeda trees are blooming around the Kasuga primeval forest.  Japanese andromeda trees contain toxic components such as Japanese andromeda, Japanese andromeda purpurin, and Japanese andromeda, which have “Japanese andromeda” on their heads, and are often planted in forests that are easily damaged by deer.

1998年12月「古都奈良の文化財」として世界遺産リストに８つの施設・史跡・天然記念物が登録されました。その中の「春日山原始林」の前に飛火野が広がっています。古くは春日野とも呼ばれ、その広々とした芝生広場からは、若草山、春日山、高円山といった山々が一望できます。季節ごとの色合いに富んだ風景が実に美しく、春日大社の神獣である鹿が三々五々散らばって芝生を食べている風景は実にのどかです。今はその春日原生林を囲む様に馬酔木が花を咲かせています。馬酔木には、アセボトキシン、アセボプルプリン、アセボインと言った、頭に「アセボ」を付けた有毒成分が含まれていて、鹿などによる食害を受け易い森林にはよく植えられています。

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the moat of Osaka Castle.  The plum blossoms in the plum garden have passed, but they are still in bloom.  The flower peaches of peach garden bloom at the same time as the cherry blossoms, and the chrysanthemum-peach bloom last.  However, due to the recent climate change, the order is out of order, and plums, cherry blossoms, and peaches are blooming freely.  Just now , when you go around Osaka Castle, you can see all the flowers.  There are two main types of peaches, edible peaches and cultivars of flower peaches.  Flower peaches are in bloom in the peach garden of Osaka Castle, and the buds of edible peaches have just begun to swell on the farm in southern Osaka.  Peach was the earliest to be introduced to Japan, and it was not until the Edo period that flower peaches became popular as a horticultural species, and most of the existing flower peaches were born in this period.  Chrysanthemum-peach is a kind of flower peach, and as the name suggests, it looks like a chrysanthemum blooming on a tree.  Taiko Hideyoshi would have been pleased to see this cherry blossom.

大阪城のお堀ばたは桜が満開です。梅園の梅も盛りは過ぎましたがまだ咲き残っています。桃園の花桃は桜と同時位に咲き、菊桃は最後に咲きます。しかし最近の気候変動の影響で、順序もバラバラ、梅も桜も桃も好き勝手に咲いています。今は大阪城を一巡するとどの花も見られる状態です。桃は大きく分けて２種類あり、食用の実桃と園芸品種の花桃に分けられます。大阪城の桃園に咲いているのは花桃で、実桃は大阪南部の農園でまだ蕾が膨らみ始めたばかりです。桃はいちばん早くから日本に移入され、その内、花桃が園芸種として盛んになったのは江戸時代になってからで、今ある花桃のほとんどはこの時代に生まれました。菊桃は花桃の一種で、名前の通り、まるで木に咲いた菊の様です。太閤さんが見たらきっと喜ぶでしょう。

People say “Happiness dwells over the mountain far to wander “
Alas, and I went in the crowd of the others
I came back with my eyes wet
People say “Happiness dwells over themountains far,
far away over there.”

Needless to say, it is Carl Hermann Busse’s “Over the Mountains “.  This poem, recorded in Bin Ueda’s “Kaicho-on” has been far more popular in Japan than in Carl Hermann Busse’s homeland Germany.  I think it depends largely on the translation of Bin Ueda.  The words chosen as Shichigocho captured the hearts of the Japanese people.  The admiration for the traditional Japanese wandering poet, followed by Noin Houshi, Saigyo, and Matsuo Basho, and the emptiness drawn from the impermanence shook my heart.  When I go on a trip alone, when I come across a scene like the one in the picture, I think of this poem and another one, “How many mountains and rivers I need to cross Before I get to a land where loneliness never prevails? I’m prepared for this journey just as I was yesterday”.  This tanka by Bokusui Wakayama is also a poem inspired by “Over the Mountains”.

山のあなたの空遠く
「幸(さいわい)」住むと人のいふ
臆(ああ)、われひとと尋(と)めゆきて
涙さしぐみかへりきぬ
山のあなたになお空遠く
「幸」住むと人のいふ

言わずと知れたカール・ブッセの「山のあなた」です。上田敏の『海潮音』に収録されたこの詩はカール・ブッセの祖国ドイツよりも日本の方がはるかに人口に膾炙しました。ひとえに上田敏の名訳に依るところが大きいと思います。七五調と選ばれた言葉が日本人の心を深く捉えました。能因法師、西行、松尾芭蕉と続く日本の伝統的な漂白詩人に対する憧れと、無常観から引き出された虚しさが胸を揺するのです。ひとり旅に出た時、写真の様な光景に出くわした時に浮かぶのがこの詩と、もうひとつ「幾山河越えさり行かば寂しさの終てなむ国ぞ今日も旅ゆく」です。若山牧水のこの短歌も「山のあなた」に触発されて生まれた詩です。

There is a small flower garden beside the footpath between rice paddies.  Until a few days ago, the buds of irises were tightly closed, but they opened as if to match the declaration of cherry blossoms.  The cherry blossoms are still one-tenth in bloom, but the irises are in full bloom.  Normally, irises bloom when the cherry blossoms begin to fall, but it seems that such an order has disappeared.  Such as the declaration of cherry blossoms is the fastest since the start of observation, everything seems to have entered an era of great change.

畦道の傍に小さな花園があります。数日前までは蕾を固く閉じていたのですが、桜の開花宣言に合わせるかの様に花を開きました。桜は一分咲きといったところですが、アヤメはすっかり開花しています。例年なら、桜が散り始めた頃にアヤメが花開くのですが、もうその様な秩序は無くなったようです。桜の開花宣言も観測開始以来最速といった所ばかりですから、何もかもが大変革の時代に突入した様です。

It was a warm middle day on the equinoctial week, as the word “No heat or cold lasts over the equinoctial week”.  The temperature has exceeded 20 degrees Celsius, which is the highest this year, and is about the same as mid-April to late April. Somei Yoshino cherry blossoms in Osaka bloomed at the temperature ahead of the season, which was the earliest flowering since the start of statistics.  Now that I think about it, 26 years ago today, indiscriminate terrorist attacks using chemical weapons occurred in Tokyo, which is rare in the world with 14 dead and 6,000 injured.  It was the case of the richest era after the war before the burst of the bubble economy, and the distortion hidden in the richness was exposed.  Together with the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that occurred two months before that, it became an incident that seemed to foresee the subsequent natural disasters and man-made disasters.  With that in mind, I unconsciously joined hands in the beautiful sunset over the sun on the middle day of the equinoctial week.

「暑さ寒さも彼岸まで」の言葉通り暖かい彼岸の中日になりました。気温も20度を超え4月中旬から下旬並みで今年最高だということです。季節先取りの気温で大阪のソメイヨシノが開花し、統計開始以来最も早い開花になりました。思えば26年前の今日、東京で死者14人、負傷者6,000人という世界でも稀に見る大都市圏における化学兵器を利用した無差別テロ事件が起こりました。バブル崩壊前の戦後最も豊かになった時代の事件で、豊かさの中に潜む歪みが露呈する事件になった訳です。その２か月前に起こった阪神淡路大震災と合わせ、その後の天災、人災を予見するかのような事件になりました。そんなことを思い起こしながら、お彼岸の中日に沈み行く綺麗な夕日に思わず手を合わせた次第です。

Aki-no-Higan(the autumn equinoctial week) can be sweaty due to the residual heat, but Haru-no-Higan(the spring equinoctial week) is never so warm.  It seems that the cherry blossom buds along the river can be opened at any time.  It is forecast that the temperature will exceed 20 degrees Celsius today, so I think it will bloom today.  Ikanago fishing in Osaka Bay has also been a poor catch, and until now it was normal to open in February, but recently it has been opened in March.  This year, the ban was lifted on the 6th, but it was discontinued on the 11th.  During that time, fishing was closed on Sunday on the 7th, and fishing was postponed on the 9th and 10th, and it seems that the Ikanago fishing season in Osaka Bay was actually only 3 days this season.  I couldn’t make Ikanago-no-Kugini(carameled sandlances) this year.

秋のお彼岸は残暑で汗をかくことはありますが、春のお彼岸でこんなに暖かいことはありません。川沿いの桜の蕾もいつ開いてもおかしくない様子です。今日は気温も20度を超える予報ですから、多分今日は開花すると思います。大阪湾のイカナゴ漁も不漁続きで、今までは２月解禁が普通でしたが、最近は３月解禁になっています。今年は６日に解禁されましたが11日で打ち切られました。その間、７日は日曜日で休漁、９、１０日は漁は見送りで、結局大阪湾での今季の漁期は実質３日に留まったそうです。今年はイカナゴの釘煮は作れませんでした。

There are many types of daffodils, but they can be broadly divided into Nihon-suisen(Japanese daffodil) and Rappa-suisen(Narcissus daffodil).  Nihon-suisen bloom from December to March of the following year, and Rappa-suisen in March and April.  Daffodil has a secondary petal in the middle of the flower, and this is especially large, which is a characteristic of  Rappa-suisen and is the origin of the name.   Nihon-suisen are simply called daffodils, and are a Chinese name that compares the beautiful appearance of blooming on the waterside to a hermit.  The English name of daffodil is Narcissus, but in the West, Narcissus is daffodil, which is derived from Greek mythology.  Narcissus, a young boy, does not look at the many women who are fascinated by him, and throws himself intoxicated by his own beauty reflected on the surface of the water.  The story ends with the fact that the daffodils bloomed there.  It is also the etymology of narcissists.  Nowadays, there are many places in Japan that are famous for Rappa-suisen colonies.

スイセンも沢山の種類がありましが、大きく分けるとニホンスイセンとラッパスイセンです。ニホンスイセンは12月から翌年の３月位にかけて咲き、ラッパスイセンは３月４月にさきます。スイセンには花の真ん中に副花弁があって、特にこれが大きいのがラッパスイセンの特徴であり、名前の由来です。ニホンスイセンは単に水仙ともいい 水辺に咲く美しい姿を仙人に例えた中国由来の名前です。スイセンの英語名はナルシスですが、西洋ではスイセンと言えばラッパスイセンのことで、ギリシャ神話に由来します。美少年ナルキッソスは彼に魅せられた沢山の女性には目もくれず、水面に映る自らの美貌に酔い痴れて身を投じます。そこに咲いたのがスイセンと言うお話です。ナルシストの語源でもあります。今では日本にもラッパスイセンの群生で有名な所が沢山あります。

Today 17th (Wednesday) is “Higan-no-iri(the beginning of the equinoctial week).  Today’s expected maximum temperature is higher than normal in most places from Okinawa and Kyushu to Kanto, and it seems that there are places such as Kagoshima and Kochi that exceed 20 degrees Celsius.  On March 11th, the cherry blossom front was also observed in Hiroshima for the first time in Japan to bloom Somei-Yoshino cherry trees.  From this weekend to next week, it is expected that news of the beginning of the cherry blossom flowering will arrive one after another in various parts of western and eastern Japan.  I’m happy that spring is coming early, but I’m not overjoyed.  I am worried about the occurrence of large-scale floods and super-large typhoons due to climate change.  I feel that there are major changes on a global scale, such as the new coronavirus and natural disasters.

今日17日(水)は彼岸の入りです。今日の予想最高気温は、沖縄や九州から関東では平年より高い所がほとんどで、鹿児島や高知など20度を超える所もあるそうです。桜前線も３月11日に広島で全国で最初となるソメイヨシノの開花が観測されました。今週末から来週にかけては西日本・東日本の各地でも続々と開花の便りが届く見込みだそうです。春の訪れが早いことは嬉しいことですが、気温といい、桜の開花といい、すべて例年に比べてかなり高かったり、早かったりで手放しで喜べません。気候変動による大規模な洪水とか超大型台風が発生しないか心配です。新型コロナウイルスとか自然災害とか地球規模で大きな変動が起こっている様な気がします。

Every day we can’t go to see the cherry blossoms or the live show. Spring is the season for flapping wings, but the frustration is just getting piled up.  But this time is the point of patience.  We can’t afford to lose to Corona.  The number of infected people has decreased considerably, although it has been flat.  Vaccine intake has begun and the hoping light has begun to appear.  At the Dozo Cafe here, music guys bring and play their favorite musical instruments to relieve their frustration.  We have a small cherry blossom viewing with cherry blossoms inserted in a single flower on the table.  Alcohol is forbidden and only has the aroma of coffee is drifting.

花見もライブも自粛自粛の毎日です。春は羽ばたく季節、鬱積が募ります。でもここが我慢のしどころ。コロナに負けるわけにはいきません。感染者数も横ばいとはいうもののかなり少なくなりました。ワクチン摂取も始まり光明も見え始めました。ここの土蔵カフェでも音楽野郎が好き好きの楽器を持ち寄り、鬱憤を晴らしています。テーブルの一輪挿しに挿した桜でせめてものお花見。アルコールはご法度でコーヒーの香りだけが漂います。