White pebbles are lined up on the side of the road, and fallen camellias are displayed.  The sensibility and kindness of who made it makes me feel moved.  Sasanqua flowers have petals scattered one by one to cover the ground, and camellia flowers fall entirely and bloom on the ground.  It is the same as human beings that each flower plays its role and there is a difference in the way it is scattered.  It was also a morning reminiscent of many stone circles in Japan and many in the world.

道端に、白い小石をまあるく並べ、落ちた椿を飾ってあります。誰がしつらえたのか、その感性と優しさに胸がジーンとなってきます。山茶花は花びらが一枚一枚散って大地を覆い、椿は花が丸ごと落ちて大地にも花を咲かせます。花それぞれがその役割を果たし、散り際にも違いがあるのは、人間と同じです。日本にも多くあり、世界にも多くあるストーンサークルを思い起こさせる朝にもなりました。

There is a limestone quarry nearby.  Setsubunso(Eranthis pinnatifida) that blooms in such a terrain is blooming early.  It is a small flower with a plant height of about 10 cm and a flower size of about 2 cm in diameter.  It looks like an artificial flower made of Japanese paper.  The white part that looks like a petal is not a petal, but a calyx that can support the petal.  The petals are the yellow part that surrounds the center.  There are places where it blooms in clusters, but if it blooms only a little like here, it will be more interested and I’m likely to look into it.  The name comes from the fact that it blooms around Setsubun in the lunar calendar.  It will be from the end of February to the beginning of March.  However, since it is already in bloom, did the Setsubunso also match the new calendar?  There was an advertisement for Ehomaki at the convenience store on the way back.

近くに石灰岩の採掘場があります。そんな地形に咲く節分草が早々と咲いています。草丈10cmほど、花の大きさは直径2cmほどの小さな花です。和紙でできた造花の様ですね。花びらの様にみえる白い部分は花びらではなくて、花びらを支えれる萼です。花びらは中心部を囲む黄色い部分です。群生して咲く所もありますが、ここの様に僅かしか咲いていないと、余計に気になり覗き込んでしまいます。旧暦の節分の頃に咲くことからその名が付きました。今の２月下旬から３月上旬ということになります。しかしもう咲いていますから、節分草も新暦に合わせたのでしょうか。帰り道のコンビニには恵方巻きの広告が出ていました。

I receive many letters from friends all over Japan.  All from the Line and the Email. Most of it is from the Line. This is not more than 10 years old.  The Line was released in 2011, and in less than 10 years, it is now used by 65% ​​of the Japanese population of 125 million, or 80 million.  A long time ago, the Tegami and the Hagaki with only characters were all letters.  The only letter that I could attach photos to was a New Year’s card.  Compared to that, the Line is easier to type and you can send as many photos as you like.  Besides, since it can be sent immediately from hand,  the Lines are much more convenient than  the  Tegami and the Hageki.  That’s why it became today’s haiku.

日本各地のお友達からお便りを沢山頂きます。全てラインやメールからです。それもほとんどがラインからです。これもここ10年も昔からではありません。ラインがリリース(発表、発売)されたのが2011年で、10年足らずの間に、今や日本人口１億2500万人の実に65%、8000万人が使っている状況です。ひと昔前なら、便りと言えば手紙や葉書で文字ばかり。写真等を添えるのは年賀状くらいでした。それに比べたら、ラインは文字も簡単に打ち込め、写真も何枚でも送れます。それも手元から直ぐに送れる訳ですから、手紙や葉書に比べたら隔絶の感があります。という訳で、今日の俳句となりました。

It’s cold this morning.  It is 1 degree below freezing. It’s Daikan(the coldest period between about January 20 and February 4, the first day of spring) yesterday, so the cold should be at its peak, but I don’t know.  Recently, it is often said that everything is breaking records or the first time in the history of observation, so I don’t know if there will be even colder days.  However, the surrounding trees and flowers are definitely preparing for spring.  Sasanqua has begun to drop a lot of petals, but there is still momentum.  White sasanqua flowers are blooming on the promenade that has not dawned yet, and it looks like a road lantern.  A faint scent of plum blossoms drifts from the nearby plum garden, which makes me feel more spring.  We want to overcome the coronavirus and have a hopeful spring, aren’t we?

今朝は寒い。氷点下１度です。昨日(1/20)は大寒ですから、寒さもピークのはずですがわかりません。最近は何もかもが記録破りだとか、観測史上初めてと言ったことが多いから、さらに寒い日があるかも分かりません。しかし、周りの木々や草花は確実に春の準備を進めています。山茶花も花びらを沢山落とし始めていますが、まだまだ勢いがあります。まだ開けやらぬ遊歩道に真っ白な山茶花が咲いていて、道灯籠の様です。近くの梅園から仄かな梅の香りも漂って来ますから、いっそう春の気分を盛り上げます。コロナウイスに打ち勝って、希望に満ちた春を迎えたいですね。

Every day with Sankan-Shion(three cold days and four warm days).  The plums that have begun to bloom are lightly covered with snow.  Its snow looks like a white muffler and even looks warm. It’s just like the expression of a frolicking child singing “Yukiya Konkon, Arareya Konkon”.  Maybe it looks like it’s because I feel good.  Even if you look at the same scenery, there are various ways to receive it.  Even one person will be different depending on the mood of the day.  January 17th is also “Omusubi Day”.  This day was set up to thank the 130,000 rice balls that the volunteers who gathered at “JA Kobe Nishi” sent to the victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 26 years ago.  They said they made 6,000 pieces a day, desperately for three weeks.  Even if you look at one rice ball, if you hear such a story, your perspective will be different.

三寒四温の続く毎日。綻び始めた梅に雪が軽く被さっています。白いマフラーの様で暖っかそうにさえ見えます。「ゆーきやこんこん、あられーやこんこん」とはしゃぐ子供の表情です。多分こちらの気分がいいのでしょう。同じ景色を見ても受け取り方は人様々。同じ人でもその日の気分で違ってきます。1月17日は「おむすびの日」でもあります。26年前の阪神淡路大震災時に、「JA神戸西」に集まったボランティア達が被災者達に送り届けた13万個のおむすびに感謝する為に設けられた日です。１日に６千個、必死で３週間作り続けたそうです。１個のおむすびを見ても、こういうお話を聞いたら、また見方も違ってきます。

I received a red and white Kabura(turnip) from a nearby farmer.  When I asked him what kind of seedlings it was when he was planting seedlings before, he answered it was Kabura. He promised me that he would give me it when it would grow, but I have thoroughly forgot it. But now I received it.  I’m grateful for him and I’m just moved for the wonderful red and white turnips.  I’m wondering how to cook it now.  By the way, “Kabura” is a Kansai language, which is the originator, but the standard language is “Kabu”.  It’s a Kanto dialect, so to speak.  A long time ago, the women of Court used to say “Okabu”, but the “O” was removed and it became “Kabu”.  There are many examples of saying this, such as “Nasu(eggplant)” for “Nasubi”, “Kabocha(pumpkin) for “Nankin”, “Hasu(lotus root)” for “Renkon”, and so on.

近くのお百姓から紅白のかぶらを頂きました。以前苗植えをしている時に何の苗かとお聞きしたら、かぶらだと。できたら上げますよと言われたのですが、忘れていたら頂戴した次第。ありがたくて、しかも紅白の立派なかぶら、ただただ感謝です。どうしたものかと思案中です。ちなみに「かぶら」は関西言葉で、これが元祖ですが、標準語では「かぶ」。言ってみれば、関東の方言です。昔、宮中の女房達が「おかぶ」と言っていたのが、「お」が取れて「かぶ」になったわけです。こう言った例は沢山あって、「なすび」が「なす」、「なんきん」が「かぼちゃ」、「れんこん」が「はす」等々。

Izu is already a spring landscape.  The early blooming Kawazu cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and rape blossoms are spreading in the countryside.  There are some places where it is hard to clear snow due to heavy snow, other places which has already reached spring.  Thinking about this, it seems that Japan is also wide. It is a characteristic of Japan that is long from north to south and surrounded by the sea.  The scenery of the four seasons is rich in variety and blessed with abundant ingredients, and it is inevitable that the Japanese born and raised there are rich in emotion. While, natural disasters such as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake are not odd.  Catastrophes that kill thousands and tens of thousands of people at once continue to occur.  Ironically, this also purifies the Japanese mind.

伊豆はもう春の景色です。早咲きの河津桜は見頃を迎え、菜の花が田園に広がっています。大雪で雪掻きが大変という所があるかと思えば、こうしてもう春を迎えている所もある日本は意外に広いんだと胸を張りたい気分です。南北に長く、周りを海に囲まれた日本ならではの特徴です。四季折々の景色は変化に富み、豊かな食材にも恵まれ、そこで生まれ育った日本人が情緒豊かなのも必然です。そうかと思えば、阪神淡路大震災のような自然災害も半端ではありません。一度に何千人、何万人の命を落とす大災害も起こり続いています。皮肉なことにこれもまた日本人の心を浄化します。

Twenty-six years ago, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck today, killing nearly 6,500 precious lives.  We pray for the souls.  On the day when the memory of that time revives vividly, the fruit that seems to be a cherry blossom is spreading in the blue sky.  Eventually, when this fruit also falls, it sprouts and young leaves spread in the sky.  I feel impermanence and hope in the life that lasts forever. Now,   the “The Tale of the Heike” tells us the proverb that “Great talent shows itself early in childhood”, and this proverb has been passed down to this day, but “Sendan” here means “Ofuchi”.  There is almost no scent that can be said on the Ofuchi.  Sendan originally refers to Byakudan(sandalwood), which is not found in Japan, so Sendan is not found in Japan either.  The illusion that the author of The Tale of the Heike thought that the Ofuchi that resembled Sendan was mistaken for Sendan and that the Sendan had a nice scent has been passed down to this day as the saying “Great talent shows itself early in childhood”.  That’s right.

26年前の今日、阪神淡路大震災が起こり6500人近くの尊い命が犠牲になりました。ご冥福をお祈りいたします。その時の記憶が鮮明に甦る日、栴檀が桜の花かと見紛える様な実を青空に広げています。やがてこの実も落ちると新芽を出し若葉が空に広がります。永遠に続く命の営みに無常を感じ、また希望も感じます。「栴檀は双葉より芳しとこそ見えたれ」と諸行無常の物語「平家物語」にあり、この諺が今日まで伝わっていますが、ここで言う「栴檀」は「おふち」のことで、おふちにはほとんど語られる様な匂いはありません。栴檀は元々白檀のことを指し、白檀は日本にはないから、栴檀も日本にはないわけです。栴檀に似たおふちを栴檀に取り違え、その栴檀にはいい香りがあると言う言い伝えを平家物語の作者が思い込んだ錯覚が、「栴檀は双葉より芳し」と言う諺になって今日まで伝わっているわけですね。

It’s still a little early to say Sankan-Shion(three cold and four warm), but recently cold days and warm days have repeated.  Yesterday of Koshogatsu(the First Full Moon) was weather in the middle of March.  Spring is definitely approaching.  While the state of emergency for the new coronavirus infection was issued in various places, plum blossoms began to open in the nearby park.  Every time I hear the news, I feel depressed, but at least it’s comforting.  But is it okay to let go of this too?  The average temperature in the world in 2020 was 14.88 degrees Celsius, which was the second highest in the history of observation after 2016.  Of these, the average temperature on land is said to have reached a record high of 10.09 degrees Celsius.  NASA’s research team emphasizes that “reducing greenhouse gases that cause global warming is important.”  Far from being Sankan-Shion, it is every day of Ikki Ichiyu(Now glad, Now sad).

三寒四温と言うにはまだ少し早いですが、このところ寒い日と温かい日が繰り返しています。小正月の昨日は３月中旬の陽気だとか。春は確実に近づいています。新型コロナウイルス感染症緊急事態宣言が各地で出される中、近くの公園では、梅の花がほころび始めました。ニュースを聞く度に気が滅入る思いですが、せめてもの慰めです。しかしこれも手放しで喜んでいいのかどうか。昨年２０２０年の世界の平均気温が１４・８８度となり、１６年に次いで観測史上２番目に高かったとか。このうち陸上の平均気温は過去最高の１０・０９度を記録したそうです。NASAの研究チームは「地球温暖化の原因となる温室効果ガスの削減が重要だ」と強調しています。三寒四温どころか、一喜一憂の毎日です。

Lady’s grass is a flower known as Christmas rose, meaning that it is a flower like a lady.  As the name suggests, it begins to bloom at Christmas time, and the appearance of it blooming vigorously even in the midwinter snow is like a lady.  It was surprisingly old that it was introduced to Japan, and it is said that it was in the late Edo period.  Initially, it seems that it was introduced as a medicinal plant, and it was secretly enjoyed by some tea people under the names of “Yukiokoshi” and “Kanshakuyaku”.  The original scientific name is “Hellebore”, and in Greek it means “you die when you eat.”  In fact, the roots and stems of Christmas roses are extremely poisonous, and the juice extracted from them was applied to the tip of the arrow and used when hunting animals such as deer and foxes, and was also used in warfare.  It is also a flower that is likened to “Beautiful flowers are poisonous.”

貴婦人草とは貴婦人のような草花と言う意味で、クリスマスローズで知られている花です。その名の通り、クリスマス時分に咲き始め、真冬の雪の中でも元気良く咲く姿は貴婦人の趣があります。日本に移入されたのは意外に古く、江戸時代末期とされています。当初は薬用植物として移入された様で、一部の茶人達の間で「雪おこし」とか「寒芍薬」と言う名で密やかに楽しまれていました。本来の学名はヘレボルスで、ギリシャ語では「食べると死ぬ」と言う意味があるそうです。実際、クリスマスローズの根や茎などには猛毒が含まれていて、そこから抽出した絞り汁を矢の先に塗り鹿や狐などの動物を狩るときに使ったり、戦争にも使われました。「美しい花には毒がある」の喩え通りの花でもあります。