The story that Momotaro who was born from Momo(peach) receives a millet dumpling from an old man and an old woman, takes a dog , a monkey and a pheasant with him and goes to Onigashima(the island where demons live) to exterminate demons is one of Japan’s representative fairy tales. As used in Momotaro and Togenkyo(the utopia with peaches), peaches have long been regarded as a fruit of longevity and good luck in Japan and China. Nowadays, the peach which is undergoing varieties improvement is a typical high-grade fruit in summer along with a water melon. It seems that even higher-grade peaches are called honey peaches.

桃から生まれた桃太郎がお爺さんお婆さんから黍団子を貰って、犬、猿、雉を従え、鬼ヶ島まで鬼を退治しに行く物語りは昔から語り伝えられてきた日本の代表的なおとぎ話の一つです。桃太郎とか桃源郷に使われているように桃は中国や日本では昔から不老長寿、幸運の果実として尊ばれてきました。今では品種改良も進み、西瓜とともに夏の代表的な高級果実です。桃の中でも更に高級な桃を水蜜桃と呼ぶようです。

The flowers of lacquer flowers are in bloom in the garden of the house on the walking path. Speaking of which, Kuko was planted in the garden of my house where I used to live. It must have been planted by a big aunt who loves flowers. I don’t remember flowers, but I remember that many red fruits were made in autumn. I sometimes had a Kuko wine by soaking dried red fruit in sake and saying that it was good for my body. When I look it up now, it seems to be a nutritious food. It seems that Yang Guifei also ate the soybeans every day. The purple flowers are very nice.

散歩道に建つお家の庭に枸杞の花が咲いています。そう言えば、昔住んでいた我が家の庭にも枸杞を植えていました。花好きの大叔母が植えたのでしょう。花の記憶はありませんが、秋には赤い実が沢山できたのを覚えています。乾燥させた赤い実をお酒に漬け、身体に良いと時々飲まされたことがありました。今調べてみると、栄養価満点の食物だそうです。楊貴妃も毎日枸杞の実を食べていたとか。紫色の花がとても素敵です。

Native species are now endangered. Known as a noble Chinese medicine from ancient times, it has been used as a nourishing tonic and a beautiful voice medicine, especially by people such as Noh, Kyogen, and Joruri’s singing and talking. Since the flowers are beautiful, it has spread as a cultivated variety, but the native species are highly effective as medicinal effects, and so most noticeable items all have been picked up. Originally a strong variety, it grows in places like rock spaces and the crotch of trees. As the years go by, knots are added to increase the length.

自生種は今や絶滅危惧種。昔から高貴な漢方薬として知られ、滋養強壮剤で美声薬として特に能や狂言、浄瑠璃の歌いや語り等の人達に愛用されてきました。花が美しいので栽培種としても広がりましたが、自生種は薬効としても効果が高く、目に付く物はほとんど取り付くされました。元々は強い品種で、岩間や木の股の様なところでも育ちます。年を経る毎に節を増やして丈を伸ばします。

On a sunny day during the rainy season, I went for a walk in Nara Park. Along the way, I dropped in the long-established Nara fan store, “Ikeda Gankoudo,” and bought the desired “Nara fan”. The Nara fan, which is made of any color of red, white, yellow, brown, and light blue, with the Nara style and the Shosoin pattern open-worked, is cool to look at. In the Tobihino grass field, where people and deers are sparse, I forgot the passage of time, fanning the “Nara fan” I had just bought.

梅雨の晴れ間をぬって奈良公園散策に出掛けました。途中、奈良団扇の老舗、「池田含香堂（いけだがんこうどう）」に寄って、お目当ての「奈良団扇」を買いました。赤、白、黄、茶、水色の五色の和紙に、奈良の風物や正倉院模様が透かし彫りに施された「奈良団扇」は見ただけでも涼しげです。人も鹿もまばらな飛火野で、買ったばかりの「奈良団扇」を扇ぎながら、しばし時の経つのを忘れていました。

The state of Hyakunichi-so has changed completely now. It is a flower that was always offered to Buddhist Buddha in the Obon time, and nowadays it is called Zinnia, and there are many dwarf varieties suitable for flower beds and containers, which makes it a very popular gardening material. The Zinnia in the photo was taken in a nearby park, and it is called Zinnia Profision, a gardening species created by “Sakata Seeds Co.” by crossing Zinnia elegans and Zinnia linealis. The flowering period is long as the name “hyakunich(hundred days)”, and it continues to bloom one after another throughout the summer.

百日草も随分様変わりしたものです。昔からお盆には必ず仏前にお供えした花ですが、今はジニアと呼ばれて、花壇やコンテナなどに適した矮性の品種がたくさん流通しており、ガーデニング素材としてとても人気があります。写真のジニアは近くの公園で撮ったものですが、ジニア・プロフィージョンと言って、「サカタのタネ」が百日草（ジニア・エレガンス）とジニア・リネアリスを交配してつくり出した園芸種です。「百日」というだけあって開花期間が長く、夏中次々と咲き続けます。

Kunlunka is a flower that makes us feel romantic just by listening to its name. At the border between the Taklimakan Desert in the Uighur Autonomous Region and the Tibetan Autonomous Region, in the western part of China, there is the Kunlun Mountains, which is 3,000km east-west and has more than 200 mountains over 6,000m high. From ancient times, in China, it has been said that there is “Kunlun Mountain” in the far west, where water containing immortal components flows and the hermit lives. Kunlunka with dark green leaves, pure white calyx and star-studded yellow flowers certainly reminds us of “Kunlun Mountain”.

崑崙花、名前からしてロマンをそそる花です。中国の西域、ウイグル自治区にあるタクラマカン砂漠とチベット自治区との境には、東西3000km、6000mを超える高山が200以上連なる崑崙山脈があります。昔から中国では、遥か西に「崑崙山」があり、そこには不老不死の水が流れ、仙人が住んでいると言い伝えられてきました。濃い緑の葉と真っ白な萼、星を散りばめた様な黄色い花々、崑崙花はまさに「崑崙山」を思い起こさせる花だったのです。

The rice field is already covered with a young leaf color. As I walk along the ridge between rice fields, the sun shine during the rainy season is hard and makes me sweat. There is a tree standing in front of me, and it has flowers that are sober. I rushed into its shade. Looking closely at the flowers, I can see that it is a tree of Sendan. It’s a very lovely flower though it doesn’t stand out in the distance. I can understand well that Sei Shonagon loved this flower very much and that a tanka about Sendan was composed in the Manyoshu. By the way, “Sendan” means sandalwood in Chinese, and “Sendan” in the Japanese idiom “Sendan gives off a good scent from the time of young leaves” is sandalwood.

田んぼももう一面若葉色です。畦道を歩いていると、梅雨の晴れ間の陽光が照りつけ、汗ばんできます。先に一本の木が立っていて、地味ながらも花を付けています。急いでその木陰に入りました。花をよく見るとセンダンの木です。遠目には目立ちませんが、とても可愛い花です。清少納言がこよなく愛でて、万葉集にも歌われたこの花の美しさがよく分かります。因みにセンダン(栴檀)は中国では香木の白檀のことを指し、「栴檀は双葉より芳し」の「栴檀」は白檀のことで、中国語がすり替えられて使われています。

Byakudan is a very common “string cactus”, and if you cut it vaguely and insert it in the soil, it will increase as much as you want. However, it is not easy to make flowers bloom. Even if you grow up with tender care, it does not bloom, but rather if it is completely dried by being exposed to the cold wind and even if it wilts out, you will leave it, it will bloom so beautiful now. This Byakudan has blossomed on a splendid stone wall without the master because none take care of it.

白檀はごくありふれた「ひもサボテン」で、適当に切って土に挿しておけばいくらでも増えます。しかし、花を咲かせるのは容易ではありません。可愛い可愛いと育てたからといって花を咲かせるものではなく、かえって寒風に晒されて完全に乾燥し、萎み切っても放って置くと今頃こんなに綺麗な花を咲かせます。雑草が生い茂る、主人なきこの立派な石垣にだからこそ、白檀は花を咲かせたのです。

On a clear day during the rainy season, the white Hangesho stands out in the forest. If you look closely, you can see small, inconspicuous flowers blooming. Bees do not notice with such flowers. Therefore, the leaves turn pure white to stand out and replace the flowers, attracting bees. When pollination is completed, it returns to the original green color. This plant is also called “Hangesho” assorted with “Hangesho day” of eleventh day after the summer solstice according to the calendar. Around this time, the leaves of Hangesho turn white. On “Hangesho day”, it has always been customary to eat octopus. There used to be a chic sushi restaurant that served an octopus sushi putting Hangesho on the bottom of octopus material on the “Hangesho day”.

梅雨の晴れ間、森の陽だまりに真っ白いハンゲショウが一際目立ちます。目を凝らして見ると、小さくて目立たない花がちょろっと咲いています。これでは蜂も寄り付きません。そこで葉が代わって真っ白に化粧をし、蜂を誘き寄せるから「半化粧」なのです。受粉を終えると元の緑に返ります。「半夏生」とも書きますが、夏至から数えて十一日目、七月の二日当たりを暦の上で「半夏生の日」と言い、この頃にハンゲショウの葉が白くなるからです。半夏生の日には昔から蛸を食べる習慣があります。昔、半夏生の日に、蛸ネタの床にハンゲショウの葉を敷く粋な寿司屋さんがありました。

Lantana begins to bloom at about the same time as hydrangea. Hydrangea only blooms for about a month, but lantana continues to bloom until the end of autumn. It is a very vital plant and blooms many flowers even in a small sand pool in a stone wall. It is vulnerable to cold, so it will die in winter in Japan. However, it continues to breed all year round in tropical and subtropical regions such as Australia and Southeast Asia, and is therefore one of “the 100 worst invasive alien species in the world”. There are petals of various colors in one flower, and it is also called “seven changes” because it changes colors depending on the season.

ランタナはアジサイ とほぼ同じ頃に咲き始めます。アジサイ は精々一カ月位しか咲きませんが、ランタナは秋の終わり位まで咲き続けます。非常に生命力の強い植物で、石垣のちょっとした砂だまりにも沢山の花を咲かせます。寒さに弱いので、日本では冬には枯れてしまいます。しかし、オーストラリアや東南アジアなどの熱帯・亜熱帯地域では一年中繁殖を続けるので、「世界の侵略的外来種ワースト100」の一つに数えられています。一つの花の中にも様々な色の花弁があり、季節毎に色を変えるので「七変化」とも呼ばれます。