There are some mysterious flowers out there. While taking a morning walk, I saw what I thought was a dandelion blooming in someone’s garden. But upon closer inspection, I realized it wasn’t a dandelion at all. Its leaves were completely different and had a succulent cactus-like texture. I quickly took a photo with my smartphone and used Google Lens to search for it. It turns out it’s called a Bergeranthus and belongs to the ice plant family from South Africa. It’s a winter succulent that is heat and cold-resistant with strong reproductive ability, making it easy to grow. I looked up its Japanese name and found out it’s called “San-ji-sou” or “Terunami”. It’s named after the fact that it only blooms at 3 o’clock and the flowers open precisely at that time. It’s amazing how some flowers have such unique characteristics. If you keep this flower around, If you put this flower next to you, it will let you know that it’s three o’clock, so when this flower blooms, you can boil coffee and prepare today’s snack. It grows to about 10cm in height and produces many bright yellow flowers (although there are also white-flowering varieties) similar to dandelions from April to May. The flowers bloom around 3 p.m. and close at sunset, repeating this cycle for about a week.

不思議な花もあるものです。朝散歩をしていると、民家の庭先にタンポポが咲いている。最初はそう思ったんですが、よく見るとタンポポじゃない。葉がまるで違っていて、多肉質のサボテンの様な葉です。早速スマホで撮ってグーグルレンズで検索したらベルゲランサツとあります。南アフリカ産のハマミズナ科ベルゲランタス属の耐暑性・耐寒性があり繁殖力が旺盛で育てやすい冬型の多肉植物だそうです。和名を調べて「三時草」、別名「照波(てるなみ)」であることが分かりました。３時にならないと花を咲かせないし、３時になるときっちり花を咲かせることからこの名前が付いたそうです。不思議な花もあるもんです。この花をそばに置いておいたら、「お三時」を知らせてくれるのですから、この花が咲いたらコーヒーを沸かし、今日のおやつを用意すればいいんですよね。草丈は10cm程度で、4～5月にかけてタンポポに似た鮮やかな黄色い花(白花を咲かす品種も存在する)をたくさんつけるそうで、花は15時頃に開き日没頃には閉じ、それを1週間くらい繰り返すそうです。

It’s not quite May yet, so we can’t call it a “May weather” just yet, but with the sunshine and warmth, it’s certainly feeling like it today. It seems that the pressure distribution will change from the afternoon and it will be strong winds today, but now there is almost no wind. The many carp streamers hanging on both sides of the river are taking a break too. The cherry blossom front has moved north, and the same scenery can be seen throughout the country. Many people from overseas are also visiting Japan and are equally impressed by this tranquil landscape, saying how lucky they are to be here at this time. Some are buying carp streamers to take home as souvenirs and  saying to want to hoiste immediately them up. If more and more foreigners come to japan and learn about Japan’s nature and traditional culture, the world will surely become a more peaceful and richer place.

まだ５月にはなっていませんから五月晴れとは言えませんが、日差しといい暖かさといい、もうそう言ってもおかしくない今日のお天です。今日は午後から気圧配置が変わって強風になるそうですが、今はほとんど無風状態です。川には両岸に渡って掛かっている何匹もの鯉のぼりも一休みといったところです。桜前線も北上してしまって、全国至る所が同じ様な光景が見られるのでしょう。海外からもまた沢山の人達が日本に来ているそうですが、皆さん一様にこののどかな風景に感動し、この時期に日本に来てラッキーだと言っています。お見上げに鯉のぼりを買って帰って、早速鯉のぼりを掲げるんだと言う人もいます。もっともっと多くの外国人が来て、日本の自然と伝統文化を知ったら、世界はきっと平和で心豊かな居場所になるでしょう。

The fuji (wisteria) blossoms all at once, filling the air with a sweet fragrance. Fujii comes in two colors: purple and white. The elegant shade of pale bluish-purple is known as “fuji-iro” in Japanese, after the flower itself, and has long been a familiar traditional color in Japan, exuding a graceful and elegant atmosphere from the entire flower. On the other hand, compared to the graceful purple fuji, white fuji looks like a pure and innocent young girl. The flower language of white fuji is “nostalgic memories”, which evokes the image of one’s pure and innocent childhood. Fuji is native to Japan and there are two types: “nodafuji” and “yamafuji”. What is generally referred to as fuji is nodafuji, which is commonly seen for ornamental and cultivation purposes. On the other hand, yamafuji is a woody vine plant distributed in the western regions of Kinki, Shikoku, Kyushu and Chugoku, with its tendrils coiling in the opposite direction to fuji’s right coil. Its flower spikes are not as long as wisteria’s, and its flowers bloom later, with a more intense purple color than huji. The “fuji waterfall” commonly seen in the mountains is yamafuji.

フジが一斉に花開き、あたりに甘い香りを漂わせています。フジには紫と白の二色の花の色があります。淡い青みのある上品な紫色は、そのまま花の名をとって「藤色」と呼ばれています。古くからなじみ深い日本の伝統色としても浸透しており、花全体から放たれるたおやかで優美な雰囲気を醸し出しています。一方、白色のフジは、優美な紫の藤に比べて純粋無垢な少女の様です。白いフジの花言葉「懐かしい思い出」で、その純真無垢な幼い頃の姿を重ね合わせているようにも感じられます。フジは日本原産で、ノダフジとヤマフジの二種類があります。一般的にフジと呼んでいるのはノダフジで、観賞用・栽培用としてよく見かけます。一方、ヤマフジは近畿地方以西の中国・四国・九州に分布する木本性ツル植物で、ツルの巻き方向が、フジが右巻きなのに対して左巻きです。花穂がフジのように長く伸長しません。花期もフジよりも遅く、花は紫色がフジに比べて色濃いのが特徴です。山でよく見かけるフジ瀑布はヤマフジです。

Many people are visiting to see the shibazakura, lured by the spring weather. Many of them are holding parasols. Because of the strong reflection, the white parasols are dyed red. The scene of shibazakura blooming all over the ground makes viewers feel the joy of spring and the arrival of summer. This year, all flowers are blooming at a record-breaking speed, leaving no time to rest. Despite the fact that cherry blossoms have just finished falling, tulips are in full bloom, and now the shibazakura is also in full bloom. There are pale pink and pale purple pastel-colored flowers, as well as clean-looking white shibazakura. Shibazakura is distributed throughout Japan, from Abashiri in Hokkaido to Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu. The blooming season is April in Kyushu, May in Kansai, Kinki, Tohoku, and Kanto, and from late May to early June in Hokkaido, continuing to bloom until early summer. Shibazakura is native to the western part of North America, and is called “Moss phlox” in English, derived from the Greek word “phlogos,” meaning flame.

春の陽気に誘われて多くの人達が芝桜を見に訪れています。日傘を差す人もたくさんいます。照り返しが強いせいで、白い日傘は紅色に染まっています。芝桜が一面に咲き乱れる光景は、見る人々に春の喜びと夏の訪れを感じさせてくれます。今年はどの花も記録破りの早さで咲くので、息つく暇もありません。桜が散り終えたばかりだというのに、チューリップが咲き乱れる、こうして芝桜も満開です。うすピンク色やうす紫のパステルカラーをした花もあれば、清楚な感じの白色の芝桜もあります。芝桜の咲く地域は、北は北海道網走から南は九州鹿児島県まで日本全国に分布しています。開花の季節も九州では4月、関西や近畿そして関東や東北では5月に、そして北海道では5月下旬から6月上旬にかけて、まさしく初夏まで咲き続けます。芝桜は北アメリカ西部が原産地で、英名では「Moss phlox」と呼ばれています。ギリシャ語で炎を意味する「phlogos」が由来といわれています。

I saw the flowers of the Akebi for the first time. I have eaten the fruit a few times before. The fruit ripens from September to October, has a light purple or purple color, and has a eggplant-like shape of about 10 cm in length. When it ripens, the skin splits and reveals a white, jelly-like flesh. It has a smooth and refreshing sweetness and tastes delicious, but most of it is seeds. Akebi is a deciduous climbing woody plant that grows wild in the mountains and fields of Japan. The flowers are very cute, and they bloom separately as male and female flowers, with colors ranging from purple, light purple, to white. It has a long history of being used by humans, with not only the fruit, but also the new shoots being used as ingredients, and mature vines being used as materials for crafts such as weaving baskets. It is also an important Chinese medicine called “Mokutsu,” used as a diuretic and various other medications.

アケビの花を初めて見ました。実は何度か食べたことがあります。９月から10月頃に実ができ、色は薄紫色や紫色で、10cm程度の瓜の様な形をしています。熟すと果皮が割けて白色のゼリー状の果肉を覗かせます。とろりとした爽やかな甘みがあり美味しいのですが、ほとんどが種です。アケビは日本の山野に自生する落葉ツル性木本です。花がとても可愛らしく、雄花と雌花で分かれて咲き、花の色は紫色や薄紫色、白色などがあります。人との関わりは古く、実はもちろん、新芽を食材にしたり、成熟した蔓は、籠を編むなどして工芸品の素材として利用されてきました。また漢方でも木通(もくつう)として重要な生薬で、利尿剤や様々な薬剤として利用されています。

When I was a child, every spring the sukanpo would sprout up beside the Jizo statues that were enshrined throughout the town. When I picked and chewed on the skanpo, it would make my body shiver with its sour taste. After that, I would fold two or three of them and offer them to Jizo, and then go back home. Sukanpo is actually formally known as “itadori,” but I didn’t know that until recently. Itadori is a plant that has been familiar to Japanese people since ancient times, to the point that it was described as “tajinohana” (late blooming flower) in the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) because it blooms from summer to autumn. It has been used as a folk remedy for stopping bleeding, and its young stems have been used for pickling and tempura. However, it was introduced to the UK and US for erosion control and gardening, and its strong vitality caused it to spread and gradually displace native species in the surrounding areas. It has become a notorious invasive species, capable of breaking through stone walls and concrete with its underground stems, pushing up train tracks, and destroying levees.

子供の頃、春になると、町中に祀られているお地蔵さんの傍に必ずすかんぽが芽を伸ばしていました。そのすかんぽを折ってしゃぶると酸っぱくて身震いしたものです。そのあと、すかんぽを二、三本折ってお地蔵さんにお供えし、拝んで家に帰ったものです。すかんぽは正式にはイタドリと言うそうですが、最近まで知りませんでした。イタドリは夏から秋にかけて花が咲くので、日本書紀では「多遅花（たじのはな）」と表現されているほど昔から馴染みのある植物です。昔から民間薬として、止血に利用されたり、若い茎を漬物やてんぷらに利用してきました。しかし、土壌の浸食防止や園芸用にイギリスとアメリカへ導入されたイタドリは、生命力が強過ぎて、次第に周辺地へ拡大繁殖し、在来種を追い払うまでになりました。さらには地下茎によって石垣やコンクリートを突き破ったり、電車のレールを押し上げ、堤防を破壊する程で、今では極めて厄介な外来種として悪名が高いそうです。

There is a certain worldview in Japan that views this world as a place to be despised, whether referred to as the “floating world” or the “sorrowful world,” a world that should be loathed and filled with hardship, a world of impermanence. Many of the classical works studied in high school are based on this worldview, and its influence is strong. This Buddhist worldview of pessimism has been passed down to the Japanese people as a characteristic, both good and bad. Even the beautiful spring scenery in front of us and the feeling that it is like a dream originate from this worldview. Fear and anxiety about death are sensations that cannot be eradicated as long as we are human. These feelings are combined with the Buddhist concept of impermanence to create the Japanese Buddhist worldview of pessimism that is favored by the Japanese people. It is a fact that much of Japanese culture has been created from this Buddhist worldview of pessimism.

この世のことを浮き世とも憂き世とも言い表し、現世を厭うべき世界、辛いことの多い世の中、無常のこの世と捉える世界観が日本の一方にはあります。高校で習う古典の多くはそうした世界観に基づいた出典が多く、その影響が強い様です。こうした仏教的厭世観が良い意味にも悪い意味にも日本人の特質として受け継がれています。今目の前に見る春爛漫の光景も、夢の世界の様に思える心境もそうした世界観から発しています。死に対する恐怖感、不安感は、人である限り拭い去ることができない感覚です。そうした感覚が仏教の無常感と結びつき、日本人好みの仏教的厭世観が生み出されました。日本の文化の多くはこうした仏教的厭世観から生み出されているのも事実です。

Bamboo shoots are in season. This year shows a bright sign, and we can enjoy delicious bamboo shoots. As you can see from the kanji characters for bamboo shoots (筍), the character for ‘seasonal’ (旬) is added with a bamboo radical. ‘Shun’ means a period of ten days, which is the limit for bamboo shoots. After ten days, they become too hard to eat. In other words, bamboo grows quickly. The bamboo shoots available in the market are mostly from the moso bamboo species. Bamboo shoots become bitter when exposed to sunlight, so they need to be harvested early in the morning just before they break the ground. High-quality bamboo shoots harvested from well-maintained bamboo forests are called ‘shirako,’ which is also known as the rarest and highest-quality bamboo shoots called ‘Kyoto Takenoko.’ The moso bamboo, which is known for its strong vitality to survive in harsh environments, is a material that contains a significant amount of amino acid called tyrosine, which has an excellent antibacterial effect and activates the brain. Bamboo has deep roots in Japanese culture and has been intertwined with the Japanese people since ancient times, from everyday items such as bamboo baskets and chopsticks to musical instruments like shakuhachi and tools for tea ceremonies. It is an indispensable part of Japanese life.

筍(たけのこ)が旬を迎えています。今年はやっと明るい兆しが見える年で、筍も美味しくいただけます。筍という漢字は見ての通り、旬という字に竹冠がついています。旬は十日間という意味です。つまり筍は十日間が限度で後は硬くなって食べられない。言い換えれば竹の成長はそれほど早いということです。市中に出回っている筍は多くは孟宗竹の筍です。筍は日に当たるとエグ味が出るため、地面から顔を出す寸前のものを早朝に収穫する必要があります。手入れが行き届いた竹林で収穫される良質のタケノコは「白子」と呼ばれ、京都の「京たけのこ」という食材も、白く美しい姿は「白子たけのこ」とも呼ばれ、その希少さから幻の筍とも言われる最高級品です。過酷な環境で生き延びる生命力が強い植物として知られている孟宗竹は優れた抗菌性を持ち、脳を活性化させる作用がある「チロシン」というアミノ酸を多く含む素材です。「かぐや姫」をはじめ、古くから日本人と深い関わりを持つ「竹」は、竹籠や箸といった日常品から、尺八のような楽器や茶道の道具まで、日本人の生活とは切っても切れない存在です。

After the excitement of cherry blossom season has passed, now it’s time for the carp streamers to flutter around here and there in May. Since New Year’s, various events and festivals have been repeated one after another, so there is no time to get bored. Well, saying this might just be the ramblings of an old person. Young people who are busy with work and life may not have time for such things. Putting that aside, let me give you a brief explanation about carp streamers. The origin of carp streamers is said to be from the Edo period. In households where a boy was born, it was customary to celebrate by setting up flags and banners with the family crest on them at the gate on May 5th to wish for “safety, good luck, and success”. They eventually turned into carp streamers. Initially, carp streamers were made by drawing carp pictures on washi paper, but over time, in the Taisho period, untearable brocade carp streamers were born. And in the mid-Showa period, synthetic fiber carp streamers that do not fade even when wet were introduced and have been passed down to modern times. As you may know, typical carp streamers are lined up with three carp swimming together. From the top, they are called Magoi, Higoi, and Koi in that order, and the Magoi represents the father, the Higoi represents the mother, and the Koi represents the child. It is said that this configuration was established only after the 30s of the Showa period, and until then, only Magoi and Higoi were made. Nowadays, there are even more variations, with windsocks attached and the number of Koi representing the number of boys, girls, or children. Just watching carp streamers fluttering in the sky can brighten one’s heart.

さくらの大騒ぎが過ぎたかと思えば、もう五月の鯉のぼりがあっちこっちで翻っています。正月以来、次々と様々な行事やイベントが繰り返され、退屈している暇もないほどです。まあこんなことを言うのも年寄りの繰り言かもしれません。仕事に追われ生活に追われている若い人達はそれどころではないかもしれません。それはさておき、鯉のぼりの蘊蓄を一言。鯉のぼりの発祥は、江戸時代と言われています。男の子が生まれた家では、５月５日になると「無難、無災、出世」を願う行事として、家紋がついた旗や幟（のぼり）などを門に立てて祝う風習がありました。当初の鯉のぼりは和紙に鯉の絵を描いたものでしたが、時を経て大正時代になると破れない錦の鯉のぼりが生まれ、さらに昭和三十年代半ばになると、雨に濡れても色落ちしない合成繊維の鯉のぼりが登場し、現代へと受け継がれています。ご存知の様に、一般的な鯉のぼりは三匹の鯉が連なっています。上から真鯉、緋鯉、子鯉の順で連なっており、真鯉はお父さん、緋鯉はお母さんで、子鯉は子供という設定です。こう言う設定になったのは、昭和３０年代以降と言われており、それまでは真鯉と緋鯉の二つまでしか作られていなかったそうです。今ではさらに、吹き流しが付き、子鯉も男の子の女の子、子供の数だけあったりします。大空に翻る鯉のぼりを見るだけでも心が晴れ晴れします。

This year too, the flowering of the shakunage (rhododendrons) can be seen near the pond of the abandoned house overgrown with weeds. Soft petals sway faintly, reflecting the spring sunlight just timing. The only sound breaking the silence is the buzzing of bees. The impressive appearance of the mansion, reminding one of times past, intensifies the feeling of melancholy. How long will these rhododendrons continue to bloom? Will they continue to bloom until the abandoned house completely rots away? They will surely bloom again next year, and the year after that. In the meantime, I might expire. But that’s okay, that’s just how the world works. I wish I want to throw myself into this rhododendron flower now.Gradually, that’s how I feel.

雑草の生い茂った廃屋の池のそばに今年も石楠花が咲いています。折りからの春の陽光を跳ね返す様に、柔らかい花びらが微かに揺れています。ミツバチの羽音だけが辺りのしじまを破ります。往事を偲ばせる立派な屋敷の佇まいがいっそうやるせなさを募らせます。この石楠花はいつまで咲き続けるのだろう。この廃屋が朽ち果てるまで咲き続けるのだろうか。来年の春もきっと咲くに違いない。そして再来年も。その内、こちらが命果てるかもしれない。それでいいんだ。それが世の習いというものだ。いっその事なら、今この石楠花の花に身を投じたい。いつしかそんな思いに駆られている自分でした。