The end of the year has finally come to an end. The 100-yen shop I stopped by is also full of New Year’s goods. From old-fashioned things to unexpected things, I’m impressed that there are so many items. There are several tenants who have closed the shops on the same floor, but only the 100-yen shop is crowded. This will change over time, for better or worse. 77 years after the war, everything has changed. I can only hope that this change, which only old people can understand, will continue to change in the future, and that it will change for the better.
Japanese daffodils, which announce the arrival of spring, are beginning to bloom all at once. I feel familiarity because every flower is facing toward the viewer. Although it is called Japanese daffodil, it is said to have originated from the Middle East to the Mediterranean coast, and was brought to Japan from China during the Heian period. The English name Narcissus, which is also the scientific name, comes from the name of a handsome boy named Narcisse who appears in Greek mythology. Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in the fountain, and as he stared at it every day, he suddenly turned into a flower. The flower was introduced to China and was named Narcissus because it resembles a water hermit. There are tens of thousands of cultivars of daffodils, such as pink, green, and orange, in addition to white and yellow. There are mainly winter and spring-blooming cultivars, but there are also fall-blooming cultivars.
The winter solstice is over and Christmas is over. The temperature is slightly above 0°C. It’s all winter. There are only a few days left in this year, and the New Year is just around the corner. But it’s not as rushed as it used to be. It’s a calm new year’s eve. The sunrise is getting earlier and earlier. Today’s sunrise is 7:02. There is a mountain of about 400m in front, so it will actually be about 15 minutes late. When the sun shines into the room, it’s time for breakfast.
Christmas is a day commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, and it comes from the meaning of “Christ’s Mass”. Christianity is one of the world’s three major religions, with approximately 2 billion followers. With 1.6 billion Muslims and 400 million Buddhists, Christianity is the world’s largest religion. In terms of numbers, Hinduism has 1.1 billion people, but it is positioned as an ethnic religion whose area is almost limited to India. The first Christmas in Japan was held at a church in Yamaguchi, Suo Province in 1552, but after that, due to the ban on Christianity by the Edo Shogunate, for 200 years until the Meiji period, only hidden Christians were accepted. In the Meiji period, Meijiya opened a store in Ginza, Tokyo in 1900, and the Christmas sales season began around that time. In 1928, the Asahi Shimbun wrote, “Christmas has become an annual event in Japan, and Santa Claus has become a splendid thing for Japanese children.” Christmas has become a global event now, but in the ranking of “Top 10 Countries to Avoid Christmas” recommended for those who want to avoid the fuss of Christmas, Japan is ranked first. It is said that the reason is that “you may see Santa sometimes, but Christmas is not a public holiday in Japan, and people work as usual on December 25.”
The pandemic of the last century, which began in 1918, raged for three whole years and ended in 1920. The number of deaths in the world is estimated to be about 50 million, which is said to be more than 10 times that of the new corona this time. At the beginning of the 20th century, antibiotics had not yet been discovered and virology had not yet developed, so medical technology was almost powerless against the influenza virus. At that time, World War I was in full swing, and other infectious diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis were also a threat. The so-called “Spanish Flu” raged and then subsided by the spring of 1920. This is because many people were infected and acquired neutralizing antibodies against this influenza virus, in other words, converged with natural immunity.
The temperature is 0°C right now. In Osaka, the temperature rarely drops below 0°C even in the middle of winter. The forecast is marked with snow in the morning, but I don’t think it will fall. Even though there have been sprinklings of snow over the past few years, it never piles up. The sasanqua blooming on the roadside is being covered with frost, and the red flowers are framed in white. This also is very rare. A few days ago, a small storm should have dropped all the petals, but the flowers are blooming again, and this time they are covered with frost. Cheers to sasanqua, which continues to bloom all winter while repeating this.
Today is the winter solstice. Just thinking that the length of the day is gradually getting longer after today makes me feel better. I have been vaccinated five times with the corona vaccine, and thanks to that, I have been spared from the corona misfortune. The nearby flower shop is filled with cyclamen and poinsettias. It’s already Christmas the day after tomorrow. And new year. Unlike in the past, I don’t have anything to do this time of year, but I feel rushed. Long-term habits make it so. Even though I’m not a Christian, I attended mass, pounded rice cakes, and went to a nearby temple to ring the New Year’s bell. That was what I was looking forward to. It’s complicated now. I feel happy and the same time lonely.
Tomorrow, December 22nd is the winter solstice. It is the day with the shortest daylight and the longest night of the year. There are various customs on the winter solstice, one of which is Yuzu-yu (a hot bath scented with yuzu). Yuzu is said to ward off evil spirits, and it is said that if you take a bath in Yuzu, you will not catch a cold for a year. Yuzu-yu is said to have originated in the Edo period as a way to attract customers to public baths, with the words “touji (winter solstice) = touji (hot spring cure)” and “yuzu = Yuzu-ga-kiku (get better money)”. In this way, the Japanese have enjoyed the four seasons by incorporating them into their daily customs under some pretense. Also, I often hear that “touji-no-sichishu (seven kinds of winter solstice)” are foods for the winter solstice. Eating foods with “n (lucky)” is believed to bring good luck, and if you have two “n”, your luck will double; Nankin, Ninjin (carrot), Lenkon (lotus root), Ginhan (ginkgo nut), Kinkan (kumquat), Kantan, Undon (udon). These are also foods that are often eaten on the day of the winter solstice.
Flowers similar to plum are blooming in the shrubbery along the road. It’s Gyoryubai. The name is ostentatious, but it is a cute and shy flower. It is said that it was named Gyoryubai because the leaves resemble Gyoryu and the flowers resemble Ume. Gyoryu is a willow-like tree that was loved by Yang Guifei. Because of its oriental name, it seems to be of eastern origin, but it is native to New Zealand and Australia. Known for honey called manuka honey in its native place. Manuka is the Maori word, and Manuka honey is a cure-all for the Maori. In fact, manuka honey is known to be used as an exterminator for Helicobacter pylori and to be effective against gastritis.
In the last few days, the cold has gotten even colder and a small storm blew. The sasanqua flowers that had begun to bloom in the park have all fallen and piled up on the ground. According to the Osaka District Meteorological Observatory, on the morning of the 18th, cold and moist air flowed into the Kinki region due to the winter-type pressure pattern, making it the coldest this season. Mt. Kongo (altitude 1125m), which straddles Osaka and Nara prefectures, saw its first snowfall one day earlier than last year. Still, the snow cover is at most 10 cm. In Tohoku and Hokuriku, there are places where the amount of snowfall per day was as much as 45 cm, so it only wore a light make-up. In the last few years in Osaka, I don’t remember the city being covered with snow. This is also an effect of global warming, but considering the heavy snow in Tohoku and Hokuriku, it seems somewhat contradictory.