When I was walking along the road in the hilly section, I found a rare flower of Kuko (Goji berry). When I was a kid, I often saw it on nearby banks and bushes on the side of the road, but it was often collected during the temporary Chinese herbal medicine boom, and I haven’t seen it at all recently. Kuko blooms light purple flowers from summer to autumn and bears red fruits in autumn. When I was a kid, my grandaunt often took me to “Ishikiri-san” (Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine) at the foot of Mt.Ikoma. She used to make Kuko-shu (goji liquor) by putting the dried kuko fruit she bought, rock candy, and sake together in a container. She gave me the Kuko-shu from time to time, so I remembered that I was addicted to my childhood.
Fireworks festival is one of the summer traditions in Japan. From around the 9th and 10th, fireworks festivals have begun to be held all over the country. Fireworks in Japan are said to be the most beautiful in the world, and by the time summer vacation begins, they will be held every week in various parts of Japan. Japanese people have a unique feeling for the fireworks that colorfully color the summer night sky and disappear in an instant. In a word, it’s a sense of transience of life. We Japanese are blessed with a rich natural environment that is rarely seen in the world, but contrary to that, the history of being hit by natural disasters that are rarely seen in the world has nurtured this sense of impermanence. It is said that fireworks began to be viewed around the time of Ieyasu Tokugawa in the Edo period, but fireworks began to be viewed on a large scale during the Great Famine of the 18th year of Kyoho. It was a trigger. At that time, Shogun Yoshimune held a water god festival to pray for a memorial service and the extinction of the plague, and fireworks were launched at that time. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped yet, but it seems that fireworks festivals will be held all over the country for the first time in three years.
Recently, it has been sunny in the morning, cloudy from noon, and then it will rain. Such days are continuing. I overslept in the morning, so it was a late walk. The temperature is as low as 26 °, but the morning sunshine is strong. When I started to be out of breathe, I saw a thick grove over there. It’s a tutelary god. At the entrance, the flower canna is blooming bright red flowers. Large leaves like baran are also wonderful. By the way, Canna is a flower that Columbus, who discovered the American continent, brought back to Europe. Perhaps he found it near the Caribbean Sea. The large rhizomes of canna are also edible and have a history of being cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of years. Breeding was added in Europe, and it came to Japan during the Edo period. The canna that was brought in as “Kanna Indica” was called “Dandoku” in Japan. Dandok is written as “檀特” and is considered to be the highest flower in Buddhism. It is a flower with a strong image of summer, but in haiku it is an autumn season word. It is a flower of the season word with strong color.
Bougainvillea has a strong image of Hawaii or Bali, and in Japan, as it were, it is Okinawa. Recently, however, in the summer, it has become commonplace for florists in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka to see bougainvillea lined up with hibiscus. It depends on the progress of breeding technology, but I think that it is largely due to the recent rapid climate change. In terms of climate, Japan seems to have completely changed from a temperate climate to a subtropical climate. In recent years, an extreme hot day is not uncommon, but until a decade ago, daytime maximum temperatures rarely rose above 35 ° C. There was a term “summer day” when it exceeded 25 ° and “hot summer day” when it exceeded 30 °, but there was no term “extreme hot day”. In 2007, the day when the temperature exceeded 35 ° was designated as a term “extreme hot day”. However, there is still no term for days above 40 °. It is almost time to define a day that exceeds 40 ° as a term “fierce heat day”.
Bamboo leaves toss in the wind Rustle, tremble every leaf High above them shiny and bright Stars like gold and silver sand
On these colored strips I write Deepest wishes of my heart Now above me shiny and bright Stars please grant all that I wrote
This “Tanabata-sama” written by Hanayo Gondo represents the Tanabata Festival more accurately than any explanation. The words “Tanabata” and “Tanabata Festival” are not used directly anywhere, but you can clearly imagine the Tanabata Festival. Tanabata is the rainy season on July 7th in the new calendar, but in the lunar calendar it is in front of Obon in the height of summer. Even in haiku, “Tanabata” is the autumn season word. “Tanabata-sama” was adopted as a song by the Ministry of Education in 1941, when the Pacific War began, so it was written in an era when the influence of the Lunar calendar still remained. I don’t know which calendar Hanayo Gondo wrote about the Tanabata Festival in, but in any case, it must be a masterpiece that will continue to be sung.
In Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, there is Hozanji Temple, which is known as “Shoten-san of Ikoma”. It is known as a temple of the common people’s worship that prays for the profits of this world and the prohibition of drinking. At the entrance of Hozanji Temple, a large torii stands as if it hits the heavens. There are rare temples where you can see torii gates, because the temple enshrines the god of the heavens. The gods of the heavens are Brahman gods before the establishment of Buddhism, and after the establishment of Buddhism, they are positioned as guardian deities of Buddhism. Brahma, Four Tenno, Benzaiten, Daikokuten, Kongorikishi, Seiten, etc. are the gods of heavens. Hozanji Temple has come to be nicknamed “Shoten-san of Ikoma” because it is a temple that enshrines Hozanji. Shoten is also called “Kangiten”, and in the “Shoten-do” behind the main hall, the secret Buddha of the male and female gods hugging each other, “Daisyo Kangiten soshin Statue” is enshrined. In 1678 during the Edo period, Tankai, a high priest, carved a “Daisyo Kangiten soshin Statue” with his own hands in a place that was originally a place of training for nature worship (spirit worship, animism) that had existed in Japan for a long time. It was enshrined and became the founder of Hozanji Temple. It was enshrined and became the founder of Hozanji Temple. The area around Hozanji Temple is a powerful power spot that anyone who is interested in knows, and although it is near the city, it is a place where the mystery and a mysterious aura is tense, and even now, 3 million worshipers visit every year.
Momotaro’s general image is to put up a jinbaori (sleeveless campaign jacket worn over armor) and a nobori (flag) on the Hinomaru headband, give a Kibi-dango to dogs, birds, and monkeys to make them “servants” and exterminate demons. This image was established in the Meiji era, and it was adopted in textbooks, and it is associated with the national policy for making one’s country wealthy and militarily strong after the Meiji era. The exact date of Momotaro’s story is unknown, but it is said that it was probably from the end of the Muromachi period to the beginning of the Edo period, and it seems that it was a simple poetic justice story. The peaches were introduced from China, the place of origin, during the Jomon period, and since then they have been used mostly for medicinal and ornamental purposes. In the Meiji era, sweet peaches such as Shanghai peaches were imported and spread for food. Especially in Okayama prefecture, it seems that the above Momotaro story was completed and used for national policy in order to connect the imported water peach and Kibi dango to appeal the water peach from the prefecture.
This year, the rainy season opened at a record-breaking speed. Summer flowers are beginning to bloom in competition in parks and streets. Nohzen-kazura (Chinese trumpet vine) has been seen for a long time, but I found a rare Nohzen-kazura. At first, I didn’t know that it was a member of the Nohzen-kazura, and as usual, I found out that it was an American Nohzen-kazura by searching Google Lens. As the name suggests, it is a Nohzen-kazura native to North America, and it seems that it came to Japan at the end of the Taisho era. On the other hand, the Nohzen-kazura is native to China and is said to have arrived so long as it can be seen in the Heian period Honzogaku book “Honzo Wamyo” (918). The 400-year-old Nohzen-kazura, which is said to have been brought back by Toyotomi Hideyoshi when he sent troops to Korea, still exists in Tamaisenen in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. As shown in the photo, the American Nohzen-kazura has strong reddish orange flowers, short flower stems, and the vine does not hang down. The flowers are small and the flower barrels are slightly longer. It has been probably not well known because it is less noticeable than the Nohzen-kazura. In English-speaking countries, it is called “Chinese trumpet vine)” or “Chinese trumpet creeper”.
I received a thank-you message for the cherries I gave to my grandchildren. If you make a reservation application around May, it will be sent directly from the production area at the time of harvest. The production area is Yamagata Prefecture, and it is said that the harvest of cherries will reach its peak from June 19th to 22nd for “Sato Nishiki” and from June 29th to July 2nd for “Benishuho”. It looks cute and the name “cherry” is good. It is undeniable that this tend to fall in love with cherries and want to give them to my grandchildren. I looked it up. When cherries were first introduced in Japan in the early Meiji era, they were called Ohtoh. The name Ohtoh also appear in the poems of famous Tang dynasty poets Wang Wei and Du Fu. At the beginning of the Edo period, when Yusuraume ( Nanking cherry) was introduced from China to Japan, the character of ohtoh was applied, and it was also used for Western cherries introduced in the Meiji era. At the beginning of the Showa era, a newspaper company in Tokyo described it as “Sakuranbo”, and it seems that it has gradually taken root and continues to this day.
From today (7/2) to July 6th is called the Hangesho. In the lunar calendar, a year is divided into 24 equal parts, and each of them is further divided into three equal parts to represent the season. One of the 72 seasons is Hangesho (July 2nd-July 6th). At the end of the rainy season, it is a turning point that was used as a guide for rice planting. In Kansai, it is customary to eat “octopus” to pray for a good harvest. This means that we pray that the planted crops will take root firmly in the ground, like the legs of an octopus. It is said that rice planting is over and octopus is eaten to survive the hot summer. The origin of half-summer is that poison comes down from heaven at the end of the rainy season, so in order to prevent it, we planted Hange (another name for Karasubishaku, a plant like a snake with a sickle) in a well or field. Recently, it seems that Hangeshou in the photo, because in which half of the leaves are in a semi-makeup state as if they were coated with white powder, represents this period.
