Samurai girl

2004-09-24T01:06:00.000+09:00

Red carpet of "Higanbana" in Koma, Saitama

The autumnal equinox

2004-09-23T23:55:00.000+09:00

Today is the autumnal equinox.
The vernal equinox generally makes people feel like everything around us is coming to life because the daytime will be longer and longer after we pass the date, while the autumn equinox reminds us the reverse.
Everything is going back to the darkness once for the rebirth after the frution.

The equinox is calld "Higan" in Japanese which means "the other side of the shore".
It is considered that this world for us as living ones is separated from the other world for the dead ones by the river.
We have the custom to visit the graves of our ancestors in the 7 days around the equinox.
It means the dead people can visit the world for us by crossing the river just during the equinox week.

The world is consisted of the positive side and the negative side, and the equinox is the bridge with which we can cross the border.
The daytime and the nighttime are exactly same on this border, so all of the positive and the negative, like the life and the death, the body and the spirit, the light and the darkness will be equal and combined and set off twice a year on this joint of the wheel of fortune.

We sometimes find ourselves coming back to the certain point again and again though we're moving on.
Undergoing the turning point of the seasons often stir our sentiments.
I also tend to be influenced by the seasons and sometimes feel confused and unstable.
But I think I just need to belive what I can see behind and in fromt of me, and step forward again.
I should feel, but I shouldn't stop.
So, let's open the next door.

The frower from the other side

2004-09-23T12:58:00.000+09:00

The cluster-amaryllis is called "Higan-bana" which means the flower of the equinox in Japanese.

This flower is in bloom just for the short period around the autumn equinox.
We can find Higan-bana mainly on the riverside.
The river is often considerd as a border between this world and the other world, so it must have been easy to associate those read flowers with the souls of the dead people.

It's not few people who don't like Higan-bana very much, because they remember the idea of the death when they see it.
But, it's also true there are not few people who think this flower beautiful, especially when this gregarious flowers make the field like the red carpet.
Red can be the color of the death, and it can be also the color of the life.

bathing heaven

2004-09-14T07:58:00.000+09:00

A moment I appreciate to have been born as a Japanese is that I sink myself into the hot warter in a big bathtab.
For us, Bathing is not just for cleaning our bodies but also for relaxing, beauty and health.

We have a lot of "onsen" which means hot springs and people who visit there in Japan.
I know people in other countries also enjoy hot springs if they have them, but I'm sure Japanese love "onsen" most in the whole world.

We also have many "sento" which means public baths.
A few decades ago, it's usually for the people who don't have their own bathroom because of poverty, but now, many people visit the public baths with intention of relaxation or getting better figures though they can of course take a bath in their home.

Love of bathing has made sento evolve into "super" sento now.
At the "super" sento, we can find the plain hot water bath, the other hot warter baths with some kind of effective ingredients, sauna, mist sauna, roten-buro(outside bath), jet bath for massage and so on.
People who are concious of beauty and health especially middle-aged women having a lot of spare time often visit there.

We can't visit "onsen" so often because usually it's gonna be a short trip, but "super" sento is much easier to visit.
Visiting "super" sento" is one of the easiest and cheapest way to feel like being in the heaven.

2004-08-12T23:54:00.000+09:00

grape fields in Katsunuma

2004-08-12T23:35:00.000+09:00

It's still scorching hot every day, but autumn is surely coming toward us.
August 7th was "Risshu" which means the first day of autumn in the traditional Japanese calendar.

The day after "Risshu", I went to Katsunuma in Yamanashi prefecture for refreshing.
It's about 90 minutes drive from the center of Tokyo.
Katsunuma is famous for producing good wine, and we can see a lot of grape fields in that area.
We can also enjoy hot spring there.
It was not too crowded and not too quiet either.
The local people are mostly friendly to visitors, and the place has a peaceful atmosphere.
Because it was Sunday, we had to bare the heavy traffic jam on the highway on the way back home though.

We are having the best time of the year for fruits like grape and peach in Katsunuma, and I feel that I'd better to get myself ready to step into the next season for bearing fruits. I'll see what I deserve soon.