2011年8月19日金曜日

events in summer


Obon vacation , in the middle of August to graciously receive any returned souls according to Buddhism, was over.

I enjoyed to have time together with my family and do some events for the season, visiting our family grave yard for example.

And also I'm relieved now that my usual daily life came back for me.




This post is about a part of my passing of time during the vacation.






Just shortly before Obon, it was held that many tiny candles were lit on the field of Nara Park. It creates a feeling of welcoming returned souls with lightning about 20,000 candles totally, on some fields, along the road and in front of a temple, and so on. This event has been held from 1999.


In addition to the commemorating for ancestors and the war dead, that for the victims by the earthquake and tsunami on 3.11 was accounted this year.

百の燭(しょく)を覗きつつゆく 古都の野にうごめく影の一つとなりて

As a shadow

moving on,

I look into a protection

for each of tiny hundreds of candles

on a field of an ancient capital haricot


For my family's ancestors we visited our family grave yard.
My family is not Buddhists but Shintoists ( Shinto is Japanese indigenous religion), though in the grave yard there are tombs for both.( The shape of tomb stone is different: that of Buddhism is rectangular , that of Shinto is pointed at the top, and Buddhists offer flowers besides Shintoists offer green leaves called sakaki.)

And later I called in a Temple, Byakugo-ji(白毫寺), because I like the location of the small temple,although most of Shintoists visit shrines not temples in general.


 
 
I like the serene atmosphere of this mountain temple as well.




In autumn it is famous for the flowers named Hagi in Japanese which can be seen the both sides of staircases on the fifth photo.


They were still young, but among them there were some precocious ones which had already some flowers like this.


Maple leaves are also still green hones.



But some are precocious, I found.




In spring this temple is famous for camellias. Some camellia trees bear some solid fruits now.



From this small temple ground, we can view Nara basin widely.


This prospect is one of the big reasons that I 'm fond of this temple.





The mail hall next to the pagoda is under construction
Compared to spring the outlook is clearer due to the air without haze, and it tells us that autumn is just around  the corner.

2011年8月3日水曜日

longing




Walking through beneath the trees...I can see a vegetable garden alongside of a road where I sometimes take a walk with my dog.

In a corner of the garden, some sunflowers are in full bloom.




The following tanka poem was written by Yoko Nagai (永井 陽子1951~2000).

This symmetric verse is so simple that let readers have an indelible impression even after having been read only once.

Simple but I feel something behind her words, and I found that it would be her longing.





ひまはりのアンダルシアはとほけれど とほけれどアンダルシアのひまはり

Although Andalusia of

sunflowers

is a far field;

Though it's faraway,

Sunflowers in Andalusia



Before, I read in some article about the word,longing, and the implication of it.

Longing is "a-ko-ga-re" in Japanese: a(吾)= I,  ko(此処)= here, gare(kareru(離れる)=leave.

That is to say, longing is to leave the place where the person is.

Some people start to travel leaving the safe refuge feeling a compulsion of longing for somewhere else.
And also, there are some cases that something like soul starts to travel with longing for somewhere else from someone who are staying there.

The case of the tanka poem by Yoko Nagai goes for the latter.
And the feeling that readers can read the between the simple lines is travelling of her soul, I think.



I have longing for some unknown place or country once in a while, besides I wish my daily life would be over without any mishap.



The sun will set in behind my neighbour's roof, and on the mountain I can see over the roof they will light soon for those who will be there for enjoying cool evening breeze.



山肌にケーブルカーの道点り 連なる灯り滑りてゆけり

The trail for the little cable car

also being lit up,

Chained lights 

are sliding down

on the mountain surface (haricot)