Many maple leaves and a water fall

Minoh city, northern area in Osaka prefecture, is my hometown.


Looking back my childhood I think that the city was like a village with many open fields, rice pappies and was close to some small mountains.

In a mountain there is an old park, Minoh park, that was set more than one hundred years ago. By a park I don't mean a square nor a plaza but a hiking trail which follows along a brook and the ascendant way leads hikers to a water fall in heart of the mountain.

 
 
This way is about three kilometers long from the nearest station and beside it hundreds of maple trees stand in a row. My family sometimes used to walk there with packed lunch in early summer and in autumn.


Walking the path I remembered the days when my parents were young and my brother and sister were very little.

 
 
Clustered Yuki-no-shita, Saxifraga stolonifera Curtis, reminds me of my olden days in this season.

 

A tiny hydrangea is already in bloom. Hello, thank you for welcoming me.

This area is famous for a variety of habitats, monkeys, deer, various kind of insects and river fish. A passenger kindly told me that there were Ōsanshōuo, Japanese giant salamanders, between some small rocks in the river.


The three stone- like round heads slowly moved to breathe.

Some parts of the brook were in emerald by the shining maple young leaves.

These young leaves and the shimmering reflection on water make me think about song in praise of adolescence.

Let me introduce my favourite tanka poem in regard to passion of youth and love.

あの夏の数かぎりなきそしてまたたつた一つの表情をせよ 小野　茂樹

 

Show me again

the totally unique

and an endless number of

your sign of emotion

that you gave me in that summer

by Shigeki Ono (１９３６～１９６９）