in a pasture

Mt. Maya( 摩耶山）is a small mountain on the center of Rokkoh mountain range, about 700 meters high,in Hyogo prefecture. We can easily access to the top of it by a little cable car,

and can enjoy an ocean view including expanding  reclaimed land like amoeba which became a convenient modern area. 

A pasture is not far from the cable car station of Maya, and the sunny afternoon gave my husband an idea to pay a visit the pasture and I could not resist it.

At first glance the pasture looked compact, but a path led us further up and down showing some animals, goats. horses, sheep...

These goats are still quite young.

They seem to be well tamed, still their feral instinct is observed especially in the eyes.

荒れあれて雪積む夜もをさな児をかき抱きわがけものの眠り

石川　不二子（１９３３～）

Embracing my innocent life

in my arms

at night of storm-force wind and snow,

How wild and beast-like

my sleep is

Fujiko Ishikawa

In fact to talk about snow is too early here. What associates me with the tanka poem is the age-hardened coats of sheep. Their features make me imagine the weathertight lives even in this calm sanctuary. And for the people who work for the animals it must be harder in severe winter and summer time.
Now it is a short comfortable season just after the long extraordinary heat wave.

By the way, the writer of the tanka poem, Fujiko, used to be a dairy worker after she studied on farming at University, and continued to compose tanka poems working with her husband in a pasture.

The natural style of her poems reflects well the way of her living, and I admire the hint of unaffected sensuality in her poems.

  

It was Indian summer that day, though already some Japanese pampas and sort of bush clovers were rustling on the hilltop.

in an extremely hot season

Buzzing of cicadas is loud from early in the morning.

Yet it will be replaced by another sort of cicadas one after another towards the end of summer.

Hearing the buzz, though it is not so comfortable sound, I think of a wonderful woman who died of breast cancer 

recurrence in the midst of August in 2010.

She is Yuko Kawano( 河野　裕子） who was a representative contemporary tanka poet and wife of Kazuhiro　Nagata who is also a tanka poet as well as a competent scientist.

Recently I read Kazuhiro's tanka anthology,「夏・２０１０」(Summer・２０１０) in which he sang his　lament about his wife's little time left to live.

His feelings are objectively clear, suave and give readers fade-less impression even three years after her death.

あと五年あればとふきみのつぶやきに相槌を打ち打ち消して、打つ　永田　和宏

You murmur

" I wish we could have five more years...",

 I agree with you

and deny your words,

then deny my negation

Kazuriro Nagata (1947～)

Their son and daughter write tanka poems as well, and the

son also published his tanka anthology after his mother's death.

The title is 「湖をさがしに」(Searching for my lake), and he mentions in

the postscript that the lake signifies Biwa lake relevant to his dead mother

and also to another place somewhere else for him.

By the way, the tanka book setting in the last ones by Yuko Kawano is called

「蝉声」（Buzzing of cicadas).

The other day my husband invited me to walk along sea shore and we went to Suma　in Hyogo prefecture to where it takes about 90 minutes by train.

Considering the intense sun rays and a little long journey I decided not to go with my two-year-old granddaughter. Maybe next year!

We could see a couple of dolphins which were loosed from an aquarium nearby.

They looked joyful being free and they tried to make communication with visitors in their own way.

The manner how to do it reminded me of my dog, Daisy, when she looks quite happy.

Dry breeze from the sea is comfortable enough while the sun rays never deteriorate.

We took the exactly same route of the last time we visited here,

walking along the sea shore to the next station for returning.

Meanwhile I thought of our last visit of two years ago; the quiet sea and young people full of energy are the same, almost nothing have changed...except the condition of my knees.

A young man lies on his stomach to get more suntan. I'm sure this place is one of his favorite.

Cheer for his youth!

イルカの目見てきて仰ぐはるかなる雲のひと群れ夕づく空の

Pod of dolphin-shaped

are floating

in rarefied height

of evening summer sky,

 letting me think of dolphins' gentle and calm gaze

 haricot

walking around in the field of Oze(尾瀬)

My husband and I spent our last weekend at Oze(尾瀬).

Oze is a huge highland marsh, a wide basin, on the borders between three

prefectures, Gunma, Fukushima and Niigata. ( map is here)

Actually where we visited was Oze field,a part of the marsh, located

1,400 meters above sea level.

As the field is a basin surrounded by mountains visitors have to descend for

there from a certain point called Yama-no-hana, literally a nose of a mountain,

foot by foot on a narrow boardwalk and partly on stone steps.

As the boardwalk is slippery, even some experienced hikers are getting down on it very  prudently.

For a begginer like me it took more than one hour to get the plateau.

To have this view after some hard walking was so cool and relaxing.

Some bogs are gentle reminders of the huge marsh.

It was just after the official announcement of the end of the rainy season

in Kanto region, but in this area the season was not yet over, and we had faint flurry. 

人ひとり想ふひそかさなんとなく雨が似あふも尾瀬のはつ夏　今野　寿美（１９５２～）

　

I'm walking in the field of Oze

letting be a person on my mind,

It goes quite well with

jot and quiet rain

of early summer

(Sumi Konnno)

On the highland with lower temperature, a little rain and breeze, I felt it was

like early summer as the poem says, while the Meteorological Agency told that

it was like high summer around my residential area during the days.

This field is famous for Mizubashou(水芭蕉）,or skunk cabbage, but their season

is almost over.

 Instead, コバイケイソウ（小梅蕙草、Veratrum stamineum）are in full boom now and the flowers protect themselves with their poison from be eaten by bears as many flowers of skunk cabbage are done.

I found several Nikkou-kisuge, or Hemerocallis on the field as well.

The season of the field colored with the light orange of the flowers will come soon.

in a garden of deity

とほき世のかりょうびんがのわたくし児田螺はぬるきみづ恋ひにけり　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　斉藤　茂吉（1882～1953)

A water snail,

a come-by-chance

of  a heavenly bird

in her previous life,

is longing for lukewarm water

Mokichi Saitō

I visited the garden of Ume-no- Miya shrine in Kyoto 

as this garden of deity is famous for seasonal flowers. 

Now, the beginning of rainy season, is the time of flowering of sweet flag

( sort of iris), and we can see some water lilies on the pond, and some

azaleas are still blooming at the edge.

When I read the tanka poem I wrote above, I  imagined something

but I didn't understand it well.

Mokichi is one of the most famous tanka poets who gave traction

to the tanka field before and after the second World War, and in this one it seems that not only  he himself feels like a water snail but also he gives equivalent characteristics to the both, the bird living in Heaven according to Buddhism and such common creature as water snail which I used to find often in paddy fields especially in this season. 

Viewing Shoubu(菖蒲)or sweet flags which look like some imaginary birds I walked around the garden.

At the back yard it looks a little wilder and different aspect can be observed.

In the shadow we can also see a sort of hydrangea, 草アジサイ.

I think the English name shows the character of this species of flower quite well because hydrangeas fancy some moist place being necessity of a lot of hydrogen as if they are longing for water.

アジサイ is written as 紫陽花 that signifies purple sunny flower.

I like the Japanese name but they are not always purple nor sunny.

Appreciating these different flowers I felt closer to them and somehow got familiar to the former tanka poem by Mokichi and then I left the garden.  

looking back my days in Golden week

There are three main vacations (not private) in Japan; one is New Year's day,

Obon vacation, traditionally Buddhism custom at the mid of August, and Golden week, the first week in May including the final two or three days in April.

Golden week is over and the ordinary days came back to me.

That of my family was not gilded but really descent; my three sons and his family (one is married and they have a little daughter) visited us ( my husband and I)in turn, and we enjoyed some home made dish together, 

and when we were alone we drove shortly in the countryside avoiding traffic jam, and we spent a day in a town nearby.

This is out of the scenes we saw alongside of a river where we stopped by.

The river, Kizu(木津） river,runs near the border of Nara and Kyoto. 

On the bank we saw some golden yellow area in the field of weed and shrubs.

These flowers which look like rape blossoms are カラシ菜, or Mustarｓ, Brassica juncea.

They were immigrants as edible plants and became wild gradually, and in this season the tiny massive flowers color along some rivers and rail roads.

In autumn this bank is covered with Japanese pampas grass, and I glanced at a bird among dried pampas grass' stalks. I thought it was a lark because I could hear their gentle chirp above me. But it may not be a lark and it flew away soon and disappeared.

The narrow path between Mustards' flowers leads us to the riverside.

When my sons were much younger we occasionally came here for enjoying barbecue.

In those days we took a former dog called Lucky who died at her seventeen years old.

I hesitated to have a dog again but my husband was eager about having one for taking a walk together. Ten years has passed since Daisy became my beloved second daughter taking after Lucky in many ways.

In the river there is not abundant of water because of few rain in recent days.

The sky is pale blue as well as the river, and it let larks' song fall continually.

ふかぶかとあげひばり容れ淡青（たんじょう）の空は暗きまで光の器　高野　公彦

 The pale blue sky

gets some larks into it

and became a vessel of light

 which darkens 

the bottom of my eyes

Kimihiko Takano(1941～)

numerous fresh leaves

Being pleased to the season full of greenery I visited Kyoto last week.

I saw many tourists from foreign countries; some seemed to enjoy walking

and some rested beneath trees which had plenty of young leaves on them.

Among the green foliage I found some red maple leaves which have just opened up. 

Later I checked the name but there are too many to identify it as the same 

species. Do you know its name?

The main purpose to visit Kyoto was to see an exhibition held in Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (京都市立美術館).

The museum is just next to a great Torii gate of one of most famous shrines in Kyoto, Heian Jingu.

The overwhelming vermilion of the gate made contrast favorably with fresh green leaves around there.

As for the exhibition we could see Vincent Van Gogh' works which were painted during his sejourns in Paris( 1886~1888). At this time Gogh, being supported by his brother, played active roles in colorful works influenced by some artists especially impressionists and in establishing his own style on perspective and also planar composition influenced by Ukiyo-e from Japonism.

It is hard to believe now that his works didn't sell except one in his life.

It is said that he painted some shooting buds represented by wheat as symbol of his inner energy, and the following tableau caught my eye like a ray of hope among his secure jobs.

image from Web site

I also walked nearby the museum and stopped by a temple called Nanzen-ji which has a great two-storied gate.

Between the pillars of the gate the greenery landscape on the temple ground is seen as a tableau.

Some red leaves of maple trees are faintly observed as well.

I carefully took a photo not to bother the girl who looked doing meditation. 

憎しみか官能かふいに燃え立ちて＜万緑叢中紅一点＞　小島ゆかり(1956~ )

I don't know whether 

it would be hatred or sensuality

which flamed up suddenly

but I know that I'm a woman

amid numerous young leaves
Yukari Kojima