Floral Galaxy of Japanese primrose

“Kurin-so”, Japanese primrose, or Primula Japonica,  is a wild variety of primrose which is found blooming at wet mountain sides in Japan from late spring to early summer.

They require shady places and moist soil as their native habitat is moist woodlands.

After being dormant winter, the plants germinate in spring, develop rosette of light green oval-shaped leaves and bloom flowers. The leaves disappear and the plants become dormant in summer again to be spared for hardships of heat and drought.

Japanese primrose is called “Kurin-so/九輪草” in Japanese as their tiers of flowers on the stem look like “Kurin”, a part of Pagoda’s finial. 

To me, the flowers at the top of the stem look like a miniature floral bouquet on its own.

The flowers look like candelabra holding buds as candles, too.   When buds open, millions of light surround the place.

They also look like stars of shades of pink with their five petals.  Each flower looks cheerful and smiling.  When blooming gregariously, they make a terrestrial Galaxy as the small stars do in the sky.

The photos of this post were taken yesterday at Mt. Rokko Alpine Botanical Garden (六甲高山植物園) at an altitude of 865 meters near the peak of the Rokko Mountain Ranges behind Kobe city.  It was the first time for me to see so many of them all gathered together in one place at Mt. Rokko.

 Japanese primrose at Takayama

Japanese primrose at Senjyugahara at Oku-Nikko

  Enjoy the floral tapestry.

Annular solar eclipse

 The annular solar eclipse was observed along the Pacific coast of Japan today's morning.

The dark silhouette of the Moon completely obscured the intensely bright light of the Sun and corona was visible around 7:30 a.m.  It is called 金環日食　“gold ring of fire eclipse” in Japanese.  Thanks to the clouds,  I could take pictures of the eclipse from my  garden, definitely not seeing through view finder but by holding camera high and seeing liquid crystal display without special devices.  I used optical zoom.  I was careful not to damage my camera as well as my eyes.

The sun looked like the moon. 

The ring was not gold but flaming silver.

On the ground, temperature dropped a little and wind blew. 

 “Shakuyaku/芍薬”, or Paeonia lactiflora, in my garden

Please have a visit to see the former post, too.

"Memories of Grandmother and kakitsubata iris".

  This post is linked to Our World Tuesday. 

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Memories of Grandmother and kakitsubata iris



the Main Hall of the temple

Chogaku-ji (長岳寺)Temple is located on Yamanobe-no-Michi Trail, Japan's oldest recorded road from Yanagimoto to Miwa.  It is said to have been founded in 824 by Kobo Daishi (弘法大師). 

I have been familiar with the temple, as it is in Yanagimoto-cho where my husband’s grandmother lived.  I remember eating somen noodle with her at the temple when my husband first introduced me to her.  She lived a long life up to 105. What was amazing about her was she could chant the Heart Sutra by heart while doing "seiza", Japanese way of formal sitting, even after she turned 100.  At 90, she started visiting the local library once a week where she borrowed several books to read for the week.  Though a bright young student, she was unable to continue her education; as she was the fourth of nine children, she had to help around the house. She devoured reading books as if restoring her dream of youth. While reading, her heart soared free, journeying into foreign lands, falling in love with the heroes, or learning sacred truth.  There were so much for her to learn from books.  These, and other facts, were reported in NHK documentary program, 百歳バンザイ! in which she featured as one of perky centenarians, and a book of the same title; she was then 101.

She was a person like "kakitsubata ",or Iris laevigata, beautiful and upright both in posture and behavior.  Purple color suited her perfectly and she looked most refined in her purple kimono or clothes.  The pond of Chogaku-ji is noted for its kakitsubata flowers in early May.

Japanese snowball/大手毬

There is a Japanese proverb which goes “Which is ayame, which is kakitsubata?”   This proverb is used to describe metaphorically the difficulty in choosing between the two equally beautiful or excellent things.  It’s difficult to tell the two flowers apart, but simply put, ayame has a net pattern at the base of its petals, and kakitsubata has a white color.

Kakitsubata, or Iris laevigata

The base of the Kakitusbata petal is white.
They bloom on wet land.

Ayame, or Iris sanguinea, in my garden

As you see in the photo above, Ayame has mesh pattern at the base of the petals. 

Sorakuen Garden to be happy and enjoy together

Sorakuen Garden (相楽園) is only one Japanese garden in Kobe located close to Hyogo Prefectural Office in the center of the city. It is an oasis of the busy city.  The name of the garden is from the words in the old Chinese book 和悦相楽 (わしてよろこびあいたのしむ) which means  "Let's be happy and enjoy together."

The foundation of Sorakuen Garden was laid in 1885 as a part of Taijiro Kodera’s residence  and completed in 1911.  A magnificent mansion and other buildings once stood on the grounds, but the fires caused by the air raids during WWII left only the European-style stable and the surrounding walls and gates.  Kobe City took over the garden in 1941 and opened it to the public under the name "Soraku-en".  Later on, the two historically important assets,  Hassam House and Funa-yakata (舟屋形), were moved to this site to be preserved.

This is one of the three gates and is used as the current entrance.  Three gates are made of "keyaki", Japanese tree of the genus Zelkova.

Visitors are first welcomed by a massive, impressive “Big Camphor (大楠)” which is estimated to be 500 years old.  Camphor tree is designated as the Tree of Kobe Citizen.  

The Garden consists of open grass areas and typical Japanese “stroll-garden (池泉回遊式庭園)” which consists of several paths that circle a central pond.

ceremonial tea room Kanshin-tei/浣心亭

People enjoy various different views while strolling around the pond along the paths with ups and downs or walking over the pond via stepping stones or bridges.

 

In spring azaleas and young leaves colorfully express themselves.

About 200 pine trees including Japanese black pines add spirited and dignified atmosphere to the view.  Among all the pine trees I know, I like Japanese black pine best for its rich dark green needle-like leaves and beautiful black colored bark.  It is native to the coastline of Japan and is resistant to salt damage. 

I feel like each twisted black pine is a dragon and each dragon makes up a whole giant dragon in the garden.  Changing light and shadow makes the dragon look alive.



Here it is, a dragon!

Later I learned that there are rare pine trees named "Hakusho (白松)" , or Pinus bungeana, native to China, featured with white bark and trefoil.  I should've known it.

Rustling sound of the stream is constantly heard.

Funayakata, an Important Cultural Property

Funa-yakata was originally a cabin of Kawagoza-bune (川御座船), a houseboat that was used for pleasure cruises by a feudal lord of Himeji.  It is thought to have been constructed between 1682 and 1704.   This is the last Kawagozabune in existence.

The structure is a two-story wooden building with a gabled roof thatched with layers of Japanese cypress bark.  It is highly decorative: all of the wooden sections of the building are treated with lacquer and the ends of he horizontal beams and rafters are decorated with gold leaf.  

It went through three times of dismantling and reconstructing in different places.  After two person's individual efforts to preserve, it was donated to Kobe City in 1980.   

a miniature of "kawagoza-bune", an excursion houseboat 

grass plaza

Open grass area for a garden party was incorporated into the east of the garden.

the gateway to the grass plaza

the stable of old Kodera residence, an Important Cultural Property

Kenkichi Kodera, a former Mayor of Kobe and former owner of Sorakuen, had this stable constructed around 1910.  The building has many interesting features including a circular cupola, a steep roof, dormer windows, rich gable ornaments, and the shape of L structure.  

The Hassam House built around 1902, an Important Cultural Property 

The Hassam House served as the residence of Mr. K. Hassam, an Anglo-Indian trader. This is a typical colonial-style architecture, utilizing a central corridor and verandas, a style that was favored by foreigners who live in Kobe during the Meiji Era (1868-1912).  It was brought over from Kitano (areas of historical foreign residences) and reassembled here.

The climate has been unnerving both weather-wise and in general atmosphere and situation.   Regarding the weather, it has been unstable and unusual big scale tornades (which is called “tatsumaki” in Japanese meaning “whirling and soaring dragon”) caused tremendous damages and destruction in Kita-Kanto area.  While problems do exist in various respects, our lives go on and on accepting the negative outcome grudgingly.   Keeping the problems in mind, we need time "to be happy and enjoy together" not to be driven by the fears or worries and then to face the world again somewhat refreshed.