Camphor tree at this time of year

I came across fluid art on water created with fallen leaves and 

reflections of trees with sprouting leaves at Sansha-ike Pond, Kasugano-enchi, Nara Park.

What do you think these colored leaves are?

They are old leaves shedded from Camphor trees.

The evergreen Camphor trees have yellowish, reddish, and green leaves

in early spring.

Camphor trees shed old reddish leaves to grow new leaves.

Baby leaves are also red with purplish hue which turn quickly to fresh green.

The fallen leaves were gathering around a real branch of some tree

which was spreading low on water.

The branch looked like a fall tree on water canvas.

Carp joined the art show.

Camphor tree, "楠or樟 Kusunoki”, is native to China and Japan.

It is loved for its sprawling form on massive bark, thick and contorted branches, 

and grossy evergreen leaves. 

Camphor tree has spritual and cultural importance in Japan.

In Japanese folklore and Shinto (nature worship) tradition, massive aged trees 

can be a home to divine spirit.

"Totoro", a guardian of forest only visible to children, lives in a gigantic camphor tree.

The tree below is so large but no comparison with the one where Totoro lives.

One week later at the grove of Kasuga, a gigantic camphor tree had splash of mauve color.

Wisteria was blooming on the tips of veins which coiled up the tree.

 

Wild Wisteria

Wisteria came into bloom much earlier than usual.

Their clusters were getting longer and longer.

Cultivated Wisteria at Kasuga Grand Shrine

In late April, small white flowers of Camphor tree bloom imcomspicuously but profusely.

They mingle with the fresh green leaves and contrast to the massive dark bark.

Bottom right; buds of Camphor flowers

My grandson Y turned 9 today.  Happy Birthday!

He's gotten more focused, diligent, and skillful on "what he likes".

He loves soccer and swimming as well as painting and is sometimes earnest in

 practicing paper-folding. 

I enjoy watching over how he grows a seed within him in each season of his life.

Left top; Inu-washi, Aquila chrysaetos, Golden eagle

Linked to Mosaic Monday

Enchanting 藤 Wisteria

The flowers which take center stage of floral landscape of Japan have been changing from 梅Ume of mid-March and 桜Sakura of early April to 藤Fuji of early May.  Fuji, Wisteria in English, is quite popular for its elegant hanging flowers and its vigorous winding vines. 

Fuji is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family.

Fuji has luscious sweetness and beauty.

Supported by the trellis, tamed, pruned and trimmed to keep good shape regularly,
Fuji enchants us with its exquisite elegance from late April to middle of May.

It's joyful to look at the flowers and bask in the various pastel shades cast by the blossoms.

All your senses are comforted by the dripping flowers, flickering sunshine through the leaves,

sound of buzzing bees and water, and balmy breeze.

As you know, Fuji is a playful and ambitious climber by nature.

There are many wild wisteria in the woods of Kasuga Shrine.

Winding and tangled massive vines make sculptural objet in the grove. 

Fuji has amazing vitality, freely sprawling, twining, and climbing everything which stands still in her path.  

As Fuji lives a long life, some vines have crawled on and on both beneath and on the ground, 

which makes her look like an aged long reptile startlingly.

The long tail lasts to the next tree.

Fuji can be a murderer coiling around fragile trees when left alone.

Nonetheless, I like to see her in nature amazed at her tremendous energy to live.

How high have you climbed?

Fuji adorns a gigantic Camphor Tree.

When Fuji flowers are going to be over, season is changing into early summer.

Below is my favorite mauve-colored Fuji.

Fuji-color in Japanese means mauve in English.

Fuji, she has all the attractive elements of a woman,
beautiful, elegant, vital, and mysterious.

My old post about wisteria, Wisteria and the ancient Fujiwara Clan

Wisteria and the ancient Fujiwara Clan

There is aged wisteria (estimated to be 800-year-old) in front of the sanctuary of Kasuga Grand Shrine.  It is called 砂ずりの藤　(Sand Brushing Wisteria) as their clusters hang down so long that they brush the sand below.   Unfortunately, this year's wisteria didn't grow so long.

Wisteria is the symbol and the crest of Kasuga Grand Shrine and Kofuku-ji Temple.  This shrine was originally founded as a family shrine of the Fujiwara Clan. As the name  "Fuji-wara" means "wisteria-grove", the area in and around the shrine is abundant with wisteria both cultivated and in the wild.  The cultivated are usually supported by trellis and are trimmed to keep good shape. 

In Kasuga Shinen Botanical Gardens, there is a wisteria garden with 200 wisteria vines of 20 varieties.

splash of wisteria color in the foliage

I prefer wild wisteria which grow on long vines, sometimes climbing high up into the trees where its flowers hang. When you see petals of mauve colors on the ground but don't see any blossoms around, then look up and you'll find wisteria blossoms high above.

 tangled wisteria vines

The mountain behind the shrine is abundant with wild wisteria.

The Fujiwara Clan was very politically powerful from 8th to 12th century both in the capital and in provinces.  They dominated Japanese court governemnt by intermarrying their daughters into imperial family.  Under then Japanese custom, the future emperor was brought up in his grandfather’s mansion. Grandfather was in charge of the future emperor’s upbringing and became a chief adviser to the emperor when he grew up.

At the beginning of Nara period, both the mother and the wife of Emperor Shomu were from Fujiwara family. Their family temple, Kofuku-ji Temple, and family shrine, Kasuga Shrine, stood on the hills looking down on imperial palace. There were struggles for power between the Fujiwara family and other powerful families tied up with disaffected members of the imperial family.  Some studies say that Heijyo-kyo was founded for the sake of the Fujiwara Clan. (Foresight  only Japanese)

あをによし 　寧楽の京師は 　 咲く花の にほふがごとく 　今盛りなり

(Heijyo-kyo is now flourishing like the luster of flowers in colors and fragrance.)

This is a well-known tanka poem from Manyoshu Anthology about ancient capital of Nara, Heijyo-kyo.  The poet compared flourishing capital to the lustre of flowers in bloom.  Many people have cherry blossoms as “flowers” in their mind, and actually any flower is possible in our free interpretation.  Did the authour have special flower in his mind?   If so, what flower?  “Hana/flower” came to mean “cherry blossoms” in Heian period (to be more accurate, between Manyoshu Anthology and Kokin Wakashu/Heian Waka Imperial Anthology) later than Nara period. Prior to that, “hana” meant “ume blossoms.”  Ume blossoms waft subtle fragrance while wisteria fragrance is distinctive. Which would be suitable for the flower in the poem?

This poem was composed when the author, 小野老朝臣 Ono-no Oyu Asomi, was transferred to Dazaifu (west end) far from capital.  The capital must have been in the mood of celebration since the first baby boy was born to Emperor Shomu.  Suppose the  flower he had in mind was wisteria which could be associated with the Fujiwara Clan, I wonder whether the authour poured out his genuine nostalgia toward the prosperous capital or he subtly implied rather ironic remark  against the Fujiwaras' prosperity and controlling imperial throne. 

(Reference: this site)

There's lots of mysteries and wonders in ancient history and it is interesting to think about with imagination and reasoning.  I question if the mainstream interpretation is always right. No matter what authour had in his mind, however, the poem depicts glorious, majestic Heijyo-kyo at its height.  At the end of the Silk Road, our ancestors created the base of this nation vigorously learning from foreign countries while fostering Japanese originality, and Fujiwara Clan did take an important role.  We still can appreciate that legacy.

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