Current location:business >>
VOX POPULI: Early spring fills us with regret at missing out on winter’s charms
business2People have gathered around
IntroductionSosei (844-910), a “waka” poet and Buddhist priest who was one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry ...
Sosei (844-910), a “waka” poet and Buddhist priest who was one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry (Sanju-roku Kasen) of the Asuka, Nara and Heian periods (from 592 to 1185), penned a piece that may be paraphrased as: “The warbling of a nightingale is what I await most eagerly from the morning of New Year’s Day.”
People can’t wait for the arrival of warmer weather. They strain their ears, wanting to be the first to catch the faint footsteps and the soft breath of spring.
This year, however, spring has arrived so early that I am not quite sure what to make of it.
When I visited Tokyo’s Hamarikyu Gardens just the other day, ume flowering plum trees were already in full bloom and “mejiro” Japanese white-eyes were hopping from branch to branch.
In Tokyo, this year’s first ume blossoms were observed on Jan. 9. This was about one month earlier than back in the 1970s, when the flowers were said to usually arrive in February.
Changes are also being noticed at Izunuma and Uchinuma, a pair of marshes in Miyagi Prefecture, where geese and swans winter every year.
Normally, the birds start their northbound journey home around this time. But this year, most of the birds are said to have left already.
“I have been observing them for many years, but this is the first time this has happened, and I am surprised,” said Tetsuro Shimada of the Sanctuary Center of Izunuma-Uchinuma in Miyagi Prefecture.
Thanks to the mild weather, there is said to be little snow or ice this year in Akita Prefecture and other places where the birds make stopovers, Shimada noted.
They apparently knew they would not be lacking for food and shelter on their way home and so started taking off, one after another.
For Tokyo, the forecast for the middle of the week is that it will feel like mid-April. I don’t know if I should be happy or concerned.
I definitely do not want survivors of the Noto Peninsula earthquake and people in heavy snow areas to endure more frigid temperatures.
That said, however, I would still like winter to feel like--well, winter.
In “Makura no Soshi” (The Pillow Book), author Sei Shonagon (ca 966-1017 or 1025) extols the exquisiteness of early morning in winter.
I am sure the arrival of spring is all the more welcome after inhaling a lungful of icy morning air in winter.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 12
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Stellar Series news portal”。http://mayotte.fightbigfood.org/news-14d599981.html
Related articles
NBA playoffs: Edwards leads Wolves to 98
businessDENVER (AP) — Anthony Edwards overcame a slow start and the Timberwolves roared back from a 20-point ...
【business】
Read moreColon cancer blood test offers new screening option
businessA blood test for colon cancer performed well in a study published Wednesday, offering a new kind of ...
【business】
Read moreMoon landing attempt: Another US lunar lander blasts off
businessCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Another private U.S. company took a shot at the moon Thursday, launching ...
【business】
Read more
Popular articles
- Investigators return to Long Island home of Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect
- NASA satellite blasts off to survey oceans and atmosphere of warming Earth
- Federal data does not show a soaring number of unauthorized migrants registering to vote
- No joke: UK comedian told to remove hot dog from subway poster over junk food ban
- Shohei Ohtani's first walk
- This stinks. A noxious weed forces Arizona national monument's picnic area to close until May
Latest articles
Strictly star Giovanni Pernice's former partner Rose Ayling
Olivia Munn recommends breast cancer risk calculator after diagnosis
Thailand plan massive enclosures to contain monkey mayhem in Lopburi
US tuberculosis cases were at the highest level in a decade in 2023
Celebrity tequila brands, like George Clooney
Maker of defective sleep apnea devices ordered to overhaul manufacturing
LINKS
- Event to promote love of reading to be held in Kunming
- Taiwan body donates cultural relics to national heritage administration
- Xi's 'two sessions' messages highlight China's high
- New cancer
- Bernd Hölzenbein, World Cup winner with West Germany in 1974, dies at 78
- China's top anti
- 4 dead, 97 injured in 7.3
- E China hailstorm disaster death toll rises to 7
- Suggestions made by Chinese lawmakers move toward implementation
- China home to 47 UNESCO Global Geoparks