Photo : downsized to 770 x 576pxls
with Olympus Camedia C-4100 Zoom
Updated on Mar.20 2005
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Aroma of fallen leaves(Dec.18) | Woods of deciduous trees is bright now after most of the leaves have fallen. Walking on the fallen leaves is pleasant. Sometimes I smell aroma coming from somewhere. I don't know whether it is from newly fallen leaves, or fermented leaves, but I know this is the aroma of deciduous woods. |
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Promenade (Nov.20) | Two years ago, when satoyama renewal project started, this place was a memory path, where I used to come when I was a little boy. I come here a few times a week for a walk. Over the fallen tree, there is a unspoiled world of beautiful flowers and fungi of the season. It is a comfort to meet them at every time, but it is sometimes hard for animals to survive severe time such as this fall, when nuts are very small in number this year. |
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Parnassia Palustris(Oct.23) | Northern grass-of-Parnassus is a common name. These plants grow in the damp side of Satoyama in this season. White but slightly green pedals growing up from green grasses remind us of ume flower, or Japanese plum. Parnassia Palustris can be interpreted as "a poet in the wetland", which may come from a Greek mountain, Parnassus, sacred place for musicians and poets. |
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Earthstars, Geaster(Sep.11) | I went to forests on a raily day. I found a lot of different mushrooms
popping up like bean sprouts. These fungi called earthstars look like babies
with neckerchief. They are crying for milk. |
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End of summer(Sep.11) |
A sight of dragonflies hovering over golden ears of rice reminds me of
old days in sepia photographs. It is a picture heralding the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.Looking blankly at they flying, I forget time passing of busy days. Stop time. |
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Bon Festival on a Summer Evening(Aug.15) | What dreams are these children of our community drawing? "A gold medalist in the Olympics." "A pretty flower." They are playing the artists. They live in future. We hope they will grow as they are. |
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Irrigation channel running through Satoyama (June 15) | A irrigation channel is running from upstream, Ohara dam to supply agricultural irrigation water. One early morning I met Mr. Takeo Nakajima, leader of Satoyama renewal project. maintenance of the irrigation channel is a very important job for a water control committee member. |
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Pond in Satoyama (June 12) | Quite a few ponds are seen in Satoyama. Some are used for irrigation for the raice farming, others are not used any more because of decreasing farming area. I used to fish in this pond when I was a boy. |
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Golden Orchid & Silver Orchid (May 13) | I have seen a few gold orchids or Cephalanthera falcata, but I happened to find a silver orchid one morning while I was taking a daily walk down the path of Satoyama forests. These two kinds of orchids look like each other, but the silver orchid looks more elegant becaue of its short life. |
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Corydalis incisa (Apr.28) | They were in clusters in a dim valley. Their green leaves were more attractive than the flowers. Some flowers look rather beautiful when it is alone, while others look beautiful when they are together. |
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Rice paddy field ready for rice planting(Apr.20) | Rice paddy fields after levelling off are filled with water, waiting for rice planting in golden week of this May. Trees and hills in the water mirror drew my attention, and stopped me, who was taking a morning walk. |
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Viola Grypoceras (Apr.11) | Closeup of these quite common violets looks so attractive to me. We will find even familiar or tiny things are very attractive and distinctive, if we have a careful look. |
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Akebia Quinata (Apr.11) | A lot of male flowers are in the midle, while two bigger female flowers are outside. The fruite is not so much in number in autumun. They would fall down if they don't entwine themselves around the big trees. When I was a boy, I used to go collecting Akebi fruit in the forest, and look enviously at the delicious fruit hanging high from the trees. |
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Cymbidium goeringii(Mar.28) | This orchid, a harbinger of spring, can be found here and there on the sunny side of satoyama forests in late March. It is dubbed old man-and-woman. One of the possible interpretations of this strange name in Japanese may be its figure like old man-and woman. The petal below looks like old man's beard, and the two green sepals look like a woman wearing a hand towel on her head. |
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Quercus Serrata, or Sawtooth Oak Sprouting (Mar.21) | A lot of nuts produced this autumn were sprouting as early as late autumn. Since most of them are eaten by animals, treaded down, and killed by germs, few of them can grow up to big trees. This nut will not be able to grow up against my wish. This a real nature, and the ecosystem of the forest is well balanced. |
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A Pretty Creature in a Forest, Hygroscopic Earthstar (Mar.3) | I was surprised to find this fungus, Tsuchiguri or Astraeus Hygrometricus on the mountain pass side. It usualy grows from summer through autumn. It looks an octopus like alien with ten arms, but looks very pretty like a baby, doesn't it? It is going to move with the arms. |
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Lonicera gracilipes Miq.(Mar.3) | I happened to find this flower, while looking for insects passing over winter. The flower is carmine pink about 10mm large open on a small shrub, while buds on other shrubs still look hard. |
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Satoyama in winter (Feb.) | Thanks to leafless deciduous trees such as oak trees and quercus acutissima, the forest is bright and spacious in winter. Evergreen groves have been growing recently. Creatures blessed by the sun light and fallen leaves may disappear. Our forests are not same as what they used to be, and will not be. Who will stop them? |
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Scale Insect om a silk tree(Feb) | There are small white gums on a silk tree. I wonder what they are. Picking up one of them, and turning it over, I found the middle part of the other side is red, as if it were a piece of marshmallow with strowberry inside. I still can't believe it is a bug. |
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Silverberry or Elaeagrus pungens (Feb.) |
This plant opens flowers in October, passes the winter with their young fruits, which ripen next May. The hard skins protect the inside from freezing coldness. The edible fruits are red with silvery flecks. |
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Diospyros Kaki (Jan.) | Kaki or Japanese persimmon trees found in forests bear orange fruits of 3 cm in diameter. Since they contain a lot of persimon tannin, it is too bitter to eat them. No birds come to eat them. The leaves have fallen, and their fruits are still on the twigs. They look sweet with snow sugar capped on their top. |
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Murmuring Beech Trees (Feb) | Tall beech trees are looking down at me from high sky. They look talking something about me.I find myself shirinking and shirinking. |
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Snowy rice field at dawn (Jan.) | There are street lights still seen in the morning mist. It is time for wild aminals to go home. A deer came out of the dawn darkness in front of me, and disappeared before I knew it. |
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Hokoritake, Puffballs (Lycoperdaceae) (Jan) | Look at that old ceramic pot standing on a fallen tree! Or is it an iron pot? I tried to pat it, then it spewed smoke. It may be an old puffball. |
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Fukinotou, Butterbur Sprout(Feb) | Early Feburary, a butterbur sprout is shooting out under fallen leaves. Buds and buds are crushing together inside wishing to go out right now. The outer skins are trying hard to stop them untill time comes. |
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Enokitake,Flammulina veluptipes under snow (Jan.) | Out of fallen leaves, brothers and sisters of this family are looking at the brighter world. On a severely cold day, they look closer together. |
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Moon at daybreak (Dec.) | Magnolia obovata Thunb. and Canadian maple trees (planted) |