[Flowering April
]
The new school semester begins here.
I welcomed the latest news that this April, two more junior high schools and three senior-highs in Matsuyama have decided
to introduce new school uniforms.
At 19 out of 48 schools, girls, LGBT and any other student will be able to choosea more fashionable option than the sailor suit ensemble.
School uniforms in Japan have long been the rule.
Both of our girls grew up with uniforms from the time they were in kindergarten to their senior high school days.
Two decades ago, we were finally back in Japan after having lived in the U.S., and our eldest daughter was admitted to a preschool.
I'll never forget what a big purchase a uniform seemed at the time.
We paid the preschool for the prescribed uniform: school uniform for each season, fancy felt hat, a sweatsuit, school backpack,
skip rope, room shoes, sketchbook, color pencils, watercolor painting set and a melodica. By the time she entered the mission high school,
she was required to wear black pump shoes with low heels, the school emblem printed on them and everything else.
Working women in Japan are required to wear uniforms as well. I thought this was the case the world over.
But some years ago, on my first visit to Vancouver,
I realized that women working at a bank wore, as did their male colleagues,whatever clothing they wanted to wear.
Which was quite a culture shock and one that crushed my stereotypes of what women and men were required to wear at the office.
I did hate wearing my high school's sailor suit.
Uniforms deprive young kids of the chance to develop their own taste in clothing by making their own decisions as to what to wear to school.
"Schools should do away with the uniform!" This argument has long been on the agenda of student councils all over Japan.
But not until now has this argument been taken seriously.
(Kazuyo)
Flowery season has arrived!
Plum blossoms, subtle signs of early spring, fascinate me as they materialize in the taut frosty air.
Ancient aristocrats appreciated plum trees and started making lots of poems about them as soon as they were brought over from China.
This was long before cherry blossoms viewing became so popular in late-medieval Japan.
However, this doesn't mean plum blossoms were more popular than cherry blossoms.
For centuries, Japanese people preferred worshiping the indigenous cherry.
Going on an outing to the mountains to see the blossoms was a ritual for farmers,
as spring was the season for rice planting and they prayed for that year's abundant harvest there.
Right now cherry trees alongside the Ishite river have little plump buds appearing among the bare twig-like limbs.
Somehow, finding new buds sprouting from the rough, old lumpy trunk makes me feel all cozy.
Soon, they will be waking up from their winter sleep and whispering, "Let's be happy!"
I see cherry trees as symbols of happiness. In their lives, they are to bear summer heat, drop their leaves in the fall,
be exposed to the cold of winter and somehow store up power to bloom again. The cherry tree has parallels with the way of my life.
One realizes the true value of happiness after experiencing hard times.
Everyone comes to cherry trees in a different state of mind.
They have all had different lives, different obstacles to surmount and even different reasons for viewing the blossoms at all.
It's best to view fully open cherry flowers in a peaceful state of mind.
If I can share the gorgeous scenery with someone I love, I enjoy them even more.
Now, in this time of pandemic things that were easy before, say, gathering with your friends beneath a tree
with food and drink is no longer easy nor safe. At any rate, the flowers are intoxicating enough in themselves,
and I'd love to melt into their feathery canopies of soft pink.
((Miwa N.)
Spring is the prime of the year. It is divided into three phases, each of which has specific features.
1) Early spring
the first day of spring / my heart should be likened / to the blue of the skies
(haru tachinu / kokoro tatoeba / sora-no awo)
Early spring is the season when every living thing awakens from the dormancy of winter.
Plants come into bud and insects stir from a long hibernation and creep out of their nests.
Clusters of "inufuguri", tiny blue flowers alongside a footpath, look as though they spilled over from the blue sky.
There is still a nip in the air, but the furry flowers of the pussy willow reflect the growing sunshine.
The fields are spread with auspicious harbingers of spring.
2) Mid spring
April has come / accompanied by a sweet scent / of the green fields
(shigatsu kinu / no-no amaki-ka wo / kaze-ni nose)
At the height of spring, all the flowers, led by the cherry blossom, burst into full bloom,
and little birds perform their love songs merrily from the trees.
A sweet vernal breeze brushes past a hare's ears, and vibrant butterflies draw rhythmic curves over the green grass.
The heat haze is shimmering, at a distance.
The bell of a Buddhist temple reverberates through the distant hazy atmosphere.
Everything is peace and quiet. Only human beings are beset with chaos.
3) Late spring
namu-amidabutsu / muryo-ko / shinju-ko
I can't render the rhythm and implications of this haiku into English.
Its approximate meaning is the idea that Amitabha's mercy and benevolence are omnipresent,
as is the glittering vegetation surrounding us. This is an ode to the fresh spring foliage reflecting the affluent sunshine.
Priest Saigyo (12C) writes,
"I wish I could die in spring / under the full-blown cherry blossoms / around the time of a full moon"
(from the anthology of Shin-Kokin waka poems)
I would rather murmur;
my wish is to depart / right amid the brilliant verdure / reflecting the bright sunshine of spring
(H.Tarumi)
One night, my son was reading a book, a book of Japanese proverbs.
There are over 220 Japanese proverbs in the book.
They are well known by most Japanese people and often used in a daily life.
For example, Ken-en no naka , means that two people dislike each other and get along like a dog and monkey.
An English speaker might say, "Those two fight like cats and dogs."
Hayaoki wa sanmon no toku (The early bird gets the worm).
If you wake up early, you will most likely succeed in whatever it is you want to do.
The book states that some countries have similar proverbs, but each expression is different according to the country.
It's very interesting for me.
One of my favorite proverbs is Mitsugo no tamashii hyaku made (The child is father of the man.)
After having my son, I think it makes sense. My son has always been busy and talkative since he was a small child.
He is thirteen years old now and he still hasn't changed.
My son suddenly began playing the piano when he was three and he still loves music even now.
This is all very mysterious to me, because neither I nor my husband play the piano, and it certainly wasn't us taught him
how to play. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with his talents and how his interests might change in the future.
People's characters gradually change as they get older.
But I read somewhere that a person's true self is based on whatever character they had when they were three years old.
When I learned this, I asked my mother "What was I like as a little child?"
She said, "You ate a lot and were always playing outside." I think that's a bit different from how I am now,
but learning something of my youthful innate personality impressed me a lot.
If you know someone who knows something about your childhood, why don't you ask him or her what you were like?
(Chiharu. I)
|
