January 26, 2008

Nogawa Park (January 27th)


Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubun-sou)
一足早く春を告げるセツブンソウ。

This morning I found at somebody's blog that some Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubun-sou) flowers already started to bloom at Nogawa park, so we went to check that out. We found some of those cute little flowers coming out from beneath the fallen leaves. It is amazing they were growing under the snow fallen 4 days ago!

野川公園のセツブンソウが咲き出したということで、早速、見に行ってきました。4日前には雪に覆われていたのに、その時にも着々と花を咲かせる準備を進めていたのかと思うと、この小さく可憐な花たちにちょっと感動してしまいました。


Pushing the fallen leaves.
枯葉を押しのけて顔をのぞかせてくれています。


Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubun-sou)


Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubun-sou)


Equisetum arvense (Tsukushi; Sugina, Common Horsetail)
小さなツクシも見つけました。


Petasites japonicus (Fukinotou, Giant Butterbur)
フキノトウも芽を出し始めました。

Hyakuhiro Waterfall, Okutama (January 26th)


Hyakuhiro waterfall.

Today we walked beside the creek from Kawanori-bashi bus stop up to Hyakuhiro waterfall to see if the waterfall was frozen yet. The Okutama holiday special express train had much less people than usually. Some of the cars were practically empty. Not many people wanted to come outside in this cold weather. After we passed Oume sta. we could see some snow outside of the windows. When we started to walk from Kawanori -bashi bus stop, the trail was frozen and slippery. On the way to the waterfall we found lots of icicles and candle ice, but most of the waterfalls were just a little bit frozen. However, the biggest one around that area, Hyakuhiro waterfall was pretty much frozen. It was so amazing that it looked quite different from what we saw in last November. It was -2℃ or so around there. By the time we finished our lunch near the waterfall, we were both half frozen, but the frozen waterfall was so picturesque that we kept taking some more pictures after lunch, and then went back to the bus stop.

奥多摩は川乗橋バス停より百尋の滝を見に出かけてきました。奥多摩ホリデー快速はいつもの混雑からは信じられないくらい空いていて、青梅を過ぎた辺りで、車窓からは雪がうっすらと見られるようになりました。奥多摩駅前のバスターミナルも、空いていて余裕を持ってバスに乗ることができました。川乗橋からの道は、雪も少し残っている上に凍結している箇所も多くて滑りやすくなっていました。沢沿いでは大小さまざまな氷柱や霜柱が見られ、百尋の滝もかなり氷結が進んでいました。昨年11月に来た時とは、滝の印象が全く変わっていて、見ごたえある滝の姿に、思わず何枚も写真を撮ってしまいました。


The mountains with snow.
見渡す山々にもうっすら雪が積もっています。


Footprints of some creature.
何者かの足跡が…


The trail was mostly covered with snow.
滝への道は、こんな感じに雪が薄く積もっている所が多かったです。


Icicles under the trees.
岩場から張り出た木の根から大きな氷柱ができています。


Interesting shapes of ice formed under the dripping water.
鍾乳石のような不思議な形の氷。岩場からしたたる水の下に見つけました。


Wall of icicles.
つららの壁。


This creek is pretty beautiful and fun to walk beside.
川乗橋からの沢沿いの道は、変化に富んでいて歩いていて楽しいです。


Hyakuhiro waterfall. You can compare this with what we saw in last November.
百尋の滝。 (昨年11月の様子はこちらから。)


Close-up.
間近で見ると迫力があります。


Another close-up.
クローズアップ。

January 22, 2008

Nogawa Park (January 23rd)


Nogawa river with snow.

It snowed today from the morning to the early afternoon. This time the snow actually covered the ground.

今朝がたから昼過ぎまで降り続いた雪のおかげで、街はうっすらと雪化粧をまとっています。雪が降る中、野川公園まで散歩に出かけてきました。


Carduelis sinica (Kawara Hiwa, Oriental Greenfinch)


Nogawa river.


Snow falls on Narcissus flowers, too.
スイセンの花にも雪が積もっています。

January 19, 2008

Oyama Dairi Park, Tamasakai (January 19th)


Frozen pond.
氷が張った池。

Today we went to see if we could find any birds at Oyama Dairi Park near Tama-sakai sta. on Keio line. We couldn't find many birds today, but we happened to see the seasonal event held there. The event is called "Dondo Yaki", which is one of the traditional ceremony around January 15th in Japan. People make a huge pile with bamboos, older talismans, Kadomatsu (New Year's Day ornaments), children's calligraphy, etc. and cast fire on it and wish their good luck and health. And there is also a custom that they bake some rice cakes with the fire of that bonfire and eat them wishing their good health. There were lots of people participating in this event today and they made a long line to get the bamboo sticks with two little rice cake balls on the top. We were almost giving up first, but actually they prepared lots and lots of those sticks, so we could get one for each.

京王線多摩境駅より小山内裏公園へ野鳥を探しに出かけてきました。これといった野鳥は見つけられなかったのですが、どんど焼きを見ることができました。


People bring their own things to put onto the pile for "Dondo Yaki".
焼く前の姿。


Lots of rice cake balls called "Mayu Dama" (Silk cocoon ball).
繭玉がいっぱい。


Kids helping to cast the fire.
火を放つ子供たち。


In a few seconds after setting the fire. It was so quick.
一瞬にしてこんなことに…群集はちょっとしたパニックに。


The fire burnt some lawn on the ground, too.
火の手は地面の芝生にも拡大。


離れていても熱くて、煙たいです。


Burning the "Mayu Dama". We had to fight with the smoke.
いよいよ繭玉を焼くことに…煙との戦い。

January 17, 2008

ICU campus, Mitaka (January 18th)


One little violet flower is opening in my container garden.
プランターに植えたスミレが一輪、早くも花を咲かせています。

Today I went to take some walk in the research forest at the ICU campus. I saw lots of little birds in the campus. I saw Parus major (Shijuukara, Great Tit), Aegithalos caudatus (Enaga, Long-tailed Tit), Dendrocopos kizuki (Kogera, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker), Carduelis sinica (Kawarahiwa, Oriental Greenfinch), etc. No people was there, so I enjoyed walking in the nice and quiet forest.


Dendrocopos kizuki (Kogera, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker)
コゲラ。背中の派手な縞模様も、こうして見ると見事なカモフラージュになってます。


Interesting shapes of the trees.


View through the bush of camellia.

January 16, 2008

Mitaka (January 17th)


Snow!

Early in this morning I woke up with great surprise... It was snowing! First snow in Tokyo this winter! It stopped in 30 minutes or so, but I feel happy to see the snow. It was so pretty.

初雪だ!初雪!今朝5時に起きたら、雪が舞っていました。東北出身の自分は、やっぱり雪を見ると心躍ってしまうのでした。

January 13, 2008

Nogawa Park (January 14th)


Winter sky. Nogawa Park.

We went to a Ramen noodle shop in our neighborhood for lunch and then went to Nogawa Park. It was really cold outside today and couldn't see any sign of Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubunsou) flowers yet. Only wintersweet flowers were spreading the sweet smell in the air.

近所の野川公園に花や野鳥の様子を見に出かけてきました。さすがにセツブンソウは、まだ何の気配も見せていませんでした。ロウバイだけが冷たい風に甘い香りを漂わせて咲いていました。


Chimonanthus praecox form. concolor (Soshin Roubai) got flowers and fruits.
ソシンロウバイ。この株は、まだ実もつけていました。


Reflection of the forest on the pond.
池に映った冬の木立。


Coccothraustes coccothraustes (Shime, Hawfinch). This is taken by my friend, Daniel.
シメが時折、顔を見せてくれました。


Narcissus tazetta var. chinensis (Nihon Suisen)


Sprout of Gentiana zollingeri (Fude Rindou).
フデリンドウが早くも芽生えていました。


Miso Ramen at "Guutara", a ramen noodle shop.
「ぐうたら」でお待ちかねの味噌ラーメンを頂きました。今シーズンは、バーナーで軽く炙ったキャベツがのっています。甘みがあっておいしいです。

Kawagoe (January 13th)


"Toki no Kane" (Bell tower for announcing the time.)
A symbol of Kawagoe.
川越のシンボル、時の鐘。

Today we went to see some older facades of Kawagoe, Saitama. Kawagoe is the one of the cities called "Ko Edo" (small Edo). There are the temples, which enshrine each member of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune (Shichifukujin), so we walked around the city seeing the older buildings and stopped by all the seven temples to wish our good luck this year.

小江戸として知られる川越の街を歩いてきました。七福神めぐりのコースをたどりつつ、時折、道に迷いながらも七つのお寺全てにお参りすることができました。


"Toki no Kane", the bell tower.


A facade of shop showing the older storage, "Kura".


蔵造りの街並み。


Naritasan temple, one of the seven temples we visited.
恵比須天を祀る成田山。


A pagoda at Kitain temple, one of the seven temples.


Kitain temple.
喜多院には大黒天が祀られています。


Anas penelope (Hidori-gamo, Wigeon) at the Shinkashi river.
道に迷ってたどり着いた新河岸川沿いでくつろぐヒドリガモ。


Chimonanthus praecox form. concolor (Soshin Roubai)
毘沙門天を祀る妙善寺ではこんなに鮮やかなロウバイが咲いていました。


All the seven temples have the stamps for each God.
The Seven Gods are Bishamon-ten, Ju-roujin, Daikoku-ten, Ebisu-ten, Fukurokuju-jin, Hotei-son, Benzai-ten.
七福神めぐりでスタンプを集めてきました。ちょっと素敵なスタンプだと思いませんか?