Greetings

A Happy New Year ! Jan.01.2007

Recently, as an annual event in Japan, each year has been expressed by only one Japanese character “Kanji”, which was written by a Buddhist priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.

In 2004, “Wazawai” was selected, that is , “misfortune”, because we had many natural disasters such as earthquake, typhoon, heavy rain as well as man-made disasters.
In 2005, there was selected “Ai”, that is, “love”. 
In last year 2006, there was selected “Inochi”, that is, “life” .
These 3 characters reminded me about the following things.
Firstly, as you know a phrase that “to turn a misfortune into a blessing”, and I want to get tough flexibility.
Secondly, love will be sometimes violent and will change into hate. So, I want to pray to get to be mild.
Lastly, I want to cherish my given life, and I wish to live a healthy & sound life.

Last year I reached my 60th year. From these 3 characters, I became to wish to live a flexible, mild hearted and healthy life.

I will take a trip for maple viewing, investigation of gigantic trees and information gathering of Chinese maples this year.

A Happy New Year ! Jan.01.2006

I want to expand maple information on Japan and China and became to want to look into gigantic tree and the time-honored tree of the maple at last.

... For about 10 years, I have been hiking in mountains which are 1000-1700 m above sea level and are located in Shizuoka Prefecture (central district of Japan) and neighboring districts, and I had have the chance to encounter many kinds of maple trees in Japan. At the same time, I have read various kinds of books on maples. So, I came to collect and arrange information on maple trees. I have collected various kinds of maple seeds, leaves and seedling trees, and some seeds sent by friends who live in other countries. I have been cultivating these maples in my garden, which is quite tiny and narrow, and I have made specimens and samples and also taken their photos.
... I appreciate that the charm of the maples is not only in their autumn colors, but also in new green color of spring leaves. The new green color in early May in the mountains refreshes our eyes as well as our spirits. Also, I feel as if maples in Oct. and Nov. were insisting on their existence by their autumn colors.
... I think walking in the mountains gives us a feel for the beauty of the nature, what we can call the original beauty. And I think those places are where we can observe the present and future conditions of the natural environment in their real meaning. At the same time I think these places are where we can keep our eyes on the earth with love.
... By the way, when you want to walk in the mountains, you had better take a 1/50,000 map, an altimeter, a camera and little vinyl pouches (for collecting leaves and seeds), lunch and drinks, then you can enjoy observing. Well, maple trees seem to like water, so you can also enjoy seeing valleys and cascades and hearing the murmur of streams.
... This time, through internet I want to present some of my information on maples, and to exchange opinions on maples with friends who are interested in maples. I would also hope this homepage on maples will be educational for young students. If so, I will feel very happy.

Please enjoy and use these pages !

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