|
发表于 2012-1-10 06:42:33
|
显示全部楼层
VOX POPULI: Daffodils give color to winter landscape
"Sosei" is a Japanese word referring to paintings of daffodils and "ume" (Japanese apricot) flowers. Both bloom in the cold, as though they were intended to cheer us up.
It's still a bit early for apricots, but daffodils are now in full bloom. I recently received a beautiful bunch from a reader in Fukui Prefecture.
The prefecture's Echizen Coast is known for its daffodils, which I assume graced many Japanese homes over the New Year's holidays.
Their long, straight green leaves and white petals around a yellow corona remind me of candles burning on candlesticks. Their fragrance is stronger in a warm room than out in the snow.
The famous poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) goes: "I wandered lonely as a cloud/ That floats on high o'er vales and hills/ When all at once I saw a crowd/ A host, of golden daffodils/ Beside the lake, beneath the trees/ Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
These are believed to be wild daffodils, or "rappa suisen" in Japanese. The first to give color to desolate winter landscapes, they were said to be loved in England for bringing hope and joy. In Japan, too, nobody would deny that these flowers represent the first sign of early spring.
"A Winter's Tale" by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) contains this line: "Daffodils/ That come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty."
In both the East and the West, people readily associate words like "clean" and "crisp" with daffodils blooming in the frigid air.
The Japanese archipelago has just entered the first phase of winter, and the nation is now bracing for the real winter to come.
Peering at the wide-open eyes of daffodils, I thought of the time stretching between now and early spring. And I imagined hearing the daffodil fairy saying: "Spring is not near, but not far, either."
--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 8 |
|