The lingering-summer days have finally gone, and autumn has arrived. Wanting a seasonal photograph, we walked over to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, across from the Palaceside Building. A personal note: a transfer had taken me away from Tokyo, so this was my first stroll in the East Gardens in seven years. Through Hirakawamon, heavy stone walls and deep green. Birdsong and insects in the quiet, a peace that does not feel like the middle of Tokyo. The wind is cool.
Now, an autumn photo. Found it. On the edge of Hakucho-bori, a stand of susuki pampas grass has put out plumes. If you thought susuki too plain—Japan’s autumn is susuki. It is one of the seven autumn herbs, and we decorate with it for the harvest moon. This year’s fifteenth night is October 1. Something to look forward to.
Because of COVID-19 I have not been to karaoke, but once “Showa Kare Susuki” was a popular duet. If the names Sakura and Ichiro come to you at once, you are a proper Showa person. I could hardly break the East Gardens’ silence by singing “Beaten by poverty, beaten by the world,” so I quietly took a photo of the grass and left.
Around the Ninomaru copse I saw several delicate flowers. I did not know their names. I want to do more homework on plants and come back. How lucky to have such a healing space right beside the Palaceside Building. Please do take a lunch-break walk.