A Berry Nice Stroke of Luck

In my last post, I mentioned the unknown plant in my garden. I’m glad I found a blog that mentioned the names of berries in Japan.

Now, I know. The name of this berry plant is nandina.

Wild in Japan

Hi blog.

 

I was originally intending to write a piece to coincide with New Year’s Day, or more accurately, the Japanese period of celebrating the New Year, which pertains particularly to the first three days, but the period up to the 7^th, matsu-no-uchi (松の内) – literally “inside the pine” – is still considered part of the New Year.

[caveat: certain regions or households may vary, with the matsu-no-uchi period extending as far as the 15^th]

 

Unfortunately, things did not go to plan, partially because I was unable to find the subjects I wanted to photograph, partially because of the weather, and partially because of other commitments.

Notice how I used the word “unfortunately”, which comes from the root word “fortune”.  This notion of fortune or good luck – engi (縁起) in Japanese – is actually a very important concept within the framework of Japanese…

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