How are you?
I caught a cold and was in bed for three days(from 12th to 14th), but now OK. This is why I didn't write my letter until now.

Yesterday it rained and was blowing strong wind but was a warm day. Today is not so and I went to the library and looked for "Japan - an illustrated Encyclopedia"(Kodansha). Unfortunately I couldn't find it where it used to be, so this time I'll read about "Kojiki(A Record of Ancient Matters)" using "A Reader's Guide to Japanese Literature".

Kojiki(A Record of Ancient Matters)
A Record of Ancient Matters, which is the usual translated title of the original Kojiki, was completed in A.D.712 and is considered to be the first literary work in the history of Japan. To define the book in this fashion, however, is to bring false, and more modern, preconceptions to what is actually a juxtaposition of myths, history, songs, legends, genealogies, and other disparate materials from which written history, and written literature, were later made. As a glimpse into the relative beginnings of a civilization, however, Ancient Matters is an invaluable resource which can fascinate a modern reader with its archaic power, at once bewildering and strangely familiar.

I have read Kojiki several times in high school days. Stories of Amaterasu-ominokami, Susano-no-mikoto, Yamato-takeru-no-mikoto and so on, are rather interesting, I suppose. Inbe shrine in Tokusima is dedicated to Amenohiwasi-nokami with whom the legendary first emperor JIMMU went up to Yamato(Nara). This story is also written in Kojiki.

Then see you next time!

How are you doing these days?

Nothing unusual happened to me, but Mt.Usu in Hokkaido erupted and a lot of poeple are compelled to take refuge from it. The volcanologists say that it is the biginning of the volcanic activity. It would be very hard for the refugees, I suppose.

By the way it is raining today and the cherry-blossoms began to scatter here in Shikoku. So this time I'll read about "cherry,flowering" from "Japan - an illustrated Encyclopedia"(Kodansha).(I could find this encyclpedia easily this time.)

cherry,flowering The sakura(cherry) is mentioned frequently in Japanese literature, both ancient and modern; traditional Japanese values of purity and simplicity are thought to be reflected in the form and color of its blossoms. Since it flowers very briefly and then scatters, the cherry blossom has also become a symbol of the Japanese appreciation of ephemeral beauty. Cherry-blossoms-viewing parties (see HANAMI) were popular among the Japanese nobility in ancient times, and by the early 17th century the custom had spread to the common people. Picnicking and drinking sake with family, friends, and co-workers beneath flowering cherry trees remain a popular rite of springtime in contemporary Japan. Japanese sakura are said to have first been imported to the United States in 1862. In 1909 Tokyo presented Washington,DC, with a goodwill gift of over 2,000 sakura of 11 varieties.

I didn't go for a picnic to see cherry-blossoms. But driving a car, I can see them here and there. And the Buddhist priest who has sent me photos before sent me a photo of cherry-blossoms which you can see above in this letter.

Then see you next month!