#74
May, 2006
This page is written monthly
by Harumi Okochi.
Sometimes Harumi's friends join.
We'd be happy if you look at
our previous issues.

#1 GREETING


Hymn to Wisteria


Tamasaburo Bando
dancing 'Wisteria Girl'
May !
Already !
Too buoyant a season it is, and it exhausts me.
Only wisteria, the mysterious flower, calms my nerve.
Watching the swaying wisteria bunches makes me fall asleep.
Is it hypnosis?
This queer sense is not particular only to me, I believe, because in Noh Play also, there appears the Spirit of Wisteria in a dream of a monk.
Japanese minds have long loved wisteria as a motif for poems, Haiku, dancing, paintings, and other designs.

This month, I dedicate this page to Wisteria.
I hope you will like it.


   Wisteria tree at Karatsu Castle
is 800 years old.
Look at these tangled roots!
Bunches are so long,
and the scent intoxicates you.
Family crests, designing wisteria are many.
Probably more than 50.
Wisteria is often a motif of painting.
It is also a motif of dolls.
And also of old dishes of Imari ware
in 17th century.
Tamasaburo Bando, a male Kabuki player
who plays roles of a woman,
wears Kimono of wisteria design.
Noh play.
This picture is painted
on a wooden sliding  door
of Takatori House in Karatsu.
 Takatori House was designated as
an Important Cultural Treasure of Japan.




White wisteria is noble and beautiful.

Here are two poems of wisteria, from The Tales of Genji, the volume of Wisteria Leaves

Come join me in regrets for the passing of spring
And wisteria now aglow in the evening light.

Wisteria is like the sleeve of a maiden.
Lovelier when someone cares for it.

Thank you very much for seeing me this month too.
I hope you will come back to this page next month.


Thank you very much for visiting this page.
I hope you will return next month.
Yours, Harem
Proprietress of




  Mail to Harem