Life as a flower in the wild

What's it like to accidentally read your favorite book?

It's when you're supposed to buy The Book of Changes and The Garden Metallurgy,

and then you get a copy of Like Flowers in the Wild,

and then you pick it up and you don't want to put it down.

A small store that has been in business for 50 years,

a shopkeeper who picks flowers by hand in the mountains,

and who uses a casual and relaxed approach to flower arranging,

combining more than a hundred pieces of floral artifacts with seasonal foliage to create a state of mindfulness and calmness.

The book is a collection of flowers and foliage from a wide range of countries, including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States.

As Chirikyu says in the Seven Rules of the Tea Ceremony, "Like a flower in the wild,"

blooming in the wild,

is the most beautiful gesture of a flower.

The author of "Like a Flower in the Wild", Mr. Akimitsu Tanaka,

is the owner of the old art store "Tomomindo" in Nara, Japan.

When he was in his twenties, his tea room was not doing well,

so he put out his favorite antique artworks,

and arranged flowers from the mountains.

Instead, he survived, and has been in business for more than 50 years.

The only thing that has remained unchanged is the fact that the shop has been open for more than 50 years.

The only constant is that

Mr. Tanaka has always insisted that " Flowers are made by foot,"

believing that flowers grown in severe natural environments

are more imposing than artificially cultivated flowers.

So he refused to buy flowers from florists and greenhouses,

but went to the mountains and fields in search of flowers, and never gave up even when he fell and hurt himself.

His wife was worried about his health,

and the two of them used to go to the mountains of Nara together,

looking for their favorite flowers.

It didn't matter if there were no suitable flowers,

wild red beans, persimmons, red leaves

and even cucumber and eggplant blossoms had a unique flavor.

The broken Sarutogi kiln water bottle,

has a complete shape without the vicissitudes of life.

Early summer,

just can insert a branch of small species of Ziyanghua.

The tiger's ear is a large blooming but inconspicuous little flower,

which I used to see in my village when I was a child,

and with the bottles accidentally stained with other glazes by the potter during the kiln firing,

it has a cool Nara landscapes mood.

The scent of the lilies of the valley is warm and sweet,

and the flowering period is long, with petals blowing off.

It is paired with an old bamboo one-piece cutter,

which is placed in the corner of the tea room.

When I was flipping through the book,

the iris was the one that touched me the most,

the long leaves seemed to dance with the wind,

the image of "iris dipping itself into the green of the stream".

A relative, knowing Mr. Tanaka's hobby,

sent him a small hime lilies,

which were placed in a Mikazuki boat flowerpot.

Water lilies are an indispensable summer flower,

and in the early morning, a basin full of water is filled with water lilies,

and two or three branches of water lilies float on it,

which is a refreshing summer feeling for the guests.

The summer vines were the cause of Mr. Tanaka's fall,

and he fell out of a tree a few years ago trying to pick them,

and struggled for hours to get to a populated area before being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

But he was able to recover from the fall, and he is still in the hospital, where he is now being treated.

But after his recovery, Mr. Tanaka still loved Natsuto,

saying that it was "like being brushed by a cool breeze",

and that the beans it bore gave it "a sense of mountain elegance and silence".

Here inexplicably recalls Xue Baochai's Asarum,

pulling the vine to lead the trails, the solid as dansha,

may also be taken to the meaning of the mountains and wild leisure and silence it.

Since we are talking about Asarum,

By the way, also put a hibiscus.

Mr. Tanaka matched the white hibiscus with a Ming Dynasty celadon vase,

which has a summery look.

Not only flowers,

pomegranate fruit and polygonum are also suitable for summer.

When each month has its own flower,

are we more aware

of the change of seasons and the passage of time?

January? Cold Red Plum White Camellia

February? White Plum Counting Kikiya Wabisuke Camellia

March? Spring orchid

April? White-flowering Daiwa Mouton

May? Blue

June? Mangroves, bellflowers, sweet tea hydrangeas

July? False mountain tea

August? Heron Orchid

September? Bromeliad

October? Persimmon, Pelargonium, Amaryllis

November? Ichiko camellia, purple part

December? Chrysanthemum, Mangrove

Youmeido "Nara Correspondence" since the opening of the store,

and the poems left by everyone, "Youmei Paste",

Mr. Tanaka has always kept them to read at leisure.

When he traveled with friends,

and ate eel tempura cooked by his father-in-law,

he would also record it in the traditional way.

What really attracted me to this book

was the simple, natural aesthetics of the East.

It's the way of life that used to be alive in The Six Memoirs of a Floating Life and A Dream of Red Mansions,

the way of life that used to be alive in The Book of Changing Things and A List of Foods from the Garden,

the way of life that has been alive and faded away over the years,

and the way of life of those who tried to live their lives in their hearts.

The book is about the way of life of those who have been alive in the past and who have lived in the past and who have lived in the past and who have lived in the future.

Flowers should be arranged as if they were blooming in the wilderness,

not just the same old beauty in a greenhouse.

People also need to make room for their true selves,

not just what others tell you you should be.

Life is a life,

when you are like a flower in the wild.