Hardy blossoms inspire spirit in the new year

Clusters of nihon suisen (Japanese narcissus) are in full bloom on a southerly slope in a park near my home.

While single-blossom narcissuses are less spectacular than their multiple-blossom cousins, their clean fragrance is just right for the season.

A haiku by Asako Nishijima goes: "Refusing to reveal multiple blooms/ Narcissuses remain stubbornly single-blossom."

Many people no doubt applaud the austere beauty of the single-bloom varieties.

Narcissuses also look striking in the dark interior of old-style Japanese homes.

When novelist Takeshi Kaiko (1930-1989) visited the Echizen coast in Fukui Prefecture, an area famous for its narcissuses, he wrote: "As New Year's flowers, the narcissus adds bright flashes of color to the darkness of many a home."

Indeed, an arrangement of narcissuses in the murky vestibule lights up the space like a soft spotlight.

Japanese narcissuses are known also as setchuka (flower in the snow), perhaps because they can bloom and give off their sweet perfume even in snow.

At Echizen Misaki Suisen Rando (Cape Echizen narcissus land), a tourist spot in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, 15 million narcissuses are now in full bloom.

According to a park spokesperson, there were snow flurries Sunday, and gray waves pounded the wintry seacoast.

Echizen is in the Hokuriku region, which, together with other areas along the Sea of Japan, had snow over the first three days of the new year.

Snow or rain at the beginning of the year is called osagari, a welcome sign of bumper crops.

Still, the snow must have inconvenienced returning travelers who spent their year-end and New Year's holidays in their hometowns.

This year, the last of the three consecutive New Year's holidays fell on a Sunday, which meant working people had to return promptly to the workday routine on Monday.

The hustle and bustle of the year-end, New Year's festivities and family reunions are all memories now.

The transition from last year to this year seemed too swift.

If I may return to narcissuses once again, in Oriental art, sosei, which literally means "doubly pure," refers to the pairing of narcissus and ume (Japanese apricot) flowers.

These flowers, both of which bloom bravely in the cold, can be viewed as a source of encouragement.

This year, I want to take my inspiration for life from these hardy blossoms.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 4