Blue Passionflower (Passiflora Caerulea) 時計草（トケイソウ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The plant is supposed to flower in April and May, but it still has several flowers. They're blue passionflowers (Passiflora caerulea). Their Japanese name is "clock plant" after the appearance, which resembles a clock.  

Blue passionflower　時計草

Passiflora caerulea　トケイソウ

Japanese Wisteria (Wisteriopsis Japonica) 紫夏藤（ムラサキナツフジ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I noticed that they were not Japanese bush clover (Lespedeza) when about to delete these photos. They're Japanese wisteria (Wisteriopsis japonica) in the Hasedera temple, Nara. It was so hot that day that I was able to take a couple of photos of the flowers. The wisteria produces white flowers, too. 

Japanese wisteria　紫夏藤

Wisteriopsis japonica　ムラサキナツフジ

Commelina Communis (Asiatic Dayflower) 露草（ツユクサ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Almost all the flowers in my neighborhood are gone due to extreme heat, but these Asiatic dayflowers. I love their blue, yellow and green contrast.

Commelina communis　露草

Asiatic dayflower　ツユクサ

Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa) 熊蜂（クマバチ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is a carpenter bee (Xylocopa) having breakfast on sponge gourd flowers. I've been seeing the bee for the last couple of months and wanting to photograph them but they move from one flower to another so quickly that they flee before the camera focuses on them, so I decided to take @zaungruen method, i.e., focusing the camera on a flower and waiting for the subject to come and it worked😀!!!  

Carpenter bees are large, i.e., 2 to 3 cm, flying so quickly, so I assumed that they're aggressive but they're relatively gentle. I love the giant bees😄

Carpenter  bee　熊蜂

Carpenter bee　クマバチ

Beach Vitex (Vitex Rotundifolia) ハマゴウ（浜拷）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

It's been two weeks since I last took a morning walk in my neighborhood and in the two weeks, things have changed, such as the beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) starting to flower. 

Beach vitex　ハマゴウ

Vitex rotundifolia　浜拷

Two Types of Stink Bugs - Green Stink Bug and Yellow-Spotted Stink Bug チャバネアオカメムシ＆キマダラカメムシ

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The stink bug season has come😅! I found these two bugs this morning, i.e., a green stink bug (Plautia crossota) and a yellow-spotted stink bug (Erthesina fullo). The green bug (by a one yen coin) started running when I started to photograph it, which was so adorable!! Ten minutes later, I found the yellow-spotted stink bug on a leaf of the Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera). I know stink bugs are stink and harmful to some plants, but still, stink bugs, especially the small green one, are so adorable! 

A green stink bug　 茶羽根青亀虫

A yellow-spotted stink bug　黄斑亀虫

Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera) ハス（蓮）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I posted photos of lotus flowers when writing about Saidaiji temple and Hasedera temple, but today's focus is the flower, especially the receptacle and the black and green things in the receptacle, i.e., lotus fruits! The fruits are edible, like nuts, and they go well with beer according to a lotus farmer, but they're not known much in Japan. Lotus flowers are pretty, their roots are delicious and the fruits are funnily cute! I love lotuses!   

Lotus receptacles　ハスの花托

Hamilton's Spindletree (Euonymus Hamiltonianus) マユミ（檀）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is Hamilton's spindletree (Euonymus hamiltonianus) in the garden of Yoshoku Katsui, a restaurant in Tenri city, Nara prefecture. 

The restaurant is at the Tenri Trail Center on the Yamanobe no Michi path, one of the ancient roads with many tumuli and shrines in Nara prefecture. I love the path so much I wanted to walk but it was too hot that day, so instead I went to Hasedera temple and had lunch at the restaurant. 

Yoshoku Katsui is a western style restaurant, offering a variety of food, including Japanese style beef steak, fried prawns and various appetizers. I enjoyed great food and wine there and talking to the passionate and energetic owner Mr. Katsui.    

I found this Hamilton's spindletree after the lunch. The sky was so blue that I forgot about the heat for a while. 

Hamilton's spindletree (Euonymus hamiltonianus)　マユミ（檀）

Saidaiji Temple and Lotus Flowers 西大寺と蓮の花

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is Saidaiji temple and lotus flowers there. The lotus season was almost over, but the temple still had beautiful white and pink flowers despite its sad history.

Saidaiji temple was founded in the eighth century by Empress Shotoku, a daughter of Emperor Shotoku, who founded Todaiji temple. Saidaiji temple, which means a great temple in the west in Japanese, and Todaiji, which means a great temple in the east, were once considered kind of twins and between the two temples stood the Imperial Palace of Heijo (i.e., the then capital) from 710 to 784. But after that, Saidaiji temple started to decline, underwent a series of natural disasters, and ultimately lost its power and influence. Actually, most Japanese must have heard of or been to Todaiji but not Saidaiji. 

As this history suggests, its premises are far smaller than Todaiji's and there were almost none in the temple when I was there. The twin temples made me think about people and their lives 1,300 years ago.  

Saidaiji temple　西大寺

Hasedera Temple and Sacred Lotus Flowers 長谷寺と蓮の花

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is Hasedera temple. The temple is in a mountainous area in the Nara prefecture, so to reach the main hall, you need to climb up 399 stairs (1st and 2nd photos), but it's worthwhile. Stunning views are waiting for you (5th photo)! 

The temple is known for various flowers. The lotus season was almost over but it still had several white and pink lotus flowers (Nelumbo nucifera), which made me forget about the heat for a while.

399 stairs from below　階段の下から

399 stairs from above　階段の上から

A lotus flower and stairs in the back　蓮の花と階段

A Rainbow View from Nigatsudo, Todaiji Temple 東大寺二月堂から見た虹

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is a view from the balcony of Nigatsudo or the February Hall of Todaiji temple in Nara. You can also see the Nara city over there. That day, I woke up at around 4 a.m. (as usual) and decided to walk to the temple to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, the sunrise wasn't visible from there, but instead I saw this rainbow🌈!

If you have a chance to come to Nara, I recommend visiting the temple in the early morning. You may have this view (and the Great South Gate) all to yourself.  

A rainbow from the February Hall of Todaiji temple　二月堂から見た虹

Kofukuji Temple and Sarusawa Pond 興福寺と猿沢池

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are photos of Sarusawa pond and Kofukuji temple in the Nara prefecture, Japan at sunrise (1st photo) and sunset (2nd photo). The five storied pagoda (last photo) of the temple is currently undergoing large-scale repairs, so I gave up on seeing it but I was able to see the pagoda in a nearly perfect form (although the first story was covered by a fence).

Kofukuji temple is one of Japan’s oldest and most famous Buddhist temples with a history of more than 1,300 years and I definitely recommend visiting the temple, especially to see the pagoda, which the temple once auctioned for 25 yen then or 100,000 yen (930 US dollars) currently😲. If you're interested in why the temple did such a stupid thing, read this post!  

Sarusawa pond at sunrise 日の出の猿沢池

Sarusawa pond and 5-story pagoda of Kofukuji temple at sunset
日の入りの猿沢池と興福寺五重塔

Japanese Wisteria (Wisteria Floribunda) 藤（フジ）の豆

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are seed pods of Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda). I've seen the beautiful purple flowers but never seen or imagined the plant has such seed pods.

 
In the background is the Southern Round Hall of Kofukuji temple in Nara. How beautiful the flowers would be in spring, I imagined.

Seed pods in front of Southern Round Hall 南円堂前の藤の豆果

Wisteria seeds　藤の豆

Ternstroemia Gymnanthera (Japanese Ternstroemia) 木斛（モッコク）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Yesterday I wrote about fruits of Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) and today I found another sign of autumn. These are fruits of ternstroemia gymnanthera or more commonly known as the Japanese ternstroemia or Japanese cleyera tree. The Japanese ternstroemia's male or hermaphroditic flowers are cute but these deep red fruits are so beautiful, too! And that's why Japanese people call the tree "the king of garden trees"😊!

I found the fruits while photographing the sun rising (the third photo)😊.  

Japanese ternstroemia　木斛

Ternstroemia gymnanthera　モッコク

Japanese Camellia (Camellia Japonica) 椿（ツバキ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are fruits of Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica). The heatwave is still going across Japan, but autumn is definitely approaching. The harvest season of Japanese camellia fruits will start in September.  

Japanese camellia　椿

Camellia japonica　ツバキ

Japanese Fruit Beetle (Mimela Splendens) 黄金虫（コガネムシ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

They're Japanese fruit beetles (Mimela splendens). I noticed at first one of them, then found many hiding in the back behind the leaves.

They'are so beautiful that their Japanese name means golden bugs, but they're harmful, damaging everything around them. You can see the leaves around them being eaten.

Japanese fruit beetle (Mimela splendens)　黄金虫（コガネムシ）

This one is chinning up　懸垂中