Chinese Cucumber and Pumpkin Beetle 黄烏瓜と黒瓜葉虫

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Chinese cucumbers (Trichosanthes kirilowii) are native to China and Japan. They're dioecious, producing white "hairy" flowers from June to September and fruits from August to October. The fruits are green at first and then turn yellow. They're edible but not tasty. Someone says on the internet that he would never eat it unless famine comes😆. It's not so difficult to find Chinese cucumber flowers in Tokyo but not so when it comes to the fruits. It seems Chinese cucumbers are removed when the flower season is over.     

When you see the flowers, you would likely see pumpkin beetles (Aulacophora nigripennis), too. Pumpkin beetles are harmful but their tininess, agility and color contrast between orange and black never fails to bring me a smile.  

2022/6/28

2024/6/12

Japanese Taj Mahal and Family War 本願寺は父子戦争の結果

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I've never been to the Taj Mahal but felt as if I had been there.

This is Tsukiji Hongwanji temple (whose website is only in Japanese) in Tsukiji Tokyo. It was first built in 1617 but rebuilt in 1934 after being burnt down in a fire in 1923 based on the design by Chuta Ito, a Japanese architect who studied Indian architecture. So, no wonder that I was reminded of the Taj Mahal when looking at this Japanese temple.

Tsukiji Hongwanji temple is one of more than 10,000 temples across Japan of the Jodo Shin shu school, the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan with Nishi Hongwanji temple in Kyoto as the head temple.

Kyoto has several Hongwanji temples including the two most famous ones, i.e., Nishi Hongwanji temple (the head temple) and Higashi Hongwanji temple, and they have an interesting background as outlined in the table below the pictures of Tsukiji Hongwanji temple. The term "nishi" means west while "higashi" east.

2020/1/17 Japanese Taj Mahal? タージマハル？