紅葉から落葉へ・・・移り変わる季節

　樹木には落葉樹と常緑樹があります。落葉樹は、その名の通り、晩秋から初冬にかけて、すべて落葉します。年間のサイクルは葉芽が出て、新緑となり、その後、約半年が経過すると紅葉してから落葉します。写真は倉賀野緑地の欅の木です。

　一方、常緑樹は見た目には年間を通じて常に葉があります。しかし、常緑樹も実際は落葉します。落葉の時期は、概して新芽が出る前の４月から５月頃です。しかし、私の庭の常緑樹であるシャクナゲをよく観察すると古い葉は晩秋に落葉し、今春生れた葉は残っており、すべてが落葉することはありません。

 Trees include deciduous trees and evergreen trees. As the name suggests, all deciduous trees fall from late autumn to early winter. In the annual cycle, leaf buds come out and become fresh green, and after about half a year, the leaves turn red and then fall. The photo is a zelkova tree in Kuragano Greenery Park named Ryokuchi.

 On the other hand, evergreens always have leaves throughout the year. However, the leaves actually fall. Generally the time is from April to May before the leaf shoots appear. However, if I look closely at the rhododendron that is evergreen in my garden, the old leaves fall in late autumn with leaving the leaves that were born this spring. So, at a glance there are always leaves.

【写真を拡大すると浅間山の雄大さが出ます。】

　ウォーキングの途中、群馬県側から見る活火山・浅間山【標高２５６８ｍ】はすでに雪をかぶってます。私が中学生のとき数回、大噴火を繰り返し、噴煙の高さは５０００ｍほどに立ち上り、その光景は恐ろしいほど凄かったです。５０Ｋｍ離れた私の町でもザーザー音を立てて火山灰が降りました。その後、高校～大学にかけて私は少なくとも３回は浅間山に登頂し、高い位置から関東平野を眺めたり、利根川の蛇行、富士山、日本アルプスなどが手に取るように見えました。

　この近くに日本のポンペイと言われる鎌原村があり、今でも埋没家屋が多数、地下に眠ってます。天明３年（１７８３年)の大噴火では住民の多くが犠牲となり、その後、生き残った人同士で再婚したと伝えられます。

 The photo is the active volcano Mt. Asama [altitude 2568m] seen from the Gumma prefecture side during I was walking, and it is already covered with snow. When I was a junior high school student, Mt. Asama repeated large eruptions several times, and the height of the eruption rose to about 5000 m, and the scene was terrifyingly amazing. Even in my town 50km away, the volcanic ash fell with big noise. After that, from high school to university period, I climbed the summit of Mt. Asama at least three times, and I could look at the Kanto plain distinctly and a meandering Tone River, Mt. Fuji, and the Japanese Alps from a high position.

 There is Kambara Village which is called Japanese Pompeii near here, and there are still many buried houses sleeping underground. It is said that many of the inhabitants were victimized in the great eruption at Tenmei 3 (1783), and then the survivors remarried each other.

※上の拙い英文をネイティブの発音で聴くには英文をドラッグしてコピーし、次に貼り付けて下さい。https://ttsreader.com/ja/.