1929
When I left Tokyo for the field, I found myself in the peculiar world of the East Asiatic cultivated flora. In general, Japan is characterized by a large amount of precipitation and a coastal, maritime climate. Conditions are favourable for agricultural crops. The country is mountainous; the volcano Fujisan, or Fujiyama, reaches an altitude of 4600 metres and is covered by eternal snow at the summit. From time to time it erupts and lava floods the villages surrounding it. The uniqueness of Japan, with its subtropical climate over a large part of its territory, makes year-round vegetation feasible. In the autumn barley and wheat are sown and in May rice; in June the harvest of ordinary bread grains and cereals takes place and in November and December that of rice and citrus fruits. At the same time the pears ripen and in February and March the loquat already bears fruit. Almost every month some things are sown and some things are harvested.
A typical difference from northern Europe is the extremely early flowering of many fruit trees in Japan as well as in China. Chinese and Japanese magnolias flower in January and February, even before the leaves sprout. The fruiting cherry trees ‘sakura’ flower during spring and early summer. In addition to all these, all possible kinds of decorative cherry trees with pink or white blossoms and sometimes double blossoms are widely distributed. Villages and cities are planted with avenues lined by such cherry trees. The flowering of the cherry trees is a national festival. Hundreds of verse lines are devoted to this wonderfully beautiful sight. ‘The sakura is in bloom’ is synonymous with spring. [1]
When the autumn approaches, there are new colours and new flowers. The steep slopes around Kyoto, actually mountains, are covered with wild maples, which every day take on new colours. At every farm house there are during autumn pots of chrysanthemums, carefully selected by the housewife. It is difficult to imagine a greater variety than that of the Japanese chrysanthemum. Here they fall in large cascades of thousands of small flowers, forming a picture of a torrent; there they are represented by gigantic forms with individual flowers reaching 40-50 in diameter. They also vary in colour and in shape. Every year in the autumn in cities and villages it is possible to go from one chrysanthemum exhibition to another. Farm wives compete with each other in the villages, cities compete with each other and commercial firms compete amongst themselves.
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