For you, my dear, I went out to the field and picked green herbs, then it snowed and snow lingered on my sleeve.

Like the Manyooshu (8th Century) poet, my hometown friend went out to the field and sent me photos of pretty wild flowers.

White flowers wearing the morning dew like a necklace; setubunsou (pinnatifida) blooming side-by-side like friends holding hands; the green berries of creepers, twining around trees, that will turn ripe red in autumn.

The flowers have pleasant names that stir the imagination. For example, futarishizuka means “tranquil pair.” And we also find funny names such as inufuguri, “dog’s balls.”

Looking at pictures, you can share the sensitivity of the photographer, the season, the climate, and the background to the image as well. That is great fun.

If you buy flowers at a florist and put them in a vase, the sensation you receive must be totally different. Because this kind of action is cut off from Nature. There is no intangible background. The sensitivity of the observer on the spot cannot be felt.

The intangible power in the background doubles the beauty of flowers.

When you observe flowers in a vase, try, using your imagination, to feel the invisible aspects. That way your enjoyment will become deeper and more flavorful.

So many new flowers are born, thanks to the selective breeding of plants, and they are easy to come by through the Internet. But pretty wild flowers cannot be seen easily, unless you go out to the field, as my friend did, getting wet with dewdrops.

If they are too pretty to be picked, you have only two choices.
Either take a photograph or keep them in your memory forever.