I had seen the Sengokuhara pampas grass field in Hakone before but did not expect to find an even larger field of this silver grass just at my doorsteps in the north of Wakayama Prefecture. A late autumn road trip took me to Oishi Kogen, a highland just south of Osaka Prefecture, where a large field of pampas grass awaits visitors. The Oishi Kogen pampas grass is famous in Kansai!

Pampas grass is called susuki in Japanese. Although susuki grows almost everywhere in the Japanese countryside, city-dwellers are known to flock to large fields of susuki in autumn.

Pampas grass is known as one of the “Seven Flowers of Autumn”. Did you know that? The other six are: Bush Clover, Kuzu Vine, Morning Glory, Fringed Pink, and Ominaeshi and Fujibakama, for which I don’t know the English names.

Well, did you know then that susuki was once used to thatch the roofs of houses? In the area at the base of Oishi Kogen, and in other places in Wakayama Prefecture and nearby Nara Prefecture, one can still see some of the old thatched-roof houses. They have become a rare sight now.

Read the full article here!

The beginning of May is green tea harvesting season in my village. There are many tea fields around my house and in the first week of May, usually during Golden Week, my neighbors and their families are in the tea fields and they pick the young leaves. This is a labor-intensive task with family members coming from the cities to join their relatives in the family. The tea harvested here is called “Otonashi-cha”.

Here is my article about Otonashi-cha published in May 2020 on the Japan Travel website: https://en.japantravel.com/wakayama/tea-harvest-in-kumano/62049

This summer I harvested cucumbers, eggplant and edamame, all for home consumption. It feels nice to go out in the garden, pick up some veggies and then eat them for dinner. I have to improve my gardening skills though. My neighbors are all professionals; I can learn from them. Need some advice on how to keep insects away without using chemicals. Some people told me that certain herbs keep bugs away.

Wild monkeys roam around the village in search of food. If there is nothing tasty available in the forest, they come to the village and raid the gardens and fields.

One of my projects this year is to learn more about the Flora & Fauna of Japan, specifically the trees, flowers, herbs, shrubs etc. on the Kii Peninsula. This selection grows right in my garden in Kumano.