Shuubun Treat

Today is the autumn equinox or shuubun in Japanese. It is actually a school holiday and a work holiday for some people. Today is ohigan, a day when spirits come back. The big red kanji on the paper label says ohigan.

This is the plastic box without the paper label. It is marked with its own label. It tells us that the box contains ohagi.

This is ohagi. It is a azuki bean and rice treat. It is eaten on ohigan. Check the next post for a close-up.

Autumn Tea Cups & Fancy Plates

Not everyone has special tea cups for autumn. I bought these when I first came to Japan as a souvenir. They were made by a company called Arita.

These plates were a gift for attending a funeral. Click on the label below for more about that.

This is the underside of the ohagi. When I turned it over, I left a fingerprint on one side. Big Sister was grossed out. She ate it anyway.

She turned it back over with a fork. She ate it with a small cake fork.

Autumn Equinox

This grass and pampas grass are used as autumn decorations. This picture was taken the 10th. Today was a beautiful, sunny day, too.

Pampas Grass

Pampas grass is a sign of fall. Pampas stems are used as a decoration for moon viewing in early fall. These are three views of the same clump of pampas grass. The photo was taken at the Jindai Botanical Gardens.

Chestnut Season

Today is the Fall Equinox. Some chestnuts have already been harvested from the trees down the street.




There are still many on the trees.




There is a "garden" of begonias near the chestnut trees.




Speaking of potted plants, here is a taro plant in a white plastic pot (see the September 7th post "Elephant Ears?") I saw this potted taro at a vegetable shop.