"There is a green hill far away, without a city wall," goes the Easter hymn, originally composed for children. The Easter holiday, which one is hardly aware of in Japan, figured in one of my trips back to the green hills of Ireland's north where, a long time ago, this hymn was written.
In Japan, the grass all dies off in winter and everything turns brown, which may be one reason why the arrival of spring seems so dramatic. The appearance of fresh growth transforms the whole landscape. Accordingly, there are many expressions to describe this.
Yet it is puzzling that the new aoba (green leaves) are considered the same color as the aozora (blue sky). It is a problem for translators: in one version of the 11th century epic masterpiece "The Tale of Genji" we find "blue trousers" and in another "green." Perhaps they were aquamarine.
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