Katsura
December 6th 2008 22:06
Katsura and ...
other Japanese trees that feature in placenames.
There is an Imperial Palace / Shrine in South west Kyoto that travel books and articles often don't mention more than briefly because it is one of those places run by the Imperial Household Agency that one needs to apply in advance to visit.
It's called Katsura and you will sometimes see photos of sections of the buildings or the garden in art books. The word Katsura is actually the name of a type of hardwood tree often planted on the grounds of Shinto and temples.
Katsura is a type of Tree as well as a place name in Japan
This is a medium size tree. They do grow bigger!
Katsura however is not the only tree that appears in place names.
There's Yanagi the Willow. Nara and Kashi are members of the Quercus family and hence i kinds of Oak. Kusu is the camphor tree. Fuji is hte wisteria vine. Shiba in Tokyo was named for a green lawn no longer there excpet as part of a small park next to a temple. Sugi is a cedar and Ibuki a juniper.
Am I spoiling the romance of exotic place names by explaining their meanings?
Well consider this. How exotic can our plain one syllable names for trees sound to the Japanese? Oak beech elm fir pine birch palm fern have their own romance.
Enjoy!
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