写真帖

Photographs from my digital album

	Mayflower. St Albans, 2014.05.15. May is indeed the month of mayflower. Small lovely flowers bloomed in profusion everywhere.
	Horse chestnut (1). St Albans, 2014.05.15. Latin: Aesculus hippocastanum L., French: Marronnier, Japanese: Seiyo-tochinoki.
	Horse chestnut (2). St Albans, 2014.05.15. Red flowers were there, although I had thought the colour was generally white.
	Horse chestnut (3). St Albans, 2014.05.15. Pink flowers were also there. A friend of mine in England who saw these pictures taught me that the red flowered tree was actually a hybrid between our tree and a red flowered American Buckeye giving Aesculus x Carnea. He also pointed out that the original tree has annually suffered a serious insect pest, whilst the hybrid tree is unaffected.
	Circular Theatre of Verulamium at St Albans, 2014.05.15. (A composit of two photographs, left and right). St Albans, named after the first British saint and martyr, Alban, was a Roman town of Verulamiusm which Romans constructed after conquering Britain in 43 AD. Queen Boudicca of the Iceni of Eastern England rebelled in 60 or 61 AD and destroyed Camulodunum (the modern Colchester, the then capital of the Roman), Londinium (the modern London) and Verlamium, although her armies were finally defeated. I have reviewed the history which I learnt a long time ago.
	Remain of a large building of the Roman Age. St Albans, 2014.05.15. The Roman mosaic was beautiful. The hole on the floor was the hot air outlet of the heating system.
	The Lydekker Park behind the house of my friend in Harpenden within London's Green-belt was not only for people and dogs but also for wild birds and animals. A blackbird (Turdus merula), Early morning, 2015.05.17. In the second picture, the bird has got a prey.
	Squirrels in the Lydekker Park, Harpenden. Early morning, 2015.05.17.
	Moon in the outskirt of London. (Moon age: 19.2). Harpenden, 2015.05.18. The sky was clean and transparent in Harpenden in London's Green-belt. Considerably good picture was taken with a Pentax 18-270mm lens without tripod.
	A tomb of an Italian boy in the graveyard of Tintagel Parish Church, Cornwall, 2014.05.21. The salvage of a wrecked ship was operated by the great grandfather of my friend's wife but the boy was found dead.
	Legendary King Arthur's castle at the cliff of Tintagel, Cornwall, 2014.05.21. Was Tintagel "Camelot", the capital of King Arthur's kingdom?
	"Norman Castle" in Colchester, 2014.05.24. Built in 1069-76 by William the Conqueror on the podium of Roman Claudius Temple (built 54-60 AD), the keep is larger than the Tower of London and the largest Norman construction in Britain.
	"Roman Wall" remaining in Colchester, 2014.05.24. Forty-five years ago (1970-71), I lived in the opposite side of this public car park.
	Stone figure of Kinari of the 9 –10th c. from Java at the British Museum, 2014.05.26.

	The sunrise at Salcombe, Devon, 5 April 2017. I stayed in a friend's house and got up early morning to see this beautiful sunrise.
	Telescopic view of the same sun, Salcombe, Devon, 5 April 2017.
	Temple Church, Bristol. 4 April 2017. Having stayed over-night for transit at Bristol Temple Meads Station, I walked down in the morning to see the church which was destroyed by a German air-raid during the World War II.
	Temple Church, London. 7 April 2017. The church was found in an open space behind the row of houses along the Fleet Street in the City of London. Both the Round Church the rectangular Chancel looked nice and beautiful as the damage suffered during the last war had been perfectly repaired.

	Nuenen. A quiet village in North Braband, in the outskirt of Eindhoven, where Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890) spent two years form 1883 - 85 with his father and started painting. Photographs taken on 14 April 2017.
	Paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the Kröller - Müller Museum. The art museum, situated in a vast natural park, in Otterlo, near Wegeningen, holds as many as about 90 paintings and over 180 drawings by van Gogh along with a number of works of contemporary artists collected by a rich German lady, Helene Müller (1869-1939) who married a Dutch mining tycoon, Anton Kröller. The gorgeous building and the surrounding park used to be a property of the Kröller-Müller family. All photographs taken with permission on 13 April 2017.
	Paintings by Cezanne, Mone, Renoir and others in the Kröller - Müller Museum.
	Scauptures in the Kröller Müller Museum.
	Some paintings from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Photographs taken on 16 April 2017.

	A pair of Nious (Herculean wrestlers) to guard the great South Gate of Todaiji Temple, Nara. 2014.09.26. Top: Open mouth. Worked in 1203, by a master sculptor, Unkei, with Kaikei and 13 assistants.
	Bottom: Closed mouth. Worked simultaneously by Joukaku, Tankei and 12 assistants. These statues looked more powerful in the floodlight than in the daylight.

	A view towards north from the 2nd (top) floor of the old Watchtower at Sunda Kelapa Port, Jakarta, 2015.02.15. The building in the middle used to be the Batavia office of VOC, now a restaurant.
	A view of the former Jonkersstraat in Oud Batavia, Jakarta, 2015.02.15. Haru and her husband Simons Simonszoon, both deportees from Nagasaki in 1939, must have lived there.
	"The Arjuna-Krisna statue" by a roundabout in Jalan Merdeka West, Central Jakarta, 2015.03.01. A work of the contemporary master artist, Ir. I Nuarta Nyoman.
	Hedges of cassava, Ciampea Village, West Java, 2015.02.16. Cassava, planted in hedges in Batam Island, was discovered to be a useful root vegetable by J. E. Teysmann in the 19th century. I saw the original use of this plant for the first time.

	Sunrise at Borobudur Temple, 17 June 2019. 05:21 - 06:03 AM, 7.608°S 110.204°E. This was the best sunrise at Borobudur, no cloud in the sky, I have ever seen.
	Top: Buds of Rafflesia (Bunga Padma), a parasitic plant, cultured at the Bogor Botanical Garden. Photographed 27 June 2019. The host tree is Terrastigma. According to the curator, they will bloom in the rainy season (normally from September - October for half a year in West Java) to flowers of 30-40 cm diameter with large five pedals of red-orange colour. Rafflesia used to grow in this garden during the Dutch time but once extinct in the turbulent time after the independence. The garden made efforts to revive the parasite and finally succeeded in 2010. Bottom: A bloomed flower reported in an Indonesian newspaper, KOMPAS, 15 September 2019.
	A gutta-percha tree, Palaquium oblongifolium Burck, in the Bogor Botanical Garden planted in 1880s. Left: Trunk, Right: Total view. Photographed 27 June 2019. Prior to the emergence of synthetic polyolefins, gutta-percha (trans-1,4-poly-isoprene) was the only thermoplastic polymer, indispensable for the insulative covering of submarine cable, the container of hydrofluoric acid, anti-erosive gaskets, etc. The culture of gutta-percha producing plants was studied in this garden and a large plantaion and factory with modern equipment was established in the late nineteenth century at Cipetir, Sukabumi Regency.
	Grave of Ali Samsujen in Gedong Setono, Kediri. Left: Gate, Right: Coffin. Photographed 21 June 2019. Maulana Ali Samsujen was a teacher from Rum Empire (Turkey) who was faomous for his ability to predict things before they happened. A tradition has it that he was invited by King Jayabaya of Kediri (1135 - 1179 AD) and, inspired by his teaching, the king authored the so-called “Jayabaya Prophecies” According to literature, he returned home but somehow his grave is found here (Cf: My book, "Java Essay").

	Inverse Mt. Fuji or Mt. Fuji mirrored on the lake. North shore of Lake Kawaguchi, 2015.04.24. I visited there for the gathering of secondary school classmates of 52 years ago.
	A telescopic view of Mt. Fuji. North shore of Lake Kawaguchi, 2015.04.24. The remaining snow shone in the morning sunlight.
	Steam vigorously emitting from Oowakudani Valley, Hakone, 2015.04.24 It was probably the sign of unusual volcanic activities reported a week later.

	Shakujii Lake/Sanpouji Lake in the "Shakujii Park", located 1.5 km south to my house in Nerima, Tokyo, is a colony of wild birds. Black-crowned grey heron (Nycticorax nycticorax, resident) on the perch and Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos, resident) on the surface of water. 2015.11.03.
	Eastern spot-billed duck (Anas zonorhyncha, resident) 2015.11.03.
	Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis, resident) female 2015.11.03. Female: The lower beak is red. She looks to be fed.
	Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis, resident) male, 2013.03.16. Male: Both upper and lower beaks are blue. He is aiming at a prey.
	Left: Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax, resident); Right: Little Egret (Egretta garzetta, resident). In the front side, Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata, migratory) are diving to catch prey.2013.03.16.
	Grey heron (Ardea cinerea）。2020.01.19.
	Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo. 2020.01.19.
	Japanese Pigmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki, 留鳥). Smallest woodpecker in Japan. 2020.01.19.
	The sunset at Shakujii Lake, 2013.03.16.
	Wooden footpath around the Sanpouji Lake, 2020.01.19. Recent years, the number as well as the kinds of birds in the Park seems to have significantly decreased, as the footpaths around the lakes have been improved and visitors, increased.

	Fossils are found on the surface of stones in old structures in town. Ammoonite (ca. 10 cm diameter), on a pillar of "Mitsukoshi-mae" station of Tokyo-Metro Ginza-Line (1931). Photographed 2014.08.20. The marble was from Italy.
	Lef: Ammonite (ca. 35 cm diameter), on the staircase to the B1 Floor of Mitsukoshi Departmentstore, Nihonbashi, Tokyo (1914). Photographed 2015.09.05. Right: Belemnite (ca. 20 cm length), on a first-floor wall of Mitsukoshi Departmentstore, Nihonbashi, Tokyo (1914). Photographed 2015.09.11. The marble was probably from Italy.
	Lef: Ammonite (ca. 30 cm diameter), on a first-floor wall of Takashimaya Departmentstore, Nihonbashi, Tokyo (1933). Photographed 2015.09.05. The marble was probably an imported one from Italy. Right: Ammonite, inclined cross section (ca. 10 cm width), on a first-floor wall of Matsuzakaya Departmentstore, Ueno, Tokyo (1929). Photographed 2015.09.11. The marble was probably from Italy in both buildings.
	Fossils of Coral. Tokyo Central Post Office (1931) at Marunouchi, Tokyo. The marble is the "Blue Stone" from Belgium. The original stone has been reused for the Ground Floor pillars of the new “JP Tower”, constructed at the same site in 2008 - 2012. Photographed 2019.11.20.
	Fossils of very rare “Honeycomb Coral”. Tokyo Central Post Office (1931). Photographed 2019.11.20.
	Fossils of Crinoid. Tokyo Central Post Office (1931). Photographed 2019.11.20.
	Serpentinite marble, in which “Collenia” derived from fossil cyanobacteria of ca. six hundred million years old are embedded, in Tokyo Kaikan, Marunouchi, Tokyo. The stone was probably from China. The stone used in the original building in 1922 has been reused and displayed at some walls of the Ground Floor Lobby and 4th Floor EV Hall of the new building construted in 2015. Photographed 2019.11.20.
	Extra: Fossil of plain water fish of Early Eocene Period (50 million years ago) from South-west Wyoming, US. Photograph taken in National Science Museum, Tokyo, not in town, 2020.01.21. Most fish are Knightia of Clupeidae family but mixed with some infant fish of Diplomystus (extimct). A few pieces of large Mioplosus (extinct) are seen.

	A replica of the "Stone inscription of Ciaruteun", a historical monument of Tarumanagara Era that had once existed in Kencana Park in Bogor. 1999.05.30. Destroyed and replaced with a night light in 2000s by the hand of ignorant county authority! In Java Essay I wrote that I had taken no photograph but a snapshot of my niece who visited Bogor when I lived there has been found.
	An ikat weaver. Pinrang, Sulawesi, 1998.03.14. Ikat fabrics are manually woven with pre-dyed warp and weft on a backstrap loom, now produced in eastern Indonesian Islands beyond Bali.
	The oldest rubber tree in Indonesia at Bogor Botanical Garden, 2000.10.02. A second generation of Hevea Brasiliensis that had arrived in Asia in 1877 from the Kew Garden, London. Probably 90-110 years old. Unfortunately this tree was felled and killed along with many trees in the garden by a storm which hit this district in 2015.
	Gigantic sculptures in Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, Tanjung Nusa Dua, Bali, 2006.09.10. A work of Ir. I Nuarta Nyoman. Top: The head part of Garuda (Height: 18 metres). Bottom: The upper body of Wisnu (Height 20 metres). The total height of Wisnu mounting on Garuda will be as high as 150 metres when completed.
	Front view of Candi Plaosan-Lor in Plambanan plain that stands along with Candi Plaosan-Kidul built in ca. 820 AD by Princess Pramodawardhani in the heyday of the of Sailandra Kingdom. 2008.06.17.
	A relief on the basement of Candi Plaosan-Lor that is similar to a batik pattern, 2008.06.17. The beginnig of Javanese batik that was refined and established after the 18th Century in the court of Solo and Yogyakarta is not certain but batiks are considered to have existed at the latest in the early 9th century when this temple was constructed (Personal view).
	Foundation stones of Tarumanagara Age found in Ciaruteun Village, Ciampea District, Bogor Province, West Java, Indonesia, 2008.09.16. The large cubic stones of ca. 50 cm square, with a concave of ca.40 cm square on the upper side must have been of use for a palace or some magnificent building.
	Play arena of congklak of Tarumanagara Age found in the same Ciaruteun Village as above, 2008.09.16. Ciaruteun is the place where the famous stone inscriptions, Prasasti Ciaruteun and Prasasti Kebun Kopi were discovered in 1860s. The existence of this congklak arena as well as of the foundation stones was first written about in my Java Essay.
	Left: A flower of Bunga Bangkai (Amorphophallus titanium) at Bogor Botanical Garden. Photographed 2001.08.03. The largest flower in the world, endemic to Sumatra. It blooms once 3-4 years and the life of the flower is very short. I lived in Bogor but when I heard the news and rusherd there the flower was half-withered. Bunga Bangkai (lit. Corpse Flower or Carrion Flower) originates from the smell of a rotten corpse or carcass. Right: A full-bloom flower on a newspaper (The Jakarta Post, 2017.11.06.).
	A turn-table at Surabaya Pasar Turi Station. Photographed 2010.06.12. This paticular one is operated by manpower. After the locomotive is set in the centre, the table is truned half around by manpower of several people. Turn-talbes are seen in major railway stations of Java where Diesel Locomotives are used in most inter-city lines.