今オーステン市の庭にひがんばなが咲いている。この花は日本からきました。彼岸花の意味は "flower that blooms at the (fall) equinox"　です。英語で "red spider lily," or "hurricane lily." ラテン語で "Lycoris radiata." なにもどんな言語でもきれいな花ですね。

おずやすじろさんの映画の名前はひがんばなです。見ません。アメリカのビデオストアにありません。Kurtーさん見ましたか。おもしろかったですか。

Generally Speaking

In my garden in Austin, the red spider lilies are blooming. This flower is native to Japan. In Japanese, it is called "higanbana" which translates roughly to "the flower that blooms during the (fall) equinox". In English it is called the "red spider lily," or the "hurricane lily". (The latter name because it blooms following the rains brought by Gulf Coast hurricanes in August and September). It's Latin (botanical) name is "Lycoris radiata". It's a beautiful flower in any language.

Yasujiro Ozu made a movie called "Higanbana". I haven't seen it because it's not available in American video stores (at least not in Austin). Kurt said he might watch it this weekend. Kurt, did you? Was it interesting?

質問とコメント

1. Thanks to Robert Brady who reported the higanbana blooming on Pure Land Mountain. He's the person who explained the Japanese name to me.

2. Eri brings up a point that I questioned when I wrote the original post. I was lazy and didn't research it on my own. When I lived in Japan, in my self-introduction I always said, 「アメリカからきました。」 I never thought much that it could be translated to mean both, I (specifically) came from America (a specific event in the past) and I come from (am from) America. I think that only the second example (I come from) has the same meaning as "I am an American".

For the same reason, in English it sounds a little odd to say that a flower "came from Japan" because I'm not talking about a specific flower or a specific event. Lycoris radiata comes from Japan; that is, it is from Japan and is native to Japan.

3. Thanks, Eri, for clearing up the problem I was having with "any". You are exactly right. I meant "any" in the sense of "whichever".

Here is the list of terms for any in "Takahashi's Pocket Romanized English-Japanese Dictionary". any (adjective) 1. ikura-ka. 2. nani-ka. 3. dono...demo. 4. nani-mo. (pronoun) 1. ikura-ka. 2. dore-ka. 3. dore-mo. (adverb) 1. ikura-ka. 2. sukoshi-wa. Wow!