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culture 竹の森 - Bamboo Forest
 
  竹の森 - Bamboo Forest
TS2B0082.JPGAt weekends if I'm not catching up on much needed sleep from an exhausting week, I do my best to get out into a bit of nature, be it as little as a local park.

Mostly any park worth its Japanese salt (or that should be soil) has a small bamboo forest, though the thing that always confuses me is they always seem to be 立入禁止 - ENTRY PROHIBITED !

If you go outwith city limits you'll find bamboo forests but they are usual dense thickets (almost impossible to enter) with a sign saying 危ない！マ虫 !  - Danger ! Poisonous Vipers ! which would make you not want to enter.

Today near Matsudo there was one park that allowed entry to its bamboo forest and I think I know why your not allowed into them....

If entry were permitted, I think Japanese society would crumble into chaos for a number of reasons:

When I was in the forest it was so peaceful and quiet and relaxing, I almost forgot I had work tomorrow.An amazing calm and serenity came over me lying on the soft forest floor of dried leaves looking up at the sunlight glimmering through the swaying trees.

Being an 80's child raised on Ninja movies, samurai dramas and the memory of the film success of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I could not resist to pick up a bamboo stick and play swordfights and run in and about between the tees like a wee tubby scottish samurai.

After about an hour of this, my partner wanted to go home, but I most certainly didnt.

"NOOOO ! WERE STAYING HERE ! FOREVER !"

and I think this is why entry to bamboo forests is discouraged in Japan.

Any man who's ever seen a samurai film (ie Japan's entire male population) would be compelled not to go to work and just muck around playing Ninjas; Forests would be full of Salarymen with their neckties round their heads running around in mock battles.

Once productive members of the office would be snoozing on the soft forest floor,salesmen would be summersaulting between trees and the usual calm of the bamboo forest would be destroyed forever with the clacking of bamboo sword against sword and cries of Banzai.

Bamboo forests: Best left just for the trees I think.
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Posted by sasqwach at May 14, 2006 6:09 PM | Permalink
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