Spring greens

Surendra’s camera catches the tender colours in Japan’s woods

(watch slide show in full screen by clicking on arrows top right)

The area where I live in Hyogo, Japan is full of wooded hills and mountains. The conifers are dense here. Some have been cultivated for their timber. On the steeper slopes, the trees seem to have developed naturally. Dotted around the wilder evergreens are surprising patches of deciduous trees. These distant, small and unspectacular patches of brown among the conifers were a common sight throughout the winter.

The sudden appearance of pale pink cherry blossoms far up in the hills drew special attention. This was at the beginning of April. Nearly all other deciduous trees were still bare bark. As the cherry blossoms faded, in place of the dormant patches of brown on the hillsides, bright greens began to show up. A few other colours came, too: yellows, subtle orange, even a pinch of red. They were all very noticeable on my trip to the neighbouring prefecture of Okayama, where there were also concentrations of golden bamboo.

I collected pictures of these vivid areas contrasted with the established background of more sober, grey-green conifers. Then, even a few of those conifers became accentuated by yellow-green fringes. Having felt I had gone as far as I could with hillside shots, I focused on the level ground. There was an even greater abundance of new growth there.

The spring greens of the small-leaved maple trees were as engaging as their autumn creations of red. As my camera went closer, I found that a few trees even had small red flowers among their leaves in May.

I trust you can enjoy this collection of images from some hills and parks of Japan featuring the green growth of spring.