this ain't no shimenawa

[15_the_circle]

[OT from cottage renovations]

in Japan a shimenawa is a straw rope with white zigzag paper strips (gohei), used to delimit boundaries of sacred objects or sites and can be seen on torii gates or around sacred trees and stones. 

(image gacked from hotweb.or.jp)

much of Shinto is incomprehensible to gaijin but I've always thought this aspect to be worthy -- surely the Grove has no shortage of spots where they ought to be used. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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upper field

in our woods it's a different story.  Japanese wisteria has spread unchecked through stretches of the East Woods, posing the most serious invasive species threat we are facing.  this images could have been taken in any number of spots but as it happens they are of the upper field hedgerow as seen from Ridge Road. 

I'm so used to taking images of small things that the size of these tendrils may not be readily apparent: the vines making up these strands are each 1½-2 inches in diameter. 

wisteria