I received this etegami of a gingko leaf from Shungo, in Yokohama, over a month ago. Again, things have really gotten away from me the past couple of months! I hope to be back on track, especially with holidays coming up.
His card features a poem from Santouka (山頭火） “あの雲がおとした雨にぬれている”, which I might translate as “I”m wet by the rain from that cloud.”
Inspires me to go to a nearby gingko-lined street to pick up some leaves to paint. It’s sad that in the US we don’t harvest the gingko nuts, but let them get smashed up and stink in the street. Their stinkiness is legend (this blog calls them the “camembert of nuts”), and my city has efforts to plant infertile gingkos, so as to not offend people’s senses. So far, it seems our trees are too fertile, they nuts are just as prolific as ever. Maybe next year we can try an education campaign to get people to collect the nuts and make delicious autumn rice dishes like what you find in Asia, such as this one.
etegamist 
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