Autumn’s Greatest Pleasure

Autumn is a somewhat melancholy season, as the days suddenly grow shorter.

For the fifth-generation owner, who prefers bright seasons, it is a season I am not especially fond of.

It is not that I particularly like hot weather; rather, I am happy when the days are long and it stays light late into the evening.

But in this season, there is one thing I look forward to most.

That is fragrant olive.

It is still early in the season, so the flowers are pale in color.

Since around the end of September, I had been eagerly waiting for it to bloom, wondering when it would come. Then today, while walking outside, I caught that fragrance drifting in from somewhere.

Ah, it has finally begun to scent the air.

That alone makes my heart dance.

There is a fragrant olive hedge beneath the Nishizaka Gate of Gakushuin in Mejiro, and the fragrant olive there gives off an especially wonderful aroma.

At this time of year, I go there quite often to be soothed by it.

It is also the hedge of an apartment building, so lingering too long might look suspicious—I enjoy it while walking by.

Just as crape myrtles let us enjoy their beauty for so long, I wish fragrant olive would keep its scent in the air for longer, too.

You may say that autumn is all about appetite, but for the fifth-generation owner, that is not something limited to autumn. So my greatest pleasure of autumn is, after all, fragrant olive. (￣▽￣;)