{"id":1277,"date":"2023-04-17T13:09:20","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T04:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2023-04-17T16:20:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T07:20:47","slug":"spring-has-sprung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/memoirs\/spring-has-sprung.html","title":{"rendered":"Spring has sprung!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Memoir (16) by Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/gi-core.oia.hokudai.ac.jp\/gsi\/indigeneity-ru.html#J.Watkins\">Joe Watkins<\/a>, University of Arizona, USA<\/p>\n<p>Yes, here in Hokkaido the snow has finally disappeared, although there are a few clumps and menacing-looking bergs here and there where the sun hasn\u2019t been able to penetrate the shadows. Mud abounds, but it is nice not to have to bundle up against the biting, icy particles thrown around by the wind.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first indications of spring here are the butterburs (petasites japonicus) \u2013 bits of green that look somewhat like a cross between cabbage and white broccoli or maybe cauliflower heads (though not quite as solid as the cauliflower heads). Known as <em>fuki <\/em>here, the plants are edible with proper preparation. The plant contains alkaloids that can be detrimental to one\u2019s health, although those are primarily in the roots or rhizomes. Young stalks and buds can be eaten without too much advanced preparation, and a colleague commented that the young leaves could be boiled much like cabbage.<\/p>\n<p>John Batchelor (\u201cEdible plants of the Ainu\u201d from <em>Ainu Economic Plants<\/em> by John Batchelor and Kingo Miyabe, 1893) said the Ainu used the flower shoot (<em>makayo<\/em>) and the stalk (<em>korokoni<\/em>) for food. He also said the Ainu once believed that \u201clittle people\u201d used the giant leaves as the roofs of their houses and would stay dry in the rain by standing under the leaves.<\/p>\n<p>Even though I am tempted to eat the plant, I doubt that I will. Still, it is good to know that it is more than just a sprig of green after a long, white winter.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1262 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/16-1-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/16-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/16-1.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1263 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/16-2-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/16-2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/16-2.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Memoir (16) by Professor Joe Watkins, University of Arizona, USA Yes, here in Hokkaido the snow has finally di <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/memoirs\/spring-has-sprung.html\">read more<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1280,"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-mng.cwh.hokudai.ac.jp\/gi-core.oia\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}