Yakumo's World
Into the Woods
Posted by GJC (Kyoto (京都), Japan) on 20 October 2008 in Landscape & Rural.
I thought about titling this photo “Why I’m Not a Nature Photographer.” Let me explain.
I do love very much following roads I’ve never been on here in the Iwakura section of Kyoto. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I don’t worry about getting lost, and I’ve walked extensively throughout great sections of Iwakura so I know it all pretty well. But today I went much further still, into a very rural area that I’m only now beginning to discover. As you can see here, there is a wonderful large mountain forest beckoning me to explore more. So I decided to take this path, which ran alongside a small stream. After walking for about 10 minutes I heard a regular and very loud buzzing sound. I quickly realized that it was a nest of suzumebach (スズメバチ; you can read more about these guys here), a kind of giant hornet that grows to literally about the size of your thumb. They had made a nest in the muddy stump of a tree right alongside the path. As I watched them fly in and out with all the precision and regularity of a Japanese train station, I was contemplating whether I could slip by and continue up the path or should just turn around and go back. The suzumebachi decided to lend a hand in my decision by sending one buzzing right over my head. Now remember, these are as big as your thumb – like something from the dinosaur days – and their bright black and orange coloration combine to make them look perpetually irritable. And, I found out upon returning home to a severe scolding from my wife, they are potentially deadly. Well, even before I had that particular fact, I didn’t need any more hints about what I should do, but instead wheeled and ran wildly down the hill, my zillion-dollar Nikon bumping recklessly, while another hornet zipped overhead just to be sure I was headed in the right direction. I consider myself lucky that I didn’t get attacked, and I was very happy to be back in the bucolic rice fields, content to leave the forest for the bears, the boars and those massive suzumebachi.
Because it all turned out alright, it was a hilarious reminder of why I’m not a nature photographer. While a good number of my shots are of fields and mountains and visitors may think I have a special interest in nature, times like this remind me that I much prefer nature the Japanese way – tamed, trimmed and something to be viewed from the safety of a temple veranda. I prefer the farms with their neat rows of golden rice and leafy daikon, and the old farm houses settling easy into the land. So you won’t find many more shots like this one. The suzumebachi are watching me.
Nikon D300
1/8 second
F/3.5
ISO 400
27 mm (35mm equiv.)