Country diary: Komorebi is a green world within a green world | Paul Evans

The Marches, Shropshire: So much contained in a single Japanese word - it suggests sunlight through leaves, a cool sanctuary. And yet not all is peaceful hereKomorebi is a Japanese noun for sunlight passing through tree leaves. It seems to mean more than the rays of light, the play of dappled shadow; more than the ephemeral quality of a green shade; it's an aesthetic experience of sunlight interacting with foliage.Today is the hottest day of a heatwave. The air is stifling. Sunlight is burning. Under a canopy of leaves, a small wing lands on the table where I'm writing this in a notebook. How did it get here? The flickering hoverflies drone before they alight on lilies and dahlias in pots. A small fountain dribbles against ferns in the rocks. There is a dense canopy of Japanese maple, plum, fatsia and clematis. Komorebi is a green world within a green world. Continue reading...