ふくふくした筍が　店先に並ぶ　この季節

冬に倒れた竹を伐りに　伊勢家住宅（重要文化財）を訪れると

（あっ・・・タケノコ！？）

おかしいな　マタケタケノコはまだ先の筈です

近づいてよく見ると　なんと昨年の止まりタケノコでした

地上に顔を出しても　４割ほどのタケノコは

若竹とならず　土に還ります

ただ時々　１年を経ても　頑丈に居残るものもあります

春分も過ぎて　いよいよ春風も　やってくるのかな

Spring breeze

I found this bamboo shoot when I visited Isake-jyuutaku(an important cultural property) to cut some dead bamboos.
(It is odd for the "Matake" variety to sprout bamboo shoots in the middle of may.)
I looked closely, and then learned that it was an old bamboo shoot which had sprouted last year.
Of all the bamboo shoots which sprout, about 40 percent of them never grow and return to the soil.
But some of them infrequently keep their shape solidly like in this picture.
Incidentally, you can find plump bamboo shoots of "Mousouchiku" everywhere in Japanese grocery stores.
The Shunbun-no-hi (vernal equinox day) has passed and I wonder if the spring breeze will come soon.