Monday, March 29, 2010

Osaka City Streets (街道): Kyoto to Osaka (26)



I entered Osaka City at Tokuan and, by a large canal, I encountered a large mural of a dragonfly entitled "December Summer." Dragonflies may represent an ephemeral world of pleasure. I wonder if the title refers to a summer with no dragonflies, like in December. Perhaps the fences everywhere finally disconnected life by the rivers? Or maybe the dragonfly is intended to remind us in December of the beauty of the river in summer, the beauty that it must have had at some point in its history. Osaka, the "City of water," is truly a city of canals. In the Edo period it was called the "city of 800 bridges." Perhaps the dragonfly reminds us of how beautiful a city of canals could be if it was willing to remember that it has canals, and not hide them behind high plastic barriers, green fences, or under huge highways.

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