住吉公園 (Sumiyoshi Park)

　昨6月26日、ちょうど一ヵ月前に引越した次女一家の家を妻と初めて訪れた。前の住まいのごく近くで、南海本線住吉大社駅から西へ約1キロメートルのところである。住吉大社駅を西へ出ると、住吉公園が広がる。この公園は、堺市にある浜寺公園とともに、1873年に大阪府営公園として指定され、大阪で一番歴史のある公園だそうである [1]。

　私たちの目的地は、駅を出て、ちょうどこの公園の中央やや北寄りを東西に走る潮掛道（しおかけみち、1枚目の写真）を抜けて行く先になる。潮掛道は、両側に花や木が植えられた石畳の並木道で、かつて、住吉大社へ参拝する船人や渡航者たちの表参道だったという [1, 2]。並木の中には大きなセンダンの木もある（2枚目の写真）。その辺りで空を見上げれば、一面に緑の葉におおわれていて（3枚目の写真）、先日来の30度を超える「真夏日」でも涼感を覚える。

　潮掛道を出はずれて国道26号に面したところに「高灯篭」（4枚目の写真）が立っている。これは、住吉大社の灯篭で、鎌倉時代末期に創建された日本最古の灯台といわれる。現在の高灯篭は1974年に場所を移して復元されたものである [1, 2]。

Yesterday (Sunday, June 26), my wife and I visited the home of our younger daughter's family, who had moved to a new house just a month ago. The house is located near their previous rental rooms and is about one kilometer west of the Sumiyoshi Taisha Station of the Nankai Main Line. On the west side of the station, there is Sumiyoshi Park, which was designated as one of Osaka Prefectural parks together with Hamadera Park in Sakai, in 1873. Thus, Sumiyoshi Park is said to be the most historic park in the city of Osaka [1].

Our goal is ahead of the road Shiokakemichi (the first photo), which runs from the eastern end to the western end of the park, a little north from its central line. This road is a stone-paved boulevard with trees and flowers planted on both sides. It was once the main road to Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine used by sailors and travelers [1, 2]. Among the trees on the sides of Shiokakemichi, there is a large tree of satinwood (the second photo). Looking up the sky around this three, we find all the view is covered with green leaves (the third photo), which give us a quite refreshing feeling even in these days of temperatures exceeding 30 degrees centigrade.

After passing through Shiokakemichi, we find Takatoro (High Lantern, the fourth photo), which stands facing the National Highway No. 26. This was built in the late Kamakura period as the lantern of Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine. Thus, it is said to be Japan's oldest lighthouse. The present lantern is the one moved from the original site and restored in 1974 [1, 2].

1. 住吉公園 (Sumiyoshi Park), Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Japanese edition (June 6, 2011 at 21:32).

2. 住吉公園 (Sumiyoshi Park), The Web site of Osaka Prefecture Park Association