Autumn Foliage
A phenomenon in which the green leaves of trees turn color; also, the crimson leaves themselves
Autumn foliage is a phenomenon in which the leaves of trees turn yellow or red before they fall in autumn. Yellow leaves and red leaves are typical. In yellowing, the chlorophyll of the chloroplasts decomposes before the leaves fall, and the green of the leaves disappears, so the color of the remaining carotenoids in the chromoplasts becomes apparent and turns the leaves yellow. Trees that turn yellow include ginkgo, poplar, and linden.
On the other hand, in autumn the stems of leaves become delaminated, with the result that the sugars produced by photosynthesis cannot circulate, and so accumulate in the leaves. From the accumulated sugars and amino acids, anthocyanin and flavone oxides are made in the vacuoles in the leaf cells, and the leaves become red. Trees that turn a gorgeous red are Japanese maple, wax tree, and Hamilton's spindletree (Euonymus hamiltoniaus).
In addition, trees such as Japanese knotweed and Japanese photinia have leaves that turn red when young in early spring. This is because anthocyanins produced from sugars flow back from the stem to the leaf when chloroplasts are not sufficiently produced. It is thought that these anthocyanins play a role in protecting young leaves from ultraviolet rays. As the leaves grow, the anthocyanins decompose, and the leaves turn green. In some plants, such as red cabbage and red shiso (Perilla frutescens var. crispa), the leaves have red pigments and are always red, but they also carry out normal photosynthesis in chloroplasts.
Colorful autumn leaves are not found in such areas as the tropics, where trees are mainly evergreen. Rather, autumn colors appear prominently in temperate zones, where there are many deciduous broad-leaved trees. Colorful autumn foliage is also important as a tourist resource, and Japan has many spots famous for fall colors in various places. Every year the Japan Meteorological Agency announces fall color observation dates for maples (red leaves) and ginkgos (yellow leaves) in each region.
Related People, Things and Events
Books
Maple
Ginko
Related Works
Crimson foliage drawings in paintings
Crimson foliage featured in Hyakunin Isshu (“Single Songs of a Hundred Poets”)
Drawings of crimson foliage on clothing and craft works
Maple specimen
Maple drawings in paintings and on craft works
Gingko drawings in paintings and on craft works
Videos
地図で探す
Past Exhibitions
| Title | shusai | Place | open | close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Institutions Holding Related Materials
東京都目黒区白金台に所在する国立科学博物館の附属施設。HPのトップ画面右端の「自然教育園の生物データベース」をクリックし、「自然教育園の写真データベース」を選択。キーワードに「紅葉」と入力して検索すると、数多くの紅葉の写真が閲覧できます。
茨城県つくば市天久保に所在する国立科学博物館の付属施設。HPのトップ画面右端の「園内の植物を調べる 植物図鑑」をクリックし、「キーワードで探す」に「紅葉」と入力して検索すると、紅葉の写真を閲覧できます。植物名などで検索することも可能。
東京大学大学院理学系研究科の附属施設である「日光植物園」HPより。日光植物園は栃木県日光市花石町に所在。植物園で見ることのできるカエデが、画像付きで紹介されています。
The National Diet Library (NDL), founded in 1948, is the library which belongs to the Diet. The NDL assists the activities of the National Diet. The Library collects and conserves materials and information both from Japan and abroad, serving as a foundation of knowledge and culture and providing library services to administrative and judicial entities and Japanese citizens.
As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.
Kyoto National Museum collects, preserves, displays, researches and provides educational programs focusing on cultural properties from Heian- through to Edo- period Japan, when the capital was located there.
Kyushu National Museum explores how Japan’s history of cultural exchange with the rest of Asia has impacted the formation of its culture. To that end, we engage in the collection, preservation, exhibition, and research of cultural properties, in addition to providing educational outreach to the local community.
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art was founded as the successor of the Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, which originally opened in Sakae, the center of Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, in 1955. The museum opened in 1992 as part of the Aichi Arts Center, an urban cultural complex, and has established a wide-range collection of approximately 8,000 items, centered on works of art of the twentieth century. The Museum has also organized numerous exhibition of a wide-range of themes. The Museum has actively worked to develop and communicate new aspects of art and culture to the public, based on its core mission to serve as the primary art museum of the Chubu region.
The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is founded on November 3, 1983, in Hachioji, a thriving university town in the western suburbs of the Japanese capital. Priding itself as “a museum creating bridges around the world” to facilitate the exchange of different cultures, our museum has forged cordial relations with art museums and cultural institutes in 32 countries and territories to date. We do so by bringing the world’s finest works of art to Japan while reciprocating in kind by introducing the finest Japanese treasures to the world through special exhibitions that showcase their beauty and wonder through a unique new set of prisms and perspectives. Our museum possesses some 30,000 pieces of artworks from various periods and cultures including Japanese, Eastern and Western works, ranging from paintings, prints, photography, sculptures, ceramics and lacquer ware to armor, swords and medallions. Especially noteworthy is its outstanding collection of Western oil paintings that spans a five-hundred-year period from the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Romanticism to Impressionism and contemporary art, as well as its exceptional collection of photographic masterpieces that can give an overview of the history of photography from the birth of the photograph to the present age.
The Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art stands as the nexus of art advancement in Japan, charged with fostering the creation and development of art and culture in Japan, and the cultivation of aesthetic awareness among the Japanese people. Through its six art museums — The National Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto, National Film Archive of Japan, the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and the National Art Center, Tokyo — the National Museum of Art carries out diverse and distinctive activities that fully utilize the unique character of each member museum.
Keio Museum Commons [KeMCo] functions as a "hub" of Keio's cultural assets, which spans a variety of fields including art, archaeology, literature, history, and medicine, and the educational and research activities behind it. At KeMCo, we aim to create a place where various communities can interact and generate new discoveries and ideas based on cultural properties (objects) in an environment where digital and analogue technologies are fused together.
The University of Tokyo is promoting the construction of digital archives. The University of Tokyo Archives, The University Museum, Information Technology Center, and University of Tokyo Library System collaborate on this project.
A Reserch Center of Niigata University
External Links
森林・林業の現状と環境保全、木の魅力、森林の生態等に関する学びの場として開設された「森林・林業学習館」のサイトより。
NHK出版が運営するサイト「みんなの趣味の園芸」より。基本となる情報・データ・種類などが紹介されている。
京都けえ園芸企画舎が運営するサイト「ヤサシイエンゲイー植物の育て方図鑑」より。イチョウに関わる情報が掲載されている。
秋田県のあきた森づくり活動サポートセンターが運営する総合情報サイト。HPのトップ画面右端の特集記事「樹木シリーズ」をクリックすると、「22.ヤマモミジ、イロハモミジ、オオモミジ」や「54.イチョウ」など、さまざまな植物の画像を見ることができる。
References
- サンプルページ「紅葉（こうよう）」の項
- 「紅葉（こうよう）」の項
- 「こうよう【紅葉】」の項
- サンプルページ「紅葉賀（源氏物語）」の項。あらすじが載っている。
- 「もみじ／紅葉・黄葉」の項
- 「モミジ」の項
- 「もみじ［もみぢ］」の項