（４２２）　Ｍｅｔａｓｅｑｕｏｉａ　Ｓｔｒｅｅｔ　　　

On the campus of the University of Tsukuba, there are streets named “Suzukake Street”, “Kaede Street”, “Tsutsuji Street”, “Yurinoki Street”, “Keyaki Street”, “Tochinoki Street”, “Tsubaki Street”, “Karamatsu Street'' based on the plants they had planned to plant.

※Suzukake refers to platanus orientalis trees.
※Kaede refers to maple trees.
※Tsutsuji refers to azalea trees.
※Yurinoki refers to liriodendron tulipifera, or, American tulip, or yellow-poplar trees.
※Keyaki refers to zelkova serrata, or, Japanese elm trees.
※Tochinoki refers to aesculus turbinata, or, Japanese horse-chestnut trees.
※Tsubaki refers to camellia japonica, or, common camellia, or Japanese camellia trees.
※Karamatsu refers to larix kaempferi or Japanese larch trees.

However, the street names and street tree types do not necessarily match. For example, toukaede(trident maples) and shirakashi (white oaks) are planted along “Kaede Street.”

The street with the most inconsistent street name and type of trees planted there was the former “Karamatsu Street”. There are 185 metasequoia trees planted here, making it one of the best places in Tsukuba City to view the autumn foliage of metasequoia trees. The name “Karamatsu Street'' without any larch trees was confusing, so the name was changed to “Metasequoia Street.''

In this chapter, I’ll introduce “Metasequoia Street”.

There is no free parking lot on the campus of the University of Tsukuba, so we parked one at Ichinoya Yasaka Shrine.

On the way there, Dad carried me in his arms as we walked south down Higashi Odori Street to Metasequoia Street, and on the way back, I walked down Higashi Odori Street on my own feet and headed back to Yasaka Shrine.



① We’ve arrived at the north end of Metasequoia Street. Here, I’ll ask Dad to let me down on the ground.


② I’m looking at Metasequoia Street.


③ We’ve started taking a walk down Metasequoia Street.


④ We’re making our way to the student dormitory.


⑤ I’m checking the direction of travel.


⑥ We’ll go a little further and take a look around.


⑦ I am on the road at the entrance of the student dormitory.


⑧ Metasequoia trees are planted down the road in this direction.


⑨ I am at the base of a metasequoia tree.


⑩ We’ve passed the bus stop in front of the student dormitory. I think it's time to make a U-turn.


⑪ The north end of Metasequoia Street is now far away. Now, I’ll head back.


⑫ I’m moving at full speed in the direction we came from.


⑬ We’ve returned to the north end of Metasequoia Street.


⑭ We’re heading towards Higashi Odori Street.


⑮ We’ve come to Higashi Odori Street. You can see the baba of the University of Tsukuba.
※Baba(馬場) is a place for horse riding practice, equestrian competitions, and horse racing.


⑯ These are toukaede (trident maple trees) on Higashi Odori Street.


⑰ We'll return to Yasaka Shrine while passing under the trident maple trees.


⑱ If you turn onto Higashi Odori Street here, the torii gate of Yasaka Shrine will be right there. I got weed seeds on my face.


⑲ You can see the ginkgo trees at Yasaka Shrine.


⑳ These are Japanese maple trees at Yasaka Shrine.


㉑ P.S. These are metasequoia trees with autumn leaves at Tsukuba Experimental Botanical Garden, which are the second most popular after those at the University Tsukuba. The green trees are evergreen sequoia trees, which are said to be the tallest type of trees on earth. Dogs are not allowed here. The reason the trees appear curved is because Dad took the photo with a fisheye lens.