health and strength and years to those who dwell inside; and golden oranges and ruddy ‘mandarins’ to ensure them wealth and prosperity; and perhaps a lobster, to signify the desire for old age (‘crabbed age,’ as Himself says) because of its crooked back. Other decorations there are, too, Bamboo sprays, Ferns perhaps, and Laurel leaves, sometimes vivid orange-coloured Marigolds (though this is rather a South China custom, where the flowers are more easily to be had at that time of year), and, last of all, dried fruits and nuts, persimmons and chestnuts, to ensure plenty and contentment for the year to come.
The two Pines at the gate are the most important, and after them the first week of the New Year is named the Kodo Matsu (‘Gate Pines’), or Matsu no Uchi (or ‘Within the Pines’). How they are placed, the male Pine on the side of honour, the left; the more light and delicate female Pine on the right, has been told in the chapter on Flower Arrangement, as also the custom of putting Pine boughs and Plum blossoms—or perhaps I had better say buds—on the takenomos at the New Year. Indeed, the Plum is as important as the Pine, and the two together might well signify youth and old age.
During many long months have careful gardeners been training and cultivating these miniature Plum trees, snipping, pruning, giving or withholding light and water, so that they may
