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mt. zao's okama 蔵王お釜 (yamagata, japan)

Posted by
timothy sullivan (Tokyo, Japan) on 16 October 2008 in Landscape & Rural.

Another shot of Mt. Zao's Lake Okama, showing the igneous rock-strewn wasteland in the upper reaches of the region. As I surveyed the area with quiet awe I grew quite curious as to the meaning of the kanji characters used in the area's name. Cold wind bit at my fingertips as I tapped away at my dictionary's keyboard; a few interesting results came up. Separately, for Mt. Zao (蔵王), the kanji蔵 could be interpreted as "hidden" and 王 as "ruler". While I know not whether this was the intended meaning, I find it amusing that something so majestic as this mountain, which quite overtly commands the horizon, could be considered as "hidden"; however when I consider that the summit is oft veiled by cloud, it could make quite a deal of sense indeed. "Okama", however, has a rather perplexing kanji; お釜 or 御釜, literally means "homosexual". (Unfortunately I could not find out how it got this name.) Its alternative name, "Goshiki Numa" or "Five colors pond" (五色沼) is a little more understandable-- the opaline waters shift in color according to temperature and season.

NIKON D300 1/40 second F/16.0 ISO 200 28 mm

NIKON D300
1/40 second
F/16.0
ISO 200
28 mm

caldera
zao
yamagata
火山
蔵王
山形
五色沼
カルデラ
okama