Glittering soushiju trees in full bloom in Naha

Glittering soushiju trees in full bloom in Naha

Soushiju trees in full bloom with spherical yellow flowers in Manko Park in Naha, on May 18.


May 19, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

The soushiju trees or Acacia confusa reached full bloom in Manko Park in Naha, on May 18, giving passersby an enjoyable glimpse of the sun during a short break in the long rainy season. Soushiju is an evergreen leguminous tree that blossoms during April and May with spherical yellow flowers about one centimeter in diameter. The tree has become well known in many tropical Pacific areas where some of the more common names it goes by are Taiwan Acacia, Acacia Petit Feuille and Small Philippine Acacia.

On Okinawa it is called the “soushiju” which in the local dialect means “love each other.” Female students in the Himeyuri Butai (Star Lily Nursing Corps) are known to have sung the “Song of Soushiju” as their farewell song during the Battle of Okinawa, 1945.

The Okinawa Meteorological Observatory forecasts that rainy days will continue over half of the coming week with cloudy weather becoming more prevalent due to a front of rain. Temperatures are expected to be higher than both the minimum and maximum for a normal year.

(English Translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey）

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