
A Moss Girl’s Guide to Japanese Moss Viewing - nkurz
http://ignition.co/398
======
pnathan
In the past 6 months, Seattle has gone from near-drought condition to _very
wet_. I can only describe the experience of watching the mosses in the area
around my apartment building go from dessicated to luminescent green as
sublime. Particularly visible has been the mosses that live right off my back
porch. In August, they had turned the color of dirt; today, they are a
particularly aggressive almost-neon green with hints of yellow. The concrete
around a (rather sad) tree and bush by the entrance has gone from a pale grey
to a green-grey as the mosses have come back.

I can quite fathom why mosses are a big thing!

edit: if someone has read "Mosses, my dear friends"[1], I'd be curious as to
the general content, whether photos, or details, or a travelogue, etc. I don't
read Japanese, sadly. :-/

[http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B3%E3%82%B1%E3%81%AF%E3%81%A8...](http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B3%E3%82%B1%E3%81%AF%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%A0%E3%81%A1-%E8%97%A4%E4%BA%95-%E4%B9%85%E5%AD%90/dp/4898153097)

~~~
Avshalom
The waterfalls in the northwest make for absolutely stunning mossy walls.
Oneota down in the Columbia Gorge is amazing in the summer (possibly also the
winter but it's a bit cold to be traipsing up a river then)

~~~
c22
For the last couple years I've been having fun building my own moss walls with
this stuff:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertufa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertufa)

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krylon
One magical thing some people can do is write about something in a way that it
becomes interesting, fascinating to the reader.

I seriously did not expect this, but this was a really interesting article.

The nice thing about moss is, if it's rainy at all (and where I live, it _so_
is), it can grow pretty much anywhere, including my balcony. Guess I'll see
that moss on my balcony with different eyes now.

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dllu
After reading this I decided to go out and take pictures of moss. Here's a
picture I took:
[http://i.imgur.com/rovioAa.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/rovioAa.jpg) near
49.055969, -122.238218.

It's quite relaxing but my tripod got dirty due to the mud.

~~~
kseistrup
Beautiful!

Is the thing halfway towards one o'clock the hat of a fungus or the sporangium
of a moss?

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Nadya
When I visited Japan I was surprised when my language partner's son had such a
huge interest in _moss_ of all things. Where I live in the U.S, moss is
largely an unwanted thing akin to mold. Yet here was a man telling me the
names of each kind of moss we passed and telling me certain characteristics of
them.

I feigned my interest in moss as best as I could. I understand its
implications in rock/moss gardens and when a colony is maintained properly it
does look rather nice... but to me it is still _just moss_.

I have a feeling that I simply don't "get it".

~~~
gertef
> Where I live in the U.S, moss is largely an unwanted thing akin to mold.

I think that's due to the US attitude that nature is a thing to be controlled,
not nurtured. Moss grows in its natural way, on top of other things, not in
its own little individual pot or plot.

~~~
Nadya
I think you may have a point - but national reserves and American's love of
camping in the "uncontrolled wilderness" is also a strong counterpoint.

I was also careful to specify "where I live". The U.S is rather large and I'm
sure moss gardens are popular in at least one region. Something I find people
often forgetting is just how _massive_ the U.S is. Including the people who
live in it!

~~~
wavefunction
America invented the National Park in fact. One of our nation's innovations I
am particularly proud of.

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reustle
I recently watched this episode of Japanology [1] about moss. There is a
really interesting and refreshing fascination about moss over there.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIdOWd9qEM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIdOWd9qEM)

~~~
MrJagil
Thanks! It's also illuminating in regards to water bears; I never figured
their ability to dry out would be an evolutionary advantage when living in
concert with Moss. (~24 minutes in)

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devindotcom
Heh. This is fun. At the garden by Kikuchi-Monji (is that even close to
correct? going from memory) - the 'golden temple' in Kyoto - I found this
great little moss garden labeled "Very Important Moss (like VIP)":

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/devindotcom/2201308564/in/albu...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/devindotcom/2201308564/in/album-72157603738936368/)

~~~
Nadya
Kinkakuji (金閣寺) is what you are thinking of.

I don't think you meant to reference 菊一文字 (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiku-
ichimonji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiku-ichimonji) )

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petke
I think moss is beautiful. I transplanted a lot of it to my stone garden (with
permission from the owner of the nearby forest).

In England where it rains a lot, they use chemicals to try and kill any moss
in their lawns. Id be happy if my lawn was nothing but moss though.

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magicbuzz
I lived in Japan and there is some great moss there, particularly in the very
old temples. But I think the moss in New Zealand's old growth forests is
better - some of the moss I saw there was almost luminescent.

~~~
djsumdog
I wish I had known about this when I lived in NZ (was there for over two
years). Yes, the greens in NZ are quite amazing. I even had a nice camera, but
I never once thought about taking some maco shots of moss. I miss out on some
great opportunities to photo these little mini-forests.

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Steko
In Japan even the national anthem can't resist the charms of moss.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimigayo#Lyrics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimigayo#Lyrics)

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nimz
To anyone who found this link interesting, I highly recommend picking up "The
Signature of All Things" by Elizabeth Gilbert (yes the author who wrote Eat,
Pray, Love). The Signature of All Things is historical fiction novel about a
botanist who is fascinated by moss and her research leads her to discover
evolution independently of Darwin.

~~~
JacobAldridge
Bought it for my beautiful wife for Christmas! And she's enjoying it.

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mark_l_watson
I enjoyed that. I live in the mountains of Central Arizona and am basically
addicted to hiking. On hikes I keep an eye out for lichen growths on the side
of large rocks, usually in the shade. Really beautiful and very diverse in
colors and textures.

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malingo
The moss in Iceland is also pretty spectacular. While hiking the Falljokull
glacier this past summer I learned about "glacier mice":
[http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/science/earth/glacier-m...](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/science/earth/glacier-
mice-offer-a-micro-habitat.html?referer=)

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cgm616
Very interesting: reading this on my phone, the header image moves with a
parallax effect when the phone is tilted.

~~~
davydka
I also noticed this. Very cool!

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ck2
Don't ever change Japan, best kind of weird sometimes.

(well except that suicide rate, that could afford to change)

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drunkonvinyl
scotland has GRRREAT moss as well.

~~~
arethuza
From Scottish Natural Heritage "Naturally Scottish - Mosses and Liverworts":

[http://www.snh.gov.uk/publications-data-and-
research/publica...](http://www.snh.gov.uk/publications-data-and-
research/publications/search-the-catalogue/publication-detail/?id=385)

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placeybordeaux
> The author, lost in the _invisible_ world of moss

emphasis mine.

