p. 668 | The Flowers of Japan

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 4, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 42.

The Flowers of Japan.

IN the spring in Japan the plum and cherry blossoms are the great attraction. The fruit of these trees is worthless, but the flowers are as large and as double as a small rose. These trees are planted in great numbers about the temples. The grounds of the famous temples of Uyeno in the city of Tokio are visited in February and March every day by hundreds of people who go there expressly to feast their eyes on these cloudlike masses of pink and white beauty. At Mukojima, just above Tokio, the road extending along the bank of the river is lined on both sides for several miles by these trees.

When they are in bloom the streets are actually thronged on pleasant days by people who come to see the flowers, and the smiling faces and bright costumes of the pleasure-seekers, together with the natural beauties of the place, make one almost feel that he has been suddenly transported to Fairyland.

The roses of Japan are scarcely worthy of mention, but the wistaria and azaleas surpass anything of the kind to be seen in America. In April and May the scarlet azaleas glow like camp-fires on the mountain-sides, and the white ones look so snow-like that one almost expects to see them melt away in the presence of their flaming sisters, while the wistaria purples the bold bluffs, or, clambering up the quaint thatch roofs of the farm-houses, adds one more charm to pictures already enchanting. The latter is often trained to form beautiful arbors. Sometimes the clusters are from thirty to thirty-five inches long.

After the azaleas and wistaria comes the shobu, or blue flag. Nowhere, perhaps, is this cultivated to such an extent, and with such success, as in Japan. Large beds containing scores of varieties can be seen at Horikiri, near Tokio, if one is fortunate enough to go there at the proper season. These beds are often bordered by rows of fragrant calla lilies, and it is quite a favorite excursion with both the native and foreign residents of Tokio to go up the river in a pleasure boat as far as Horikiri and have cake and tea at one of the many charming rest-houses inside this garden.

In the summer months the moats of Tokio are covered with the sacred lotus. Buddha, whom millions of the Japanese still worship, is usually represented as resting on one of these flowers, and among the decorations of Buddhist temples artificial lotus blossoms are always prominent. This flower is either white or rose-colored, and rises a little above the water, instead of being deftly buried on it. Still the moats, with their covering of thick blue-green leaves, and the exquisite waxen-petaled flowers, are often suggestive of lilied lakelets in America. The roots of the lotus plant are used by the natives for food, and it is said that the plants in the moats which lie around the present residence of the Mikado yield quite a rich revenue, a portion of them merely having recently been let to a seller of lotus roots for about four hundred dollars a year.

Out in the country in the summer we find piles of mountain hydrangea, white almost as Scotland's snow wreaths; airy, argus-eyed lilies with great golden hearts; pink-tasseled mimosas with quivering frondlike leaves; fragrant clematis twining lovingly about old stumps and trees, as if to screen their unsightliness; ivies luxuriant as those that clothe the square Norman towers of Yorkshire's old churches; and mosses—oh, such a wealth of them! delicate maiden-hair, graceful lycopodium, and lichens silvery-gray with tiny coral-tipped cups uplifted to the sylvan deities. The feathery bamboo can be seen everywhere, and occasionally one sees a palmyra palm, while evergreens are so numerous that a Japanese landscape never looks broken and bare.

But the flower of Japan is the chrysanthemum. According to an old superstition, the "dewy juices in the heart of the chrysanthemum are the elixir of life." It is the Mikado's crest, and is a favorite figure in the decorative arts of the country. From 1336 to 1390 there were two Mikados ruling or attempting to rule in Japan, and the war carried on to settle the supremacy of the rival Mikados is known in history as the War of the Chrysanthemums.

These flowers bloom in early autumn, and last until midwinter. They are seen in almost all colors and sizes, and they vary in shape from that of the regular China aster to that of the irregular ragged robin. Every year there is an exhibition of chrysanthemums, in Tokio, which is very interesting. In the garden where it is given, small booths are erected in which are represented scenes in Japanese life, and also tableaux from the history and mythology of the country. The figures are images in clay or plaster of Paris, and the costumes are formed by covering these images with wire or bamboo frames and training chrysanthemum plants to cover these frames.

Before the chrysanthemums are gone, camellias begin to appear, of which there are many varieties; indeed, the tea plant itself is said to be one.

The camellias in Japan, like those grown in hot-houses here, are very regular in shape, and the Japanese make most skillful imitations of them in crêpe and paper. Indeed, the natural flowers look so artificial, and the artificial flowers so natural, that one finds it difficult to distinguish between them sometimes. A friend, once seeing a very symmetrical pink camellia on the table, said, "Humph! I could make a more natural-looking flower than that myself." On taking it up, she found to her astonishment that it was a real one.

The camellias last until the coming of the plum and cherry blossoms, in the early spring; so there is no season of the year when we cannot have bouquets of real flowers in our homes. —Youth's Companion.