🌧️🟣HYDRANGEA🔵🌿
In early summer hydrangeas begin to bloom, their many petalled flower heads bursting into life like exploding rockets in a miniature fireworks display.
Rainy season is on the way!
these hydrangeas-
time for a linen kimono
in light blue
紫陽花や帷子時の薄浅黄
-Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉 1644-94).
on the head mound
just one rosary-
hydrangeas
首塚にロザリオひとつ額の花
-Kashiwabara Min-u (柏原眠雨).
In hanakotoba (花言葉), the Japanese language of flowers, hydrangeas carry the meaning of 'patience' and 'cool-headedness', but this was not always the case.
#Japan #Kyoto #hydrangea #ajisai #紫陽花 #hanakotoba #languageofflowers
In different types of soil hydrangea petals differ in colour, giving rise to the nickname 'shichihenge' (七変化 '7 transformations').
Throughout history the warrior class shunned the flowers, considering hydrangea to symbolise fickleness and a change of heart or loyalties.
While it is unproven, many people believe hydrangeas originated in Japan.
The Japanese name 'ajisai' (紫陽花), meaning 'gathering of blue' (aji/atsu 集まる = gathering/ai 藍 = indigo), suggests the flowers were originally mostly blue in colour.
Mimuroto-ji's (三室戸寺) hydrangea garden opens from early June, but before that another floral display keeps visitors entertained.
On the steep steps that climb up to the main hall thousands of blue, white and pink potted hydrangea are lovingly arranged.
A previous installation (usually the flowers are arranged in just 2 days) was called 'Shōryū-zu' (昇龍図 'Ascending Dragon').
Viewed from the bottom of the 60 steps, 270 pots of white hydrangeas form the slim body of a dragon climbing through the sky (270 blue) towards the sun (60 pink).
The idea for this particular flower art came from the temple's 'Manihōju Mandara' (摩尼宝珠曼荼羅), a mandala that depicts white dragons protecting a sacred 'wish-fulfilling jewel' (如意宝珠).
Pink hydrangea at the top of the steps represent the gem.
Hydrangea were first introduced to Europe around 1862 by the German naturalist Siebold (フォン・シーボルト 1796-1866).
It is said he selected the flower's scientific name 'Hydrangea Otaksa' in memory of his Japanese mistress Kusumoto Taki (楠本滝/'Otaki-san' お滝).
On a side note...Siebold and Otaki-san's daughter, Kusumoto Ine (楠本イネ 1827-1903), was the first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan.
Hydrangeas are generally poisonous, but the leaves can be fermented to make a special kind of tea called 'amacha' (甘茶).
As the name suggests, it is incredibly sweet, and is typically drunk on special occasions.
On Buddha's Birthday people soak small statues of Buddha in amacha.
#Kyoto #BuddhasBirthday #amacha #甘茶 #hydrangea #hydrangeatea
Incredibly there are over 100 varieties of hydrangea in Japan!
Like many flowers, hydrangeas are first recorded in the poetry of the Nara period.
Shunned by the later warrior classes, the flowers remained popular with the masses and are now celebrated as the harbinger of summer.
In Europe hydrangea of different colours symbolise rather different things...
💙gratitude, apology and understanding
🤍purity, vanity and boastfulness (also connected to arrogance, frostiness and spinsterhood!)
❤️(pink) romance, sincerity and truth
💜wisdom, royalty and pride
The symbolism behind hydrangeas changes depending on their colour🌈
In one Japanese legend an emperor gifted blue hydrangeas to a neglected lover as a sign of contrition for leaving her alone for so long. Blue hydrangeas thus came to represent gratitude and understanding.
Camellia Tea Ceremony
Kim Possible 
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