Wisteria flowers begin to appear as spring deepens, cascading from trellises erected in many Kyōto temples, shrines, and famously in the Toba Water Treatment Plant!

wisteria dangles
to its heart's content...
fresh green leaves
存分に藤ぶら下るわか葉哉
-Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶).
Trans. David Lanoue.

#Kyoto #京都 #wisteria

🔎SYMBOLISM🤔

Wisteria, thanks to their resilience, have come to symbolise longevity and even immortality. The 1200 year old trees in Saitama's Tōka-en Wisteria Garden (藤花園) are some of Japan's oldest.

In kabuki (歌舞伎) the flowers represent love, tenderness and sensitivity.

#wisteria #hanakotoba #花言葉

In the language of flowers, 'hanakotoba' (花言葉), wisteria also represent kindness, gentleness and amiability (優しさ), a welcoming nature (歓迎), intoxicating love (恋に酔う), and somewhat more ominously never *ever* being parted (決して離れない).

#wisteria #Japan #Kyoto #藤 #浮世絵 #ukiyoe

🎎CRESTS🛡️

The Fujiwara clan (藤原氏), a powerful family that utterly dominated politics in the Heian period, took the wisteria as their crest: a design of hanging wisteria flowers called 'sagari-fuji' (下がり藤) and an upturned wisteria called 'agari-fuji' (上がり藤).

#Kyoto #藤 #Fujiwara #藤原 #紋

Having helped Prince Naka no Ōe destroy the rival Soga clan (蘇我氏) and ascend the throne as Emperor Tenji (天智天皇 d.672), Nakatomi-no-Kamatari (中臣/藤原鎌足 614-69) was given the honorary name 'Fujiwara' (藤原 'Wisteria Arbor').

It is said the pair hatched their plan to seize control in one such arbor.

💃THE WISTERIA MAIDEN🪩

'Fuji Musume' (藤娘) is a kabuki dance, first staged in 1826 at the Nakamura-za in Edo as one of a set of five dances. It is the only dance to have survived.
The idea was inspired by a piece of Ōtsu-e (大津絵) art, produced on the shores of Lake Biwa.

#Otsue #大津絵 #fujimusume #藤娘

The dance begins with a young woman, depicted in a painting called 'Katsugi-musume' (かつぎ娘) by Domomata (吃又), coming to life.
Representing the 'spirit of wisteria', she laments how men's feelings can be difficult to win over (men are symbolized by a pine on stage).

#Japan #wisteria #wisteriamaiden

🗺️WHERE TO CATCH A GLIMPSE?🧭

1) There has been a trellis at Byōdō-in (平等院) for at least 250 years, supporting a massive 3m tall wisteria. It is one of Kyōto's most well-known wisteria.

in pale moonlight
the wisteria's scent
comes from far away
月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな
-Yosa Buson.

#wisteria #藤

2) Taizō-in (退蔵院) is the oldest of Myōshin-ji’s sub-temples (妙心寺), known for its beautiful gardens and a very famous painting of a smug little catfish.
The temple was founded by the powerful Echizen lord Hatano Shigemichi (波多野重通) some time between 1395 and 1404.

#Japan #Taizoin #catfish