🌧️🟣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 here.
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).
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.
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.
Matsuo Bashō wrote only 2 haiku about hydrangea. We opened this thread with the first, this is the second...
hydrangeas adorn
the little woodland garden-
a splendid parlor!
紫陽花や藪を小庭の別座敷
-Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉 1644–94).
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.
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.
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.
Camellia Tea Ceremony