🙊THE MONKEY'S SLIDE🛝
At first glance the teahouse garden appears to be made up of mostly moss, pine and camellia...but if you look more closely the borders are packed thick with dozens of varieties of plants.
One of the most beautiful at this time of year is the "Monkey's Slide".
More commonly known as crape myrtle (百日紅), older generations in Japan fondly call the tree 'saru suberi' (サルスベリ the "monkey's slide").
The bark of the tree is so smooth that even monkeys struggle to get a foothold!
Crape (also crepe) myrtle gets its name from the appearance of its flowers, which look very much like crepe paper.
Blooming from mid-summer through to autumn, the flowers (commonly bright pink) are also known in Japan as 'hyakujitsukō' (百日紅 'red for 100 days').
Crape myrtle is also called 'namakemono-no-ki' (怠け者の木 the 'lazy tree'), because it sheds its leaves earlier and grows them later than most deciduous trees.
Flowers tumble down when the tree is shaken, so it's sometimes known as the 'ticklish tree' (笑いの木/くすぐりの木).
under the scorching sky
on the ground these flowers-
crape myrtle
炎天の 地上花あり 百日紅
-Takahama Kyoshi (高浜虚子 1874-1959).
In the language of flowers, 'hanakotoba' (花言葉), crape myrtle symbolise respect, speaking eloquently and innocence.
Senbon Tamajuken (千本玉壽軒) is one of only a few stores to use crape myrtle as inspiration🙌
the Yakushi Hall
in a hot spring town
where crape myrtle is scattering
-Masuda Yoshiaki (増田善昭).
Trans. Gabi Greve.
For a long time it was believed that crape myrtles had been imported to Japan from the mainland some time in the Edo period, but recently pollen was discovered in the pond bed at Byōdō-in (平等院) that confirmed trees were growing here before the temple (completed in 1052)!😮
'Sarusuberi' (百日紅) is the name of a famous manga series by Sugiura Hinako (杉浦日向子 1958-2005).
Known as 'Miss Hokusai' in English, it details the life of Hokusai's daughter, Ōi Katsushika (葛飾応為 1800-66). Sugiura compared the vigor of the crape myrtle to that of ukiyo-e.
Camellia Tea Ceremony