いろは紅葉 (iroha-momiji), the Japanese maple, gets its name from something wonderfully playful. Children once counted its 5-7 leaf lobes using the syllables of Japan's most famous poem: い、ろ、は、に、ほ、へ、と. The Iroha poem, written over a thousand years ago, contains every syllable of the Japanese writing system exactly once. A literacy lesson hiding in every leaf. The kanji 紅 (crimson) combines silk (糸) with work (工).

It originally described a deep red dye made from safflower petals, the kind of red that defined luxury in ancient East Asia. When いろは紅葉 (iroha-momiji) turns that exact shade of crimson in autumn, temples across Kyoto fill with visitors chasing the color. What most people don't realize: いろは紅葉 (iroha-momiji) also blooms in spring. Tiny dark crimson flowers hang from its branches before the famous leaves even unfurl. 葉の裂片を「いろはにほへと」と数えることから名づけられたいろは紅葉は、春には花が暗紅色を帯びる。