Summer Iris

summer again -
friends of two colors
side by side

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This kind of iris is called "Kakitsubata" 杜若, Iris laevigata. 燕子花
It is a kigo for mid-summer. The literal meaning of the Chinese characters 燕子花 is "Child of the Swallow", because the form of the flower looks like a baby swallow starting its first flight.




Here are more iris on our roadside:




Here is a link with many pictures, it takes a while to load. Start from the bottom to see the flowers grow more and more every day.
http://www.geihoku.info/kakitu/kakitu17.htm

Some Iris parks feature special bridges. See below for more.
Yatsuhashi means "eight bridges."
It is named for a location on the Azuma River renowned in Japanese literature, where the water branched into eight channels, each with its own bridge. It is also thought that on crooked bridges one can avoid evil spirits that flow in straight lines.
Look at them here:
http://www.outside-in.com/seiwa-en/structures/zig/zig.html


Kakitsubata on a woodblock print from Kunisada, with a fair lady.


http://homepage2.nifty.com/ICHIYUSAI/kisetsu/kakitsubata.htm

.......................................... Yatsuhashi

Iris and the Yatsuhashi bridge are the subject of many folding screens and other works of art.
Here is one from Oogata Koorin (Ogata Korin)
The subject of this work is drawn from the Eight Plank Bridge scene or Yatsuhashi of the Tale of Ise, and yet here both figures and the famous bridge have been eliminated, leaving only a symbolic representation of the theme in the form of a simple stand of iris. This effective handling of the classic theme reveals the painter's uniquw stance as both a decorative painter,and also an artist completely familiar with the essence of Chinese style painting.
http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp/syuuzou/33_e.html

The name yatsuhashi comes from an incident in the 10th c. Ise monogatari 伊勢物語 (Tales of Ise, trans. H. McCullough) in which the story's protagonist and his companions stop to rest at a famous iris marsh traversed by an eight-planked bridge. In Edo period gardens, especially those built by daimyou (大名庭園 ), yatsuhashi were often built over iris marshes in an obvious reference to Ise monogatari. A good example is found at Koishikawa Kourakuen 小石川後楽園, Tokyo.
http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/y/yatsuhashi1.htm

................. Yatsuhashi as a kimono pattern



Why does Yatsuhashi have such a particular meaning?
A Japanese classical masterpiece, "The tales of Ise" tells us why.
A disappointed nobleman was relegated to a country in the east. On the way to his distant journey, he composed a tanka poem in which he expressed his deep sorrow of being apart far from his beautiful wife back in Kyoto with the motif of Kakitsubata and Yatsuhashi.
He must have longingly recalled her when he saw beautiful flowers of Kakitsubata walking along on Yatsuhashi.
This sad story was much more popular than other stories in "Tales of Ise" and became the base of a Japanese Noh play entitled "Kakitsubata".

One summer night, an ascetic monk, on the way to his journey to the east, met a beautiful Kakitsubata flower fairy. The fairy performed dances for the monk all the night through. The dance was so beautiful and fantastic that he could endure his loneliness.
No matter what is your nationality or how old you are, missing home or people whom you love in a distant land is an universal sentiment, isn't it?

This is a great link about stories behind the patterns of Japanese kimono.
http://www.yamatoku.jp/classic/topic.asp

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Some family crests designs of this flower as base.
http://www.e-sozai.com/mon/shokubutsu/222.html

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Iris (ayame) is a kigo in our database.

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Here is a little something special. A card game with flowers for each month.
The Iris and the Yatsuhashi bridge are also featured.
The cards are divided into the twelve months of the year, incorporating the kachoo fuugetsu (four beauties of nature: flowers, birds, wind, and moon).

Genjuro's Hanafuda
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/9305/hanafuda.html
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~johnbent/hanahuda/
http://homepage.mac.com/silentdibs/hanafuda/cards.html


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To the Daruma Museum Index
http://www.geocities.com/gabigreve2000/index.html

To the WHC Worldkigo Database
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/