FROM THE GARDEN OF ZEN: June 2025

June 12, 2025

Botan (peony) flowers: Ofuna Flower Center

When I find a fragile and beautiful flower in full bloom, I simultaneously sense that it must soon fade and disappear without any trace. I know that this world of all living things must be made to be impermanent according to the basic principles of the universe.

My fruitless attempt to photograph the adorable portrait of such an ephemeral flower for remembering it may be just an impossible resistance to "Mujo" or the absolute impermanence of this world.

The magnificent flowers of Botan, which have been long admired as the majestic queen of flowers in China and Japan, bloom from April to May as if to let us notice the approaching of the bright summer in the various temple gardens of Kamakura.

Botan trees are said to have been introduced to Japan from China around the 8th century as a medicinal plant. Later, it has been cultivated for the purpose of appreciation in Japan, and during the Edo period (1603-1868), when horticulture became a very popular pastime for citizens, many horticultural varieties, which had diverse magnificent shapes and colors, were produced.

Shakunage (rhododendron) flowers: Ofuna Flower Center

If I have the ability to hear the hidden voice of every plant or tree, then I will be able to realize what these countless crimson flowers in full bloom are saying with joy in the bright and gentle sun of spring.

You may know that slient plants and trees talk to each other, feel pain and delight, help each other, look after their friends and even interact with each other to survive.

All living things in this universe must have their own precious souls and be always singing the secret carols of existence without getting noticed by us.

Kodemari (spirea) flowers: Kaizo-ji

Shaga (Iris japonica) flowers: Kita-kamakura

Fuji (Japanese wisteria) flowers: Kita-kamakura

From mid-April to early May, the drooping purple or white flowers of Fuji (Japanese wisteria) emerge suddenly all at once from the bushes of the fresh green, while giving off a sweet and elegant fragrance to let us notice their pleasant blooming.

From ancient times, the graceful figures of wisteria flowers in slender clusters have been admired by Japanese people and have been written about in Waka (traditional Japanese poetry) since the Nara and Heian periods (710-1185).

Their elegant figures have long been depicted in many Japanese picture scrolls and folding screen paintings. The gracefulness of their drooping flower clusters symbolizes fragility and elegance when they sway in the gentle spring breeze. This appearance evokes the deep feeling of beauty, which keenly arouses the pathos of nature which is at the root of the Japanese aesthetic senses.

The wisteria flower has traditionally been treated as the symbol of long-lasting nobleness and prosperity. The ladies of the Heian aristocracy adorned their hair with such wisteria flowers. The aristocracy incorporated wisteria flowers into their family crests and even used the forms of these flowers as a Yusoku-monyo (the traditional crests used by the court and nobility).

It is said that, at the time of full bloom, in the gardens of aristocrats, wisteria viewing parties had been held with graceful orchestral music to enjoy the precious beauty of the flowers.