Showing posts with label Chojyu-ji. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chojyu-ji. Show all posts
October 8, 2025
July 19, 2025
Yamayuri (golden-rayed lily) and Ajisai (hydrangea) flowers: Chojyu-ji
The gold-striped white petals of Yamayuri (golden-rayed lily) are gently swaying in the calm breeze of June and are silently announcing the arrival of early summer with their vibrant appearance and sweet fragrance.
As if to assist the graceful color and shape of these white flowers, the turquoise-blue flowers of Ajisai (hydrangea), which have richly absorbed rainwater, are quietly blooming close by like the beautiful court ladies of a summer palace.
Yamayuri is an endemic species to Japan and has long been cherished as a noble and luxurious summer flower. This flower is one of the classical motifs depicted in Japanese art and is said to symbolize elegance, purity, and nobility.
It frequently appears in Japanese-style paintings from the Edo and Meiji periods (1603-1912). The design of Yamayuri is also widely used in Japanese arts and crafts, such as ceramics, Yuzen kimono dyeing, and lacquerware, as a representative figure that symbolizes the passing summer.
Iwatabako (Conandron ramondioides) flowers: Chojyu-ji
The rainy season has already begun here, and the shady ground and plantings of the gardens are softly filled with moisture. The purple star-shaped flowers of Iwatabako (Conandron ramondioides) are timidly showing their faces between the glossy leaves on the damp rock wall like the tender rain-fairies that are staring at this world wonderingly.
In Kita-kamakura, during this rainy season, the thick green plants and the moss-covered rocks of the old gardens become moist with rainwater, presenting particularly quiet and subtle beauty under the pale sky.
Although the leading flowers of this season are colorful hydrangeas, the small Iwatabako flowers, which seem to be hiding in the shadow of the flamboyant hydrangeas, are also indispensable for the transient and memorable sceneries of the gray rainy season.
December 18, 2024
June 30, 2022
July 11, 2021
Yamayuri (Lilium auratum) flowers: Chojyu-ji
Surprised by the pleasant fragrance drifting slowly in the air, I noticed that there were the brilliant flowers of golden‐rayed lily blooming silently in a cluster by the side of the stone steps leading up to the temple gate.
The purple and blue flowers of hydrangeas, which have passed their prime, were staying close beside the fresh white flowers of the lily, as if to tell that their role as the flowers of season will end before long.
As plants already know, soon the gray, thick clouds of the rainy season will disappear completely from the sky and the dazzling sun of summer will begin to rule this world.
June 26, 2021
June 13, 2021
Iwatabako (Conandron ramondioides) flowers: Chojyu-ji
As if to suggest that the rainy season will arrive here soon, coinciding with the spectacular blooming of the Ajisai (hydrangea) flowers, the star-shaped purple flowers of "Iwatabako" begin to appear stealthily on the shady rock-surfaces of "Kamakura-ishi" (Kamakura rock) like the quiet hermits who wish to hide from the world and the sun.
Kamakura-ishi is the green-coloured tuff typical of the Kamakura region and was commonly used for the landscape-gardening of the old Zen temples in this area.
The perennial plant called "Iwatabako" (which means the tabacco plant growing on rock) grows on wet rock surface in the shade where water always oozes out.
The short root-stalks usually produces one or two large leaves. These leaves are 10-20 cm long, 5-10 cm wide, and have an elliptic wrinkled shape.
The flower stalks extend 10 to 20 cm long from the leaf-axils and bear two or three purple flowers about 1.5 cm in diameter.
October 7, 2020
Higan-bana (Lycoris radiata) flowers: Chojyu-ji
"Higan-bana" means the flower which blooms around Higan (the autumnal equinox) and its flowering season is about the middle of September.
Its flower buds in the soil know their flowering time by sensing only the seasonal change of temperature. The flower stalks emerge from the ground before the leaves and its delicate flowers bloom in the form of radial clusters simultaneously.
When the flower stalks disappear after flowering, the leaves grow out and remain green over the winter. In early summer, when other plants start growing leaves, the leaves of Higan-bana die and the above-ground part of this plant is no longer visible.
Instead of producing seeds, this plant reproduces by making its bulbs in the soil for multiplication. The individuals in the same colony are genetically identical, and so they have similar flowering periods, flower size and color, and grass height.
June 30, 2020
Ajisai (Hydrangea) flowers: Chojyu-ji
A colorful assortment of Ajisai flowers is blooming along the quiet hill road.
The freshness and splendor of these flowers are reaching their best just now thanks to the blessings of nature from this wet season.
As summer deepens and the bright blue sky appears dominantly, these moist flowers gradually dry out, subtly losing their delicate pastel colors.
May 14, 2020
April 16, 2020
December 11, 2019
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