Iris (ayame)

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Iris (ayame, shoobu, kakitsubata, airisu)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Mid-Summer
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Iris Flower (hanashoobu 花菖蒲)　Iris　ensata
Blue Flag (kakitsubata 杜若)
Wall Iris (ichi-hatsu いちはつ）

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/kp/koto/96plant/june/3/gif/hanasyobu.JPG Hanashoobu

There are many more words in Japanese to differentiate between the many kinds of iris that flower mostly during the rainy season, giving a special elegance to an otherwise dreary season. In Japan, there are many famous Iris Parks and Iris fields, which I will introduce below.
Gabi Greve

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Famous Iris Fields in Itako
Itako Town in Ibaraki Prefecture lies beside the river Tonegawa. During the Edo period (1603-1868) it flourished as a relay port for the shipment of cargo from the north of Japan by water to the nation's capital, Edo. The beautiful scenery on the waterfront was much admired by writers and artists, many of whom visited the town.

Today, the Ayame (iris) Festival in June is the biggest tourist attraction. Along the sides of the river iris flower park has been set up, and as the season approaches, as many as one million individual plants of around 500 colorful varieties come into bloom in purple, white and yellow. During the festival season every year the town attracts about half a million visitors. Boatmen ply the waters in rowboats, taking sightseers on trips redolent of the past. If you are lucky, you might be able to see a beautiful bride going out to meet her bridegroom on one of these boats.
Have a look at some pictures of the area too.
http://web-japan.org/atlas/nature/nat23.html

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The famous Meiji Shrine Iris Garden


Meiji Shrine in Tokyo is famous for its splendid Iris Garden, which was designed by the Emperor Meiji himself.
People take joy in painting and making haiku about these plants.

Look at many more beautiful pictures here:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mako/dojikko/01_scene/200106/200106.htm
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More photos of the many Iris Festivals (ayame matsuri) in many areas of Japan.
Mizumoto Park, Horikiri Park and more in Ibaragi Prefecture.
http://avenir.pekori.jp/album/mizumoto/mizumoto2001-1.html
http://itp.ne.jp/i-town/chugoku/yamaguchi/photo.html
http://f27.aaacafe.ne.jp/~takaji/bistaliall_009.htm
http://www.geocities.jp/thitosh/nikki/2003/nikki0306.html

Toyotsu City
http://pinebooks.cool.ne.jp/sanpomiti/01/toyotushobu.html

Look at an Iris Garden in Yokosuka, Japan.
http://hamakko.info/fgarden/egar06.html

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Worldwide use

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Things found on the way

Story about Daruma Dolls with Iris Design

http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/Ayame.html

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HAIKU

asatsuyu no
hajike furueru
ayame kana

morning dew
shaking it off trembling
the iris

Gabi Greve
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/61

from the tallest iris
he partakes of the sunset
the tiny frog






Photo and Haiku from Gabi Greve
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/126

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In the archives of Shiki you find a collection of haiku about iris from 99.

through the picket fence
the thin blades
of irises
Yu Chang

Evening sunshine
after the rain –
yellow irises
Alison Williams

Read more here:
http://shiki1.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kukai/kukai63-1.html

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On the following essay on Haiku in English, you find two haiku about iris.

Watching the iris,
The faint and fragile petals ―
How am I worthy?

Amy Lowell
http://www.suien.net/masako/mhe.htm

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紫のさまで濃からず花菖蒲

久保田万太郎 Kubota Mantaroo
http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/kp/koto/96plant/june/3/hanasyobu.html

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.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Kakitsubata



summer again -
friends of two colors
side by side

© Photo and Haiku by Gabi Greve

Read more of my stories about Kakitsubata:
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/06/summer-iris.html


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.


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tsubakura mo shoobu fuku hi ni aeri keri

swallows too
the day eaves are thatched with irises
show up

-Issa, 1809

The night before the annual Boy's Festival (fifth day, Fifth Month), eaves of houses were thatched with grafts of blooming irises; Kiyose (Tokyo: Kakugawa Shoten, 1984) 122. The return of the swallows coincides with the human celebration.
Tr. David Lanoue



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Related words

***** Carp Streamers (koinobori, Japan)
fifth day, Fifth Month,



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