Peony (botan)
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Peony (botan, Japan)
***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Early Summer
***** Category: Plant
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Explanation
peony, tree peony, botan, bootan ぼうたん、ぼたん、 牡丹、Paeonia suffruticosa, Pfingstrose
white peony, hakubotan 白牡丹
red peony, hi-botan (hibotan) 緋牡丹
peony park, botan-en 牡丹園
Peonies have large, gorgeous flowers, but they last only very short. In haiku, they carry the feeling of permanence and transition, often used as substitute for a beautiful lady.
Their area of origin is North-West China, but they have long been known in Japan. They are also a frequent pattern in Chinese and Japanese art. They were the national flower of T'ang China.
Gabi Greve
Facts in the WIKIPEDIA !
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Famous Peony Parks in Japan are at the temple Hasedera (close to Nara) and the Taimadera.
Hasedera 長谷寺
『立てば芍薬、座れば牡丹、歩く姿は百合の花』
Tateba Shakuyaku
Suwareba Botan Aruku
Sugata wa Yuri no Hana (Otome)
This describes a beautiful woman:
when standing, she is like a a herbaceous peony
(shakuyaku)
when seated, she is like a peony (botan)
when walking, she is like a lily
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Temple Taimadera 当麻寺
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Worldwide use
Noteworthy Characteristics:
The tree peony species is a deciduous, woody shrub that typically grows 3-5' tall with a 4' spread. The true species features large flowers (6-8" across) with pink to white petals, each petal having a purple basal patch. Many cultivars of this species have been developed, with a wide range of petal colors including red, pink, purple, white and yellow. Cultivar flower forms range from single to semi-double to double. Blooms in early spring (May in the St. Louis area). Medium green foliage is deeply divided into oval to lance-shaped leaflets and remains attractive throughout the growing season.
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=F110
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Things found on the way
Famous Chinese Opera
"The Peony Pavillion" Botan Tei . . . 牡丹亭
This has been revived in 2008 in a co-performance with Kabuki actor Bando Tamasaburo.
WKD : The Peony Pavillion
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HAIKU
putting up
with my tumble-down house
...peony-
掃人の尻で散たる牡丹かな
haku hito no shiri de chiritaru botan kana
petals scattered
by the sweeper's butt...
peony
Issa
Tr. David Lanoue
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方八里雨雲よせぬ牡丹かな
ho hachiri amagumo yosenu botan kana
on all sides,
the peony wards off
rain clouds
YOSA BUSON (与謝蕪村1716 - 1783)
translated by Kimiyo Tanaka
http://shiki1.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/Pleasure_of_Haiku.html
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楊貴妃の寝起顔なる牡丹哉
Yooki-Hi no neoki-gao naru botan kana
like the face of Yang Guifei
when she awakens -
this peony
Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規
Tr. Gabi Greve
source : 俳句例句データベース（季語 )
Yang Guifei (Yang Kuifei, Yang Kuei-Fei, Yang Kwei Fei) (719-756) Yookihi
Famous Beauty of Ancient China
Her Lover, Emperor Gensoo, called her face "so beautiful even if she has not slept enough" 寝起きの楊貴妃を「寝たらず」と言った.
Discussion of this Haiku / Translating Haiku Forum
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sono kuraki yo o shizuka naru botan kana
Kyorai
English is here : Translating Haiku Forum
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near my birthday
the deep magenta
of mother's peonies
Dietmar Tauchner
(GINYU, No.19, July 2003)
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Pfingstrosen am Weg –
auf rotem Teppich
zum Geliebten
peonies on the wayside -
on a red carpet
to my lover
(Tr. Gabi Greve)
Roswitha Erler
http://kulturserver-nds.de/home/haiku-dhg/Archiv/Buchbesprechungen/vjs_buch66.html
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In German, the Peonies are called Pfingstrosen, Pfingsten is the name of Pentecost. The following haiku is a play of words in German.
Ach, am Gartenzaun
verblühen die Pfingstrosen
Tage vor dem Fest.
Oh, near the garden fence
the peonies are blooming their last -
days before pentecost
(Tr. Gabi Greve)
Adelheid Treffer
http://www.haiku-heute.de/Galerie/Adelheid_Treffer/body_adelheid_treffer.html
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mysterious fairy tales
unfold in the floral folds ~
luminous peony petals ~
Narayanan~
from the Photo Haiku Gallery
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/PH_detail?photo_sn_in=1408
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peonies
in the lattice window
a blaze of colours
Geert Verbeke
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2004/01/friends-geert-verbeke.html
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Related words
***** Peony in the Cold (kan botan (寒牡丹)
kigo for winter
Curtesy to the Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050120li.htm
............................................ Winter Peony
By LINDA INOKI
(C) All rights reserved
In the stillness,
Between the arrival of guests,
The peonies.
By Buson (1715-83), quoted in "Haiku" by R.H. Blyth (Hokuseido Press)
At this time of year, you wouldn't expect to see peonies in leaf, let alone in bloom. However, the Japanese so loved this plant that they developed the unusual, winter-flowering kanbotan, which literally means "cold peony." Cultivated peonies were introduced to Japan from China in the Nara Period (710-784). The roots provided a valuable herbal medicine for the relief of fever, pain and bleeding. But people also prized the plant for its exquisite blooms, and during the Genroku Era (1688-1703) there was even a "peony boom": One gardening manual listed nearly 500 types of tree peonies.
Peony fanciers competed, trying to grow the most sensational flowers, and townspeople enjoyed gorgeous displays of red, pink, white and yellow blooms in late spring. When someone discovered a remontant, or twice-flowering peony, people could also admire the "king of flowers" in the auspicious New Year season, too. The sight of a peony braving the cold still inspires admiration, and, in Tokyo, the winter peonies at Hamarikyu Garden near Shiodome in Minato Ward are a sight to behold, followed by another fine display there in April and May.
The Japan Times: Jan. 20, 2005
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050120li.htm
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The famous Winter Peony Park in Kamakura, Hachiman-Guu
鎌倉の八幡宮、寒牡丹
http://isaonaka2.web.infoseek.co.jp/flowers/botanhana.html
And some more pictures
.......... Covered with Snow, look at this link:
http://www.nhk-book.co.jp/engei/news/imag/botan/04.jpg
http://www.nhk-book.co.jp/engei/news/botan.html
Great pictures from various temple gardens.
http://www.geocities.jp/qmpcj187/sikinohanabana.htm
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***** Peony Snow, botan-yuki
(botanyuki 牡丹雪)
kigo for winter
Snow falling in huge soft flakes like Peony petals.
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***** "Pine-needle Peony", Matsuba Botan
(松葉牡丹), （ポーチュラカ）
kigo for late summer
Rose Moss, Portulaca grandiflora. They flower for a long time and are loved as garden flowers from late summer to autumn.
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***** Peony buds, botan no me 牡丹の芽
kigo for early spring
Paeonia suffruticosa
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***** "Peony Stew", wild boar stew,
botan nabe 牡丹鍋
kigo for winter
Peony here is used for the meat of the wild boar, arranged in a way it looks like the red and white petals of a peony. This is a dish we can enjoy only in the winter season. It warms body and soul and is very popular in the mountainous areas on a cold evening.
http://www.tanbaya.net/recipe/recipe0301.html
botan nabe - yutaka na mori no megumi kana
.
botan nabe - hatake arashi no batsu no kana
.
wild boar stew -
the fertile woods bestowing
delicious benefits
.
wild boar stew -
devastating the fields
you end up here!
Gabi Greve, 2004
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/775
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Back to the Worldkigo Index
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/
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posted by Gabi Greve @ 4/05/2006
7 Comments:
The peony does not normally grow in Kenya.
However, Karen Blixen, in her famous book "Out of Africa" tells the story (if I remember it well) that, when she moved from Denmark to Kenya, she took a peony tuber with her and planted it, hoping against hope that it would take. With a lot of care and daily attention, take it did, and after a while, a beautiful flower formed. Karen Blixen cut the flower and enjoyed it in her house for many days. But the plant withered and failed and never produced another flower. It was only later that an expert told her that the first flower of a peony plant must on no account be cut -- indeed, such cutting would end the life of the plant... Karen Blixen, in cutting the flower, had destroyed her own most cherished peony!
I know Karen Blixen's garden well, it is one of my favourite haunts in Nairobi. And when I sit there and reflect, the peony often comes to mind.
Kazuri Beads, a wonderful women's business very close to Karen Blixen's old farm house :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/801602.stm
The women have even created a bead called "peony" in her honour :
http://store1.yimg.com/I/gmpcatalog_1901_1941855
http://www.globalmarketcatalog.com/peony.html
Still, the peony is no kigo in Kenya...
Isabelle Prondzynski.
Read more about Karen Blixen and the Peony Beads
The Kenya Saijiki
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Here are a few excerpts from the section on peonies, with commentary by R.H. Blyth:
* *
The peonies do not allow
The rain-clouds a hundred leagues round
To approach them.
Buson
This is a fancy, but there is so much imagination put into it that it expresses a truth which the fancy disengages from the mere scientific fact. That is to say, the rain-clouds and the peonies are not connected, ‘really,’ as we say. The fancy supposes that the peonies have the power to prevent the rain-clouds from approaching.
The imagination, seizing on the colour and size of the peonies with the utmost violence, and regarding with defiant eye the encircling banks of thunder clouds piled up on the horizon, perceives that the peonies and the clouds are connected in some mysterious way; that they stand opposed as enemies.
* * *
The stamens and pistil
Of the peony gush out
Into the sunlight.
Taigi
From the pale red petal of the (herbaceous) peony the golden stamens and pistil burst out into the bright sunlight. In this verse we are made to feel a power and glory of the peony which has no reference to that of man.
* * *
The garden is dark
In the night, and quiet
The peony.
Buson
In the original, ‘night’ is put in the objective case with wo, and this faintly suggests a causal relation of quietness between the peony and the night.
* * *
Dusk on the flower
Of the white peony,
That embraces the moon.
Gyodai
The whiteness of the flower seems to draw to itself all the pallor of the moon.
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To the candle,
The peony
Is as still as death.
Kyoruku
The candle burns motionless; its soul of fire does not quiver. The peony, too, not to be outdone, glows immovable, overpowering the candle with its fervent blooming. They are as quiet as the grave, in their burning life.
Quoted from here:
http://knitandcontemplation.typepad.com/spiritual_genealogy/poetry/index.html
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Kyoroku and the scent of the peony:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/translatinghaiku/message/948
a bouquet
of home-grown peonies
on my table
my husband's letters
to his mistress
This turned into a tanka all by itself, so to speak ...
'Quiet as the grave in their burning life' -- can that not be said of all that bloom?
short and fierce
this life with you
flaming peony
Tried to post this at the other link you gave, but that was for members only. No problem, here they are ...
meeting
at the peony pavilion
the day moon and I
wearing masks
at the kabuki theatre
two butterflies
:>) Ella
.
Mizubotan, "Water Peony" a sweet for the Tea Ceremony !
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