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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
ayame あやめ Ayame iris
hana ayame 花あやめ(はなあやめ)
shiro ayame 白あやめ(しろあやめ)white iris
kuruma ayame くるまあやめ
chabo ayame ちゃぼあやめ
Iris sanguinea
hanashoobu 花菖蒲 (はなしょうぶ) Shobu iris
shoobu mi 菖蒲見(しょうぶみ)viewing Shobu
shoobu en 菖蒲園(しょうぶえん)Shobu park
shobu ta 菖蒲田(しょうぶた)field with Shobu
Iris ensata
shiro shoobu 白菖蒲(しろしょうぶ)white Shobu
ki shoobu 黄菖蒲(きしょうぶ) yellow Shobu
shoobu 菖蒲 (しょうぶ ) Japanese Shobu iris
..... ayame あやめ、ayamegusa あやめ草(あやめぐさ)
noki ayame 軒あやめ(のきあやめ)iris under the eaves"
hakushoo 白菖(はくしょう) white Ayame iris
Acorus calamus
ichihatsu 鳶尾草 (いちはつ) Ichihatsu iris, "wall iris"
..... ichihatsu 一八(いちはつ)"one eight"
koyasugusa こやすぐさ
suiran 水蘭(すいらん) "water orchid"
Iris tectorum
. Blue Flag (kakitsubata 杜若) .
and Matsuo Basho about Hokku
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いずれあやめかかきつばた - more photos
- reference source : edococo.exblog.jp... -
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kigo for early summer
airisu アイリス Iris
seiyoo ayame 西洋あやめ(せいようあやめ)"Western Iris"
Fam. Iris
niwazekisho 庭石菖 (にわぜきしょう) Niwazekisho Iris
Sisyrinchium rosulatum
sekishoo 石菖 (せきしょう) "stone iris"
ishiayame,ishi ayame 石菖蒲(いしあやめ)
Japanese Sweet Flag, Grassy-leaved Sweet Flag
Acorus gramineus
shaga no hana 奢莪の花 (しゃがのはな) Shaga iris
kochooga 胡蝶花(こちょうか)
Iris japonica Thunb.
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Hanashobu park
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
Nisaburo Ito (1910-1988) 伊藤仁三郎
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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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An Iris called TRILLION
Shared by Elaine Andre
Joys of Japan, February 2012
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Worldwide use
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Things found on the way
Story about Daruma Dolls with Iris Design
http://darumadollmuseum.blogspot.com/2004/11/kashiwa-daruma.html
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Ayamegusa 菖蒲草 - The words of Ayame
by the first Yoshizawa Ayame (1673? - 1725)
Yoshizawa Ayame I (初代 吉沢 菖蒲)(1673-15 July 1729)
was an early Kabuki actor, and the most celebrated onnagata (specialist in female roles) of his time. His thoughts on acting, and on onnagata acting in particular, are recorded in Ayamegusa (菖蒲草, "The Words of Ayame"), one section of the famous treatise on Kabuki acting, Yakusha Rongo (役者論語, "The Actors' Analects").
. . . Ayame is famous for advocating that onnagata behave as women in all their interactions, both onstage and off. In Ayamegusa, he is quoted as saying that "if [an actor] does not live his normal life as if he was a woman, it will not be possible for him to be called a skillful onnagata."
Following his own advice, Ayame cultivated his femininity throughout his offstage life, and was often treated as a woman by his fellow actors. His mentor, Arashi San'emon, and others are said to have praised him on many occasions for his devotion to his art.
. . . Though most commonly known as Ayame, Yoshizawa took on the stage names of Yoshizawa Kikunojō during a brief stint performing in Edo, and Yoshizawa Gonshichi when performing as a tachiyaku (in male roles). He also used the name "Gonshichi" as a nickname (替名, kaena) used when patronizing a brothel or restaurant. His haimyō (俳名, poetry name) was Shunsui, and his guild name (家名, kamei) Tachibanaya, after his mentor Tachibana Gorozaemon.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !
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ayame あやめ was a way to call the cheaper prostitutes at the hatago hostels along the various kaido-roads of the Edo period.
Most came from poor farming families, had to do hard work in the hostels and died at a young age.
They were also called "women to put rice on the plate", meshimori onna
飯盛り女。
四谷新宿馬糞の中で アヤメ咲くとはしおらしい
Yostuya Shinjuku bafun no naka de ayame saku to wa shiorashii
. prostitutes flowering in Yotsuya and Shinjuku, Edo .
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HAIKU
In 1689 Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉) crossed the Natori River and entered Sendai, Miyagi on ‘ The Narrow Road to Oku.’ It was the day they celebrate by converting their roofs with ‘Sweet flags’, or Calami’ (あやめ). He visited there around the time of the Sweet Flags Festival (あやめの節句)(5th day of Fifth Month, also called the Boy’s Festival), when sweet flags were displayed on the eaves of houses to drive away evil spirits, or they took “Shobuyu, or 菖蒲湯 (bath with floating sweet flag leaves)” baths. The leaves keep mosquitoes and snakes away with strong fragrance. As the strong fragrance was believed to drive away bad air, people began to take baths with sweet flag leaves. Furthermore, the plant ‘Sweet Flag’ was believed to be a symbol of the samurai’s bravery because of its sharp sword-like leaves. Even now many families with young boys enjoy “Sweet Flag Bath(shobu yu)” in the Boy’s Festival on May 5.
source : Akita Haiku
CLICK to see more stamps from Oku no Hosomichi.
Basho on his way from Sendai to Hiraizumi.
あやめ草足に結ん草鞋の緒
ayamegusa ashi ni musuban waraji no o
irises in bloom
let me tie around my feet
the cords of the sandals
Matsuo Basho,
Sendai, Oku no Hosomichi
. . . cirje/research
I shall tie
irises to my feet -
sandal thongs
Grass of the sweet flag -
I shall use them to tie
my straw sandals
Tr. Shirane
I will bind iris
Blossoms round my feet―
Cords for my sandals!
Tr. Keene
It looks as if
Iris flowers had bloomed
On my feet -
Sandals laced in blue.
Tr. Yuasa
. the Matsuo Basho Archives 松尾芭蕉 .
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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
My Iris and the voice of Buddha (2005)
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われもさす照り降り傘や花菖蒲
ware mo sasu terifurigasa ya hana shoobu
I will also put up
an all-weather umbrella -
iris flowers
Mitsuhashi Takajo 三橋鷹女
. terifuri-gasa 照り降り傘
umbrella for rain and shine .
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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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blue irises -
grandmother walks along
without her cane
- Shared by Cristina-Monica Moldoveanu -
Joys of Japan, March 2012
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Watching the iris,
The faint and fragile petals ―
How am I worthy?
Amy Lowell
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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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Katsushika Hokusai, 1834
stirred by wind
along the wayside
iris bows to strangers
Shared by Isabelle Loverro
Joys of Japan, February 2012
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Related words
The long leaves of the iris (shoobu) reminded the samurai of their swords.
The word SHOOBU 勝負 also means a fight, usually to the death.
***** . seasonal festival of the iris .
菖蒲の節句 shoobu no sekku
The Boy's Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, now May 5.
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kigo for late spring
neji ayame 捩菖蒲 (ねじあやめ) "twisted iris"
barin 馬蘭(ばりん)、baren ばれん、nejibaren ねじばれん
Iris lactea
Grows to about 1 m long. Originated in China, with twisted leaves and light purple flowers.
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Actor Matsumoto Koshiro
. Utagawa Toyokuni . (1769-1825)
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