The Chrysanthemum in Japan
Have you seen a fifty yen coin carefully when being in Japan?
Well, you would notice flowers on the back side. They are chrysanthemums, one of the national flowers in Japan as well as cherry blossoms. For my first time posting, I’m gonna take this flower and the cultural design since “Choyo-no-sekku” is just coming on this Saturday, the 9th September.

Autumnal Celebration
Choyo-no-sekku used to be one of the serial celebrations based on Chinese lunar calendar praying for health and happiness. They start on the 7th January, then every other month we had one on the day with double numbers like the 3rd March, the 5th May, the 7th July, then finally ends on the 9th September. The number 9 was believed the most auspicious out of all the single digit figures, so double nines would bring the strongest lucky. And the celebration was associated with the seasonal beauty – the chrysanthemum. The flower symbolizes immortability, so people treated themselves with potions of liquor floating chrysanthemum petals. Even now we see these festivities on the day at shrines and temples if you are very lucky.

The Flower and The Cake

These are special cakes for Choyo-no-sekku that I’ve bought at a traditional relish store “Eirakuya” on the Shijo Kawaramachi street in Kyoto. It’s named “Kiku-no-kisewata” and made to remind of a special occasion with the same name on Choyo-no-sekku. Well, look at these pretty shapes modeling radial petals, which are expressed by pink colored sweet paste, one in embossing and the other in flaking. Then, what is the white paste on the top? This represents a piece of cotton put on the top on the 8th September, the festival eve. It is left overnight to take in the flower dew. About the 12th century, people prayed for long life by purifying themselves with the dew-soaked-cotton. Unfortunately now this event is rarely seen, exceptionally only at the Horinji temple in Arashiyama as long as I know in Kyoto. You might meet the occasion to drink chrysanthemum liquor somewhere like the Kamigamo shrine. I suppose however, through this sweet, we still try not to lose the axis to the life and wisdom of people in the past, a sort of great device to get on with the nature.

The Noble Design

The chrysanthemum has been applied for a symbol of this country, and it is also the imperial emblem, probably as you already know. And that knowledge would be of use for your touring temples in Kyoto too.
This is the south gate of “hojo” at the Tofukuji temple. Look at the openwork carving the chrysanthemum emblem. Actually the gate is told to have been donated by an empress Shoken-kotaigo about 100 years ago who was interred in at a hill of Fushimi behind the temple. You can tell the special connection between these temples and the Imperial court when you see the emblem ornaments on the carpenter artwork. You know what, I guess I’ve heard that there is a temple at Nanzenji in Kyoto and inside of the building you see a kind of design war between the Imperial court (former aristocrat-ruler)　and the Tokugawa shogunate (warrior-ruler in the Edo period) through chrysanthemums and holly hocks. I hope I will tell you in detail sometime or other.

Reference website

The Kamigamo shrine (Official)

The Horinji temple and Kiku-no-kisewata (in Japanese)

The Tofukuji temple (Official)