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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

The large 'chestnut tiger' (アサギマダラ), a striking butterfly with blue-green marbled wings, feed on fujibakama nectar (and other flowers from the milkweed family).
Depending on the weather the insects appear from April-November, and migrate up to 1000km to their feeding sites!

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

Fujibakama (藤袴) is now a near-threatened/endangered flower, but was once found growing in profusion along riverbanks.

Symbolising caring and positive memories, the fragrant plant was commonly used in perfumes and hair products.
#Japan #fujibakama #藤袴 #Kyoto #京都

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

The next morning the villagers found a beautiful flower where the woman had last been seen.
As the petals were the same colour as her purple hakama, they concluded she was the spirit of the unknown flower and named it 'fujibakama' (藤袴).
#folklore #thoroughwort #Japan #藤袴

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

In the Kokin Eiga-shō (古今栄雅抄) Asukai Masachika (飛鳥井雅親 1417-91) describes the romantic origins of fujibakama...

One rainy autumn evening a beautiful woman was seen by villagers wandering in the fields above their farms, weeping sadly.
She appeared to them otherworldly.

Nan-san in a gorgeous purple kimono at the Old Mitsui Family Shimogamo Villa (旧三井家下鴨別邸).

Pond at the Old Mitsui Family Shimogamo Villa (旧三井家下鴨別邸).

Maple leaves in a purification basin at the Old Mitsui Family Shimogamo Villa (旧三井家下鴨別邸).

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

Because of their fragrance, fujibakama are also known as 'orchid' (蘭), 'fragrant grass' (香草) and 'dream flower' (夢花).
Heian noble women would often add powdered fujibakama to their baths.

At Fujibakama-en (フジバカマ園) it was possible to collect bags of the dried plant✨👃

Bags of fragrant dried fujibakama for sale at Fujibakama-en.

Nao-san posing in kimono amongst the fujibakama at Fujibakama-en.

Heian women would often use dried fujibakama as a fragrance for their baths.

Woodblock print image thanks - https://ja.ukiyo-e.org/

A butterfly supping on a fujibakama flower.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

A few Falls ago we asked Nona (のな) to craft a special sweet inspired by one of the '7 Flowers of Autumn' (秋の七草)...this was the result🙌

'Kaori-gusa' (香り草 'fragrant grass') is another name for fujibakama (藤袴), which has a smell similar to sakura mochi (桜餅) when dried.

#wagashi #和菓子 #Kyoto

Nona's 'Kaori-gusa' (fragrant grass), a delicate pink sweet inspired by fujibakama.

Fujibakama growing in the fields of Oharano.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

Nao-san carefully dressed in colours that would compliment the Fujibakama and the beautiful chestnut tiger butterflies (アサギマダラ) that gather to feed on the flowers' nectar✨

Unfortunately the butterflies were absent, likely put off by the startling heat🌞🦋🔍😔
#Japan #藤袴

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 1d

💜FIELDS OF FUJIBAKAMA🌿

Each year a parcel of meadow in Ōharano (大原野), to the south west of the city, is transformed into an oasis of thoroughwort. 'Fujibakama-en' (フジバカマ園) is one of the best places in Kyōto to catch sight of this endangered flower 'in the wild'.

#Kyoto #Oharano #fujibakama

Nao-san enjoys a field of fujibakama south of the city.

Fujibakama-en is a popular autumn destination in Oharano. In recent years the flower has increasingly become endangered in the wild.

Fujibakama is a favourite flower for many butterfly species.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

There may be a rather mundane reason for people believing butterflies transported souls to the netherworld.
It was noted that butterflies would collect on dead bodies left exposed in the crematory grounds, sapping on decaying corpses...thus they became linked to the afterlife.

Butterflies taking moisture from a dead animal.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

Adding more horror into the mix, imaginations fired by ghost stories such as 'Banchō Sarayashiki' (番町皿屋敷), the pupae of this same butterfly was likened to a bound woman😣

#folklore #Japan #お菊虫 #お菊 #chinesewindmillbutterfly #蝶々

Pupae of the Chinese windmill butterfly.

Photo thanks - https://ameblo.jp/a0023363/

Woodblock print of a kidnapped and bound woman in kimono.

Image thanks - https://ja.ukiyo-e.org/

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

In 1795 there was an infestation of byasa alcinous, a butterfly larvae that enjoyed cool, dark spaces. Old wells in Japan, filled with their cobweb-like threads, had people fearing the spirit of Okiku (お菊 - a young women tossed down a well only to become a ghost) had returned.

Illustration of the spirit of Okiku rising from the well she had been thrown down to die.

Illustration of a man dreaming of a woman in a spider's web.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

Intriguingly butterflies don't feature in Japan's ancient records or the Man'yōshū (万葉集 - Japan's oldest collection of poems).

In 1247 a swarm of yellow butterflies in Kamakura (seat of the shōgunate) was taken as an inauspicious omen (the Miura rebellion broke out soon after).

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

Butterfly symbolism in Japan...

🦋Associated with metamorphosis, they are a popular motif for girls transitioning into womanhood.

❤️Two butterflies 'dancing' are a symbol of marital happiness.

💀Souls may take the form of a butterfly when journeying to the netherworld.
#Japan

Traditional crest with butterfly as motif.

Traditional crest with butterflies as motif.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

Many temples along Teramachi Street, such as Kō-dō (革堂 aka Gyōgan-ji 行願寺 the 'Deer Hide Temple'), grow tubs of fujibakama from the late summer, attracting large numbers of butterflies.

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #藤袴 #寺町

Gyogan-ji grows pots of fujibakama to attract butterflies in the autumn.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

Fujibakama (藤袴) is now an endangered flower, but was once found growing in profusion along riverbanks. Symbolising caring and positive memories, the fragrant plant was commonly used in perfumes and hair products.

It is 1 of the '7 Flowers of Autumn' (秋の七草).
#Kyoto #藤袴

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

The large 'chestnut tiger' (アサギマダラ), a striking butterfly with blue-green marbled wings, feed on fujibakama nectar (and other flowers from the milkweed family).
Depending on the weather the insects appear from April-November, and migrate up to 1000km to their feeding sites!

#butterfly #アサギマダラ

A chestnut tiger butterfly feeding on fujibakama.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

Sonyō-in's ceiling painting (祈りの天井画), a prayer rendered in vivid colours, was created by the artist 'mais' (マイス).

Chestnut tiger butterflies (アサギマダラ), thanks to their long migration, have become symbols of perseverance.
Here they silently protect worshippers.

Sonyo-in's sumptuous coffered ceiling features paintings of flowers and butterflies on a gilded background.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

I need no excuse to once again share Kameya Yoshinaga's (亀屋良長) sumptuous strawberry and white chocolate flavoured 'hanayagu' (華やぐ 'to brighten up').

drinking tea alone-
every day the butterfly
stops by
一人茶や蝶は毎日来てくれる
-Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶).
Trans. David Lanoue.

#Kyoto #haiku

Created for sakura season, Kameya Yoshinaga's 'hanayagu' is a bright pink kinton finished with a cut out cherry blossom and tiny yellow butterfly.

A bee collects pollen from a cherry blossom.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 2d

🦋BUTTERFLIES🐛

Sonyō-in (尊陽院), a sub-temple of Honpō-ji (本法寺), has a rather stunning ceiling.

not yet a butterfly
even as autumn passes
the caterpillar
秋を経て蝶もなめるや菊の露
-Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉)
Trans. Reichhold.

#Japan #butterflies #蝶々 #Kyoto

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 3d

Kameya Yoshinaga's (亀屋良長) 'kobore-hagi' (こぼれ萩) is named after the image of bush clover flowers seemingly 'spilling out' from the main plant.

Nashinoki-jinja (梨木神社), known as the 'Bush Clover Shrine', is one of the best places to see hagi in Kyōto.

#Nashinokijinja #梨木神社 #bushclover #萩

Kameya Yoshinaga's 'kobore-hagi' is a beautiful pink and green kinton inspired by bush clover.

Bush clover in bloom at Nashinoki-jinja.

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 3d

Hibiscus and cotton rosemallow may well conjure up images of languid summer days, but in Japan 'fuyō' (芙蓉) are used to indicate the onset of autumn. In the language of flowers they represent gentleness.

Kameya Shigehisa's (亀屋重久) 'fuyō' have some impressive stamens!
#Kyoto

Kameya Shigehisa's hibiscus inspired sweet.

Woodblock print of hibiscus flowers.

Image thanks - https://ukiyo-e.org/

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 3d

Kanaya Masahiro - Hogarth (ホガース) and Percy (パーシー) say hi, and thank you for creating delicious sweets for us all to enjoy🙇‍♂️🍵🍯😋

#caturday🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

shinseimame.com

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 3d

The new name 'bungaku-monaka' (文学もなか 'literature monaka') comes from Masahiro's enduring love for reading, his sadness he couldn't pursue literature at university, and the wonderful memories he has of going to hunt for books at Shimogamo-jinja's summer book fairs📖👀

#catlife #文学もなか

a black cat is laying on a book on a table

ALT: a black cat is laying on a book on a table

media.tenor.com

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 3d

Kanaya Masahiro tells a rather endearing story behind the sweet's creation.
When a local confectioner fell sick he took over producing the store's traditional monaka, but changed the shape from a chrysanthemum to a cat to finally celebrate the pet he wasn't allowed as a child.

#monaka #モナカ #cat

Kanaya Masahiro's curled up monaka cat.

Website - http://shinseimame.com/

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Camellia Tea Ceremony @camelliakyoto.bsky.social · 3d

Injecting some cute into the day courtesy of Kanaya-Masahiro's (金谷正廣) curled up monaka cat🥹

The sweet is called 'bungaku-monaka' (文学もなか), and was born from Kanaya Masahiro's frustration at not being able to have a pet cat growing up in a sweet shop.

#wagashi #猫 #cat #和菓子

Percy the cat looks unimpressed at being disturbed from his sleep.

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