THE SEVEN FLOWERS

 

September 07, 2023

THE SEVEN FLOWERS

 Numerous Japanese 31-syllable poems and haikus have been composed about the seven flowers. Many of them are in Manyoshu (the oldest Japanese poetry anthology edited in the Nara period). The poem below are by Yamanoue-no-Okura (660-733. The poem are believed to be the origin of the tradition of the Seven Flowers of Autumn:

秋の野に　咲きたる花を　指（および）折り　かき数ふれば　七種（ななくさ）の花

Seven Flowers of Autumn aki no nanakusa has been beloved in Japan for centuries.

The Seven Flowers of Autumn are all indigenous to Japan and have been loved by the Japanese at least since the Nara Period (710-794).

They consist of Bush Clover hagi, Japanese Silver Grass susuki, Japanese Arrowroot kuzu, Pink nadeshiko, Valerian ominaeshi, Joe Pye Weed fujibakama, and Balloon Flower kikyo.