Chrysanthemum (Kiku)
This flower, abundant in Japan, appears in the crest of the imperial family and is also the national flower of Japan
Kiku (chrysanthemum), in its broad sense, is a general term for beautiful flowering perennials belonging to the genus Chrysanthemum in the family Asteraceae and, in its narrow sense, refers specifically to the hybrid Chrysanthemum à morifolium, a chrysanthemum cultivated for its beauty.
       This relatively cold-tolerant perennial has alternate leaves and capitulum blooms, each of which consists of many small tubular disk florets in the center and many ray florets with ligules around them. The prevailing theory is that Chrysanthemum zawadskii var. latilobum and Chrysanthemum indicum, which grow naturally in China, were crossed and bred. The chrysanthemum came to Japan in the Nara period (710-784) and was cultivated at court during the Heian period. During the Edo period (1603-1867), cultivation spread rapidly among the common people and further developed from the Meiji era (1868-1912) on. Even now, competitions are held under such names as Chrysanthemum Matching and Chrysanthemum Tournament, and people make imitation chrysanthemums and chrysanthemum dolls.
       Because chrysanthemums are widely cultivated for potted and cut flowers, there are many horticultural varieties. Among these varieties, the size of the bloom and the shape and color of the ray florets and their ligules vary. These varieties can be divided into large chrysanthemums, middle-sized chrysanthemums, and small chrysanthemums according to the size of their blooms and subdivided according to the form and posture of the ray florets' ligules. Large chrysanthemums have a bloom with a diameter of around 20 centimeters and can be subdivided into those with thick ray-floret ligules, tubular ray-floret ligules, or wide ray-floret ligules. Middle-sized chrysanthemums have a bloom with a diameter of around 10 centimeters and include the Higo chrysanthemum, Saga chrysanthemum, and Ise chrysanthemum. Small chrysanthemums are varieties with a bloom diameter of 5 centimeters or less. In the seventeenth century, Japanese chrysanthemums spread to the Netherlands and then to Europe as a whole. Breeding has long been active in Europe as well, and these originally Oriental chrysanthemums have returned to Japan as Western chrysanthemums and are used as cut flowers and potted chrysanthemums.
       In addition to horticultural varieties, some varieties, called edible chrysanthemums or culinary chrysanthemums, produce blooms that are edible. These varieties are cultivated mainly in the Tohoku region. Also, the Dalmatian chrysanthemum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium), a member of the Asteraceae family now placed in the Chrysanthemum genus by many biologists, is used for medicinal purposes.
       In the broad sense of kiku (chrysanthemum), there are about 20 species of wild chrysanthemums in Japan, including the hamagiku (Nipponanthenum nipponicum), isogiku (Chrysanthemum pacificum), and nojigiku (Chrysanthemum japonese). The foreign species crowndaisy chrysanthemum (Glebionis coronaria) is consumed as a leaf vegetable, and marguerite (Argyranthemum frutescens), ox-eye daisies (a number of daisies of the Leucanthemum genus), and the shasta daisy (the hybrid Leucanthemum à superbum) are cultivated for ornamental purposes.
       In China, chrysanthemums are considered one of the Four Gentlemen, along with plum blossoms, bamboo, and orchids, because they are often selected as a subject in Chinese bird-and-flower paintings, and they are copiously used as medicines. The first record of cultivation in Japan is in Ruiju kokushi (The Six National Histories by Category, 892). No entries or poems about chrysanthemums can be found in Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, ca. 712), or the Man'yoshu (Collection of Myriad Leaves, after 759).
       The chrysanthemum was also used in Japanese crests from ancient times, and it became the crest of the imperial family in the Kamakura period (1185-1333). In 1871 the government prohibited the use of chrysanthemum crests by any other than the royal family. The emperor's crest is a sixteen-petal Yaegiku (double-layered chrysanthemum) and that of the imperial family is a fourteen-petal Uragiku (chrysanthemum viewed from below).
Related People, Things and Events
Books
Books on chrysanthemum cultivation and gardening
Related Works
Chrysanthemum drawings on clothing
Chrysanthemum drawings on craft works
Plant specimen of the family Compositae
Past Exhibitions
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Institutions Holding Related Materials
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The National Diet Library (NDL), founded in 1948, is the library which belongs to the Diet. The NDL assists the activities of the National Diet. The Library collects and conserves materials and information both from Japan and abroad, serving as a foundation of knowledge and culture and providing library services to administrative and judicial entities and Japanese citizens.
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References
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