This is a story about the chrysanthemum in Japanese culture and how these Japanese traditions came to be exported to the Bronx in 2007. It is also about the ancient Imperial arts of Kiku at Shinjuku Gyoen, an autumn art of Emperors that would become a living art of the Japanese people just after World War II.
The chrysanthemum which has influenced western art since the 17th century has been cultivated in China going back as far as the 15th century BC. Chinese horticulturists cultivated yellow-flowered chrysanthemums as long ago as 500 B.C. and the flower has played a significant role in Chinese art for at least that long.
"The Four Gentlemen" in Chinese art that are used to depict the unfolding of the seasons are the plum blossom for spring, the orchid for summer, the chrysanthemum for autumn, and the bamboo for winter. "Chu" is honored by the Chinese city Chu-Hsien which means Chrysanthemum City. The flower became so popular in China that in ancient Chinese culture, perhaps to prevent peasant farmers from cutting into their own food supply, all but the noble classes were banned from growing chrysanthemum. In the Chinese autumn chrysanthemums have long played a significant role in the Double Ninth Festival.
It was a Chinese philosopher who once said, "If you would be happy for a lifetime, grow chrysanthemums." But somewhere around the 8th century A.D. when the chrysanthemum was exported from China to Japan, the flower found an even more important role in Japanese culture. Idle speculation on my part but in "Land of the Rising Sun" perhaps the the similarity to the sun of the simple yellow chrysanthemum played a role.
So taken were the Japanese with this flower that "KiKu" became the official flower of Japan. The Japanese adopted a 16-floret variety called "Ichimonjiginu" as the crest and official seal of the Emperor, making Akihito the the 125th Japanese monarch to occupy the Chrysanthemum Throne. The photo below is a modern "Ichimonjiginu."
Family seals for prominent Japanese families also contain some type of chrysanthemum called a Kikumon – "Kiku" means chrysanthemum and "Mon" means crest. Japan has a National Chrysanthemum Day, which is called the Festival of Happiness.
In the Japanese garden the cycle of life from birth to death is reflected in the quiet passage of a year in the Garden. While most westerners associate springtime and the cherry blossom with Japanese gardening, the autumn climax flower that is often associated with endings in western culture is the reflection and celebration of the growing season in Japan. In Japan the chrysanthemum is a symbol of longevity, power, dignity and nobility.
While several generations have passed since Imperial horticultural art of Kiku has moved from palaces to public parks in Japan, for centuries the Japanese had treated the Imperial disciplines of Kiku like state secrets. Back in 2004 a cultural and educational exchange between gardeners at The New York Botanical Garden and Japanese gardeners began. After learning how to grow and train these extraordinary plants from kiku master Yasuhira Iwashita and other Japanese gardeners, in 2007 Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum at the NYBG was the first time that the techniques and styles developed and displayed at Shinjuku Gyoen were presented on a large scale and with a high level of authenticity outside of Japan.
The photo below is from the second year. The 2008 Kiku Matsuri in the Bronx seemed to be the most elaborate flower show and cultural exhibition ever presented by The New York Botanical Garden.
Since 2009, Kiku has been moved under glass in the Bronx. The three photos below are from this year's show.
In the first three years at the New York Botanical Garden Japanese traditions were more closely followed. Just like each autumn in botanical gardens and parks all over Japan, outdoor wooden chrysanthemum pavilions were carefully erected. These fancy wooden sheds that are built of bamboo and cedar to provide both staging and shelter for the flowers are called "Uwaya."
I should mention that the scaling down of Kiku is not just a matter of economics. While the NYBG is not made out of money, at that year's event the cultural exchange was presented as evolving and American gardeners would present Westernized versions of Kiku in coming years. Even in 2008 one of these innovations was presented, a Chrysanthemum Karesansui.
The Karesansui Garden probably represents the definition of Zen for many in the west. These usually dry landscapes composed of rock and raked sand are both spiritual and an abstract representation of the larger natural world.
Garden designer Marc Peter Keane meant to capture the Japanese mountainsides in both autumn and winter. These outdoor displays represented an example of West meets East. Masses of chrysanthemums and river pebbles replaced the raked sand of the traditional Karesansui.
One of my favorite innovations was this chrysanthemum bridge from 2012. It reminded me of a psychedelic version of Claude Monet's garden at Giverny.
Another is this marriage of Bonsai and Kiku where a twisted old dead tree from the NYBG garden grounds was used to present chrysanthemums.
And last year a topiary flower art had its premier where many had taken to calling them "Chrysanthemum Christmas Trees."
The gardener who traveled to Japan to learn the techniques from the kiku master Yasuhira Iwashita is Yukie Kurashina (photo below) who spends her entire year in the Nolen greenhouse working on Kiku. In the background, cleaning up is Becky Thorpe, one of the gardeners responsible for Kiku once it makes it to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
Over in the Nolen greenhouse in November and December small cuttings will be potted and frameworks for next years show will be designed and assembled. Then, in addition to maintaining proper water and fertilizer, the leaves are pinched off, separated and supported to follow the frameworks.Training continues week after week, month after month. From May until next year's show Kiku will require the full attention of four NYBG gardeners. With meticulous attention to detail, masters of chrysanthemum cultivation spend a year training plants that will bloom for just a couple of weeks and then the whole process starts over again.
Not all of the styles presented each year were Imperial horticultural arts and closely held secrets presented at Shinjuku Gyoen. The Ogiku is one of three traditional styles of the Japanese chrysanthemum. Ogiku translates to "large chrysanthemum." It is a single-stem plant with a dramatic blossom that can grow up to 6 feet tall. The display below represents Kiku competitions where, much like a western orchid society, any gardener who joins a chrysanthemum society can enter their version of the perfect flower.
Kengai or "cascade" which translates to "overhanging cliff" is another common practice that has been familiar to Western gardeners for many years and has also been called Bonsai chrysanthemums. Hundreds of smaller flowered chrysanthemums are trained on a boat-shaped framework that is then angled to resemble flowers growing down the face of a cliff or perhaps a waterfall.
Ogiku is also one of the Imperial forms of Kiku. Single-stemmed plants are trained to reach up to six feet tall with one enormous perfect flower balanced on top. In Japan Each uwaya features exactly 108 single-stemmed plants placed in diagonal rows. The diagonal rows of flowers in pink, yellow, and white are meant to echo the colors and patterns of the tazuna, the bridle reins of the Japanese emperor. The top and bottom photos below are of Ogiku from 2008 to show the uwala sheds. The center photo is this year in the conservatory.
Shino-tsukuri simulates driving rain. The displays utilize an old-style chrysanthemum called Edo, the former name for Tokyo. The Edo flower has three different kinds of petals and as the flowers mature some petals curl inward while others remaining open. This gives the blossoms a pinwheel effect by display time.
Unlike most Kiku which are trained from cuttings Shino-tsukuri are started from seed.
I learned this year that Japanese prefer to view these flower displays not when they are in full bloom but later when the flower begins to contract.
In the Japanese Imperial art of Ozukuri which translates to "thousand bloom," a single chrysanthemum plant is trained to produce hundreds of simultaneous flowers. After eleven months of training the results is a chrysanthemum hillside.
The wooden container underneath these massive dome-shaped arrays are called sekidai.
If you could look inside that box you would see one stem that has been repeatedly pinched and divided, then trained to follow a supporting complicated framework which leads up to collars that support each individual flower.
This is a very incomplete guide to Kiku. There are romantic stories relating to each chrysanthemum style, stories of samurai learning discipline from growing certain Kiku. Chrysanthemums are grown to represent forest. One specialty chrysanthemum is said to represent all four seasons, winter in the branches closest to the ground, autumn in the dark green lower leave, spring in the upper leaves and summer in the flowers.
Perhaps the cultural difference can be summed up like this. In Japan the way in which some chrysanthemum opens there petals are believed to denote natural perfection. On the evening when this perfect stage of bloom occurs, a gardener will invite friends over to admire that single perfect bloom in that perfect stage of unfolding. And on the exactly right evening, when a single prized chrysanthemum is due to come into its perfection guest will gather for an evening of green tea and to speak ecstatically all night long about this perfect flower.
Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden can be seen until October 25th at the New York Botanical Garden.