for the culprit, bethought him of the famous hues of the poet, Ri-Tai-Ha-Ku, which go, in English—
“We’ll warm our bodies gathering maple leaves,
In turn those red boughs to the flames consign;
And then we’ll warm the saké, hot and sweet.
To warm our Autumn hearts with the hot wine,”
and, naturally being pleased with his appositeness, he forgave the delinquent.
There is a Maple tree reported from Matsuoora to have blushed like a girl in the midsummer, deliberately, to call forth the praise of the poet Chunagou Takasuke, and to have remained green as the Laurel ever after, having won her bays.
The Chrysanthemum (Kiku) is, in more ways than one, an emblem of Japan. Its many rays are like the rising sun—the Imperial flag and the national crest of the Emperor;[1] and its petals are also like the spokes in the wheel of life. But there is another reason why the flower has been chosen as the insignia of royalty. The wild Chrysanthemum is a straggling plant, of long fibrous stems, and is called Kakura-no-Hana (‘Bind-weed’ or ‘Binding Flower’) as the yellow blossoms are tied together in a bunch at the top; even so does the Mikado bind the separate lives and interests of his people into
- ↑ The national crest, or that of the Mikado as Emperor of Japan, is the Chrysanthemum. His personal crest is that of the Paulownia imperialis.
