The Japanese floral calendar

Abstract

Just as the hushi, or samurai (knight), was the beau ideal among Japanese men, \. e., the "gentleman" of the nation; so the cherry, with its spotless blossoms, "symbolizing that delicacy of sentiment and blamelessness of life belonging to high courtesy and true knightliness," is the Chevalier Bayard of Japanese flowers. The wild cherry is said to have existed in Japan from time immemorial ; and from this "have been developed countless varieties, culminating in that which bears the pink-tinged double [\ae-zakura] blossoms as large a-s a hundred-leaved rose, covering every branch and twig with thick rosettes. A fain fragrance arises from these sheets of bloom." (Scidmore's Jinrikisha Days in