Chrysanthemum | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

The chrysanthemum ( Japanese: kiku) is a revered flower in Japan, favored for its beauty and fragrance; its cultivation is considered an art form. Reflecting its significance, the Japanese word for chrysanthemum appears in several Japanese names, including kiku (chrysanthemum), kikuko (chrysanthemum child), and kikumi (beautiful chrysanthemum) for women, kikuo (chrysanthemum male), kikuji (chrysanthemum, second son), and kikuta (bold chrysanthemum) for men. The word kiku has also been used in place names, such as Kikuchi (chrysanthemum ground) in Kumamoto Prefecture, as well as for businesses. Until 1940, the prominent Kikuya Department Store (chrysanthemum store) operated in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, until it was purchased by Seibu Department Store. The Chrysanthemum Festival, held September ninth (the ninth day of the ninth month), is one of five Japanese linked festivals (gosekku), including New Year's Day, involving odd prime numbers in which the number of the month and date coincide. One custom during this festival is drinking kikuzake, or sake flavored with bits of chrysanthemum flowers.

Chrysanthemums were used in homemade toiletries since at least the Heian period (794–1185). Cotton was placed over chrysanthemums at night; by morning, it was damp with a dew-like substance extracted from the flowers. These pieces of cotton, rich with the fragrance of chrysanthemums, were then used to wipe one's body, particularly on hot and humid late summer days. Symbolizing purity, chrysanthemums were historically used for funeral and temple displays to ward off negative spirits, while their fragrance helped mask other smells. Chrysanthemums symbolize long life, but are also associated with death because of their funeral usage. The famed fugu (globefish), parts of whose internal organs are poisonous, is often presented as sashimi slices of raw fish shaped like a chrysanthemum, evoking the deathly possibilities of mistaken preparation.

The chrysanthemum has been the Imperial family's emblem since the Kamakura period (1185–1333). During part of the Meiji period (1868–1912), laws banned its use by anyone outside the Imperial family. Now the chrysanthemum motif is used as a state symbol and appears on Japanese passports.

The chrysanthemum is notably featured in foreign literary depictions and cultural analyses of Japan. Pierre Loti's nineteenth-century novel Madame Chrysanthemum, the basis of Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, fascinated the European imagination. Ruth Benedict's classic mid–twentieth century anthropological analysis of Japanese culture (The Chrysanthemum and the Sword) highlighted the chrysanthemum as a symbol of Japan. This text was the inspiration for titles of later works on Japanese culture and society. One of these, Mamoru Iga's The Thorn in the Chrysanthemum, analyzes the issue of suicide in Japan. Another example is Robert Whiting's The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, a tribute to the importance of baseball in contemporary Japanese popular culture.

Benedict, Ruth. (1946) The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Creighton, Millie. (1990) "Revisiting Shame and Guilt Cultures: A Forty Year Pilgrimage." Ethos 18,3: 279–307.

Iga, Mamoru. (1986) The Thorn in the Chrysanthemum: Suicide and Economic Success in Modern Japan. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Martin, Peter. (1997) The Chrysanthemum Throne: A History of the Emperor of Japan. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.

Reingold, Edwin. (1992) Chrysanthemums and Thorns: The Untold Story of Modern Japan. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Whiting, Robert. (1977) The Chrysanthemum and the Bat: Baseball Samurai Style. New York: Dodd, Mead.

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