Iris Viewing

When my Japanese iris begins to open, I remember a college friend of mine telling me how, when she was visiting her family one summer (her father was an admiral, stationed in Japan,) she was taken to view the iris. It has always sounded like a wonderful way to spend a day.

I went exploring via Google to see if this custom endures and found the following: 

Within the heavily wooded grounds of the Meiji Jingu Shrine, you can indulge in the ancient pastime of iris viewing amid beautiful birdsong. Here, in the shrine's serene Inner Garden, meandering ponds have been planted with different varieties of irises, which burst into glorious displays of white, yellow and purple blossoms in the month of June. Irises were a favorite of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The practice of viewing the flowers was probably imported in ancient times from the Imperial Court of China. The blossoms are especially beautiful in early morning and late afternoon.

I love to imagine elegant kimono clad ladies  -- a rainbow of silks floating above the siken iris petals. Was there  samisen music? Were tea and sweet, soft daifuku served? Did the iris viewers compete to see who could compose the loveliest haiku? 

Ribbons of iris

Beneath the grey rain -- till the sun

Lifts them to the sky.

Here's an iris viewing experience from the Kamo Iris Nurseries in Japan -- just right for a virtual Sunday stroll . . .

GARDENS IN JAPAN: Kamo Iris Nurseries (Featured on October 31st,2005)