THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 

 world, or else to the lack of initiative of the 

 Chinese in distributing their horticultural 

 products^ 



Among the number of beautiful things for 

 which Japan is indebted to China, few equal the 

 peony. Early in the Eighth Century, the Japan- 

 ese imported from China both the herbaceous and 

 the tree peony. The herbaceous peony was called 

 " Skakuyaku " — apparently a corruption of the 

 Chinese Sho Yo — and has been highly thought 

 of, although not accorded the honours given the 

 tree peony, which is ranked as one of the three 

 Royal Flowers. 



In Japanese literature and folklore the peony 

 is the subject of many poems and stories. It is 

 not clear in each case from the translation whether 

 the herbaceous or the tree peony is referred to, 

 but it is evident that both kinds were cherished 

 in the hearts of this flower-loving people. There 

 is a little Japanese verse that shows that East 



■* At the present time (1916) inasmuch as the 

 Chinese Government has not complied with the regula- 

 tions of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 as to inspection, peonies cannot be imported from China 

 to this country. 



S8 



