256 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



the Motherwort has the property of prolonging life. At 

 the court of the Dairi, the ecclesiastical sovereign of Ja- 

 pan, they amuse themselves with drinking zakki*, prepared 

 from these flowers. 



The Japanese have five grand festivals in the course of 

 the year. The last festival, which takes place on the 9th 

 of the ninth month, is called the Festival of Motherwort ; 

 and the month itself is named Kikousouki, or Month of 

 Motherwort-flowers. It was formerly the custom to gather 

 these flowers as soon as they had opened, and to mix 

 them with boiled rice, from which they prepared the 

 zakki used in celebrating this festival. In the houses of 

 the common people, instead of this beverage, you find a 

 branch of the flowers fastened with a string to a pitcher 

 full of common zakki ; which implies, that they wish one 

 another a long life. The origin of this festival is as 

 follows : 



It is related by several authors, that a Chinese emperor, 

 who succeeded to the throne at seven years of age, was 

 distressed by a prediction that he would die before he 

 attained the age of fifteen. An immortal having brought 

 to him, from Nanyo-no-rekken, a present of some of the 

 beautiful yellow flowers of the Motherwort, he caused 

 zakki to be made from them, which he drank every day, 

 and lived upwards of seventy years. 



This immortal had been in his youth in the service of 

 the emperor, under the name of Zido. Being banished 

 for some misdemeanour, he took up his residence in the 

 valley before-mentioned, drinking nothing but the water 

 impregnated with these flowers, and lived to the age of 

 three hundred years; whence he obtained the name of 

 Sien-nin-foso. 



The Japanese are, indeed, very fond of flowers in ge- 



* Zakki is a kind of strong beer ; the common beverage in Japan. 



