CHRYSANTHEMUM : KIKC. 



20 



CHRYSANTHEMUM : KIKU. 

 The History of Chrysanthemum Cultivation in Japan. 

 By N. Hayashi. 



Although the exact date when the chrysanthemum began to be cultivated 

 is unknown it must have been previous to the year 300 a.d., as we find 

 the name of this plant mentioned in the history of those days as well as 

 in pcetry which is known to have been written at that period. History 

 gives an account o£ an occasion when the Korean Court in 313 a.d. 

 presented to our Emperor Nintoku some plants of a yellow-flowered 

 chrysanthemum. It seems to me. however, that the cultivation of the 

 chrysanthemum was at its best about the sixteenth century. The most 

 c:nvincing evidence I can offer for this statement is a magnificent picture 

 which is an heirloom in Marquis Takatsukasa's family, depicting a 

 chrysanthemum garden of that epoch which was made in Kyoto under 

 his ancestor's care. L:oking at the picture, one can see that the garden 

 was a most admirably arranged one from every point of view, and we 

 wonder even now how such a perfection of the art was attained. A copy 

 of this picture was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and aroused 

 great interest among the visitors. We are now far behind those days 

 in this art. 



The Origin of the Japanese Chrysanthemum. 



It is not likely that the above-mentioned presentation of chrysan- 

 themum plants by the Korean Court introduced this plant into Japan, 

 for, while engaged in investigating the matter, I found out that similar 

 flowers to the present varieties could be obtained by various processes of 

 hybridisation, of the same or different species of purely wild-grown plants. 

 I believe the foUowing are the parent plants of our present chrysanthemum : 



(1) Kc-hamagiku, C. arcticum. 



(2) Abura-giku, C. indicum. 

 (8) Hama-giku, C. nipponicum. 



(4) Iso-giku, C. marginatum. 



(5) Iwa-giku, C. pallasianum var. japonicum. 



(6) Yama-giku, C. sinense var. japonicu m. 



Nos. (1), (3), and (6) are regarded as more closely; allied with the 

 cultivated flowers. 



The chrysanthemum is cultivated throughout the country from 

 Kiushyu, the southernmost part of Japan proper, to the north of Hokkaido, 

 but most of the localities, according to their different tastes, specialise, one 

 may say, in certain varieties ; and therefore the only gardens where you 

 can find every variety represented and grown to perfection would be those 

 of the Royal palaces, and Count Okuma's, both in Tokyo. 



I now give a brief description of certain varieties. 



