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Cultivation of the morning glory became popular in the Edo era (1603-1868)
When the times of repeated war were over and things calmed down, the people had time to relax in their daily lives. The culture developed and blossomed in various ways.
Gardening is one of those ways.
In the Edo era, beginning from flowering trees such as Camellia (C. japonica) or Japanese apricot (Mume, Prunus mume), cultivation of plants such as Chrysanthemum (C. morifolium) and Peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) thrived.
In the latter half of the Edo era, the varied forms of the Morning glory (Ipomoea nil), Japanese Iris (Iris ensata) and Siebold's Primrose (Primula sieboldii) became popular.
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The most complicated flower, the feathered ("Shishi") double.
It's hard to imagine that this strange leaf actually belongs to the morning glory.
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In Iriya, Tokyo, the Morning Glory Fair (Asagao-ichi) is held mainly around the shrine of Kishibo-jin (a goddess) annually on July 6-8.
Mixed with round flowers in stalls, unusual forms of the morning glory are found, too.
talisman of the goddess named Kishibo-jin.
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In this time, the morning glory became cultivated. It flourished everywhere, and the publication of books on gardening the mutant morning glory began with illustrated and beautiful color printing.
In these books, we can see very complicated flowers that are not found now. Thus, these are valuable reference books for florists who have cultivated the mutant morning glory.
Here, some pictures of unusual flowers are reproduced from a gardening book of the Edo era.
Please take a look at the various strange flowers in the beautiful color wood-block printing.
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