The difference between Chinese and Japanese chrysanthemum show

I. The Color of Chrysanthemum

Before the Tang Dynasty in China, chrysanthemums were mostly yellow wild chrysanthemums with tiny flowers. Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, purple chrysanthemums and white chrysanthemums have been cultivated artificially. As chrysanthemums were predominantly yellow for a longer period of time, coupled with Confucianism's orthodoxy of yellow, yellow chrysanthemums were more favored by the people of China. This can be seen in the fact that chrysanthemum wine is also known as Yellow Flower Wine, and the Chongyang Festival is also known as the Yellow Flower Festival or Yellow Chrysanthemum Festival.

On the other side of the border, in Japan, none of the six chrysanthemum poems in the Kaifunzao, which was compiled at the end of the Nara period, mention the color of the chrysanthemum. In the early Heian period, the whole country actively emulated the Han culture, and most of the chrysanthemum poems were about yellow chrysanthemums, and yellow chrysanthemums predominated in Han poetry collections. For example, Sugawara Michizane wrote poems such as "The chrysanthemums are pale yellow in the water" and "The yellow chrysanthemums have white hair", and it is clear that the chrysanthemums are yellow in color.

But none of the 15 chrysanthemum chants in the contemporaneous "Ancient and Modern Songs and Songs Collection" explicitly mentioned yellow chrysanthemums, and the ones that explicitly pointed out the color of chrysanthemums were white chrysanthemums, and there were 3 of them***.

In the eyes of the singers, "white waves," "white sleeves," and "first frost," traditional Japanese images, complemented white chrysanthemums and were more in line with Japanese aesthetics. As a result, the white chrysanthemum began to replace the yellow chrysanthemum and was increasingly popular among singers, and was sung in many waka. In the New Ancient and Modern Songbook, Fujiwara Ieyasu's "White chrysanthemums, suspected to be frosty, are clear and change with the moonlight" is included.

The habit of chrysanthemum

As Yuan Zhen said, "It is not the flower that favors the chrysanthemum, and there is no other flower in bloom", chrysanthemum blossoms in the late autumn, and all flowers wither, and chrysanthemums begin to flourish. The chrysanthemum's habit of being alone in autumn has become the core theme of chrysanthemum literature.

Influenced by the Chinese literati's praise of the chrysanthemum's habit of overcoming the frost and the cold, Japanese Chinese poetry, which was modeled on Chinese poetry, also focused on chrysanthemums in its descriptions.

Chrysanthemums bloom in late fall, and as the weather gets colder and frostier, the white chrysanthemum petals gradually turn purple after cold winds and rain. Yellow chrysanthemums and green chrysanthemums also turn red and reddish-red. In the late Heian Period, people were keenly aware of the changes in time and used to incorporate both nature and personnel into the system of time, which was also a form of concept unique to Japan. Therefore, this change in color of chrysanthemums was loved by the literati, who used it as a means of expressing their feelings. This can be seen in the chrysanthemum poems in the Kujinji (Ancient and Modern Collections).

On the other hand, after chrysanthemums were introduced into literature, none of the poems before the Tang Dynasty mentioned the color changes of chrysanthemums. By the Tang Dynasty, out of more than 700 poems on chrysanthemums in the All-Tang Poetry, only 2 poems dealt with the change of color.

"The white chrysanthemum turns purple for the frost, and the pale moss becomes red for the rain." (Pi Rixiu's "A Occasional Painting in Early Winter, Sent to Nanyang Runqing") mentions white chrysanthemums turning purple due to frost, but only emphasizes the winter cold, and does not praise the change in color.

Three, Chrysanthemum Wine

In addition to ornamental, chrysanthemums can be used to make wine, i.e., chrysanthemum wine (also known as yellow flower wine, Chinese wine, etc.). The custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine on the occasion of the Chrysanthemum Festival for longevity has a long history in China.

The word "chrysanthemum wine" first appeared in Japanese literature in the line "I pour chrysanthemum wine and wish to relieve my sorrows" in "Kaifunzao". The author used the imagery of "chrysanthemum wine" to express his reluctance to let go of his guests from Silla, who were about to return to their homeland. "Chrysanthemum wine" corresponds to "forgetfulness of worries", which is in line with Tao Yuanming's "picking chrysanthemums under the east hedge" style of seclusion, and the author is y influenced by the poetic styles of China's Wei, Jin, and North and South Dynasties, especially by Tao Yuanming. The author was y influenced by the poetic style of China's Wei, Jin and North Dynasties, especially Tao Yuanming.

After the 7th century A.D., when the Chrysanthemum Festival was introduced to Japan, drinking chrysanthemum wine was also accepted by the Japanese court. This was often seen in court poetry of the time. For example, Sugawara Michizane's "Offerings of yellow wine for longevity, and shouts of long life" (Suga Bunsho, 48).

But "chrysanthemum wine" does not appear in the waka, and the word "wine" does not appear in any of the more than 1,000 waka in the "Gujinji," nor do we see anything related to "drinking" or "eating" in any of them. There is not a single word for "wine" in any of the more than 1,000 wagashi in the Ancient and Modern Collection, nor is there any word for "drinking". This is due to the fact that the word "sake" was not used as an aesthetic image in the waka of the Kujinji era, and the word "kikuru" or "kikusui" was used to express the meaning of longevity and immortality. Therefore, "chrysanthemum wine," which is chanted in Chinese poetry and Japanese Han poetry, is not found in Japanese waka.

It is not difficult to find that China and Japan share the same style of chrysanthemum appreciation:

The chrysanthemum flower, with its bright colors, elegant fragrance, and gorgeous shape, was loved by the Chinese, from the scholars and royalty down to the commoners, who chanted about the shape of the flower or the color.

After the chrysanthemum was introduced to Japan, it was taken as a symbol of status and position and planted in the courtyard of the court nobles. The Japanese Imperial Family designated the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar as the "Chrysanthemum Festival" (Chrysanthemum Festival), when the Crown Prince led all the officials to pay homage to the Emperor, enjoying the chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine and having fun with the emperor; and designated the fifteenth day of the tenth month as the Festival of the Remnant of the Chrysanthemums, when the Emperor and his courtiers trampled on the chrysanthemums. From the emperor to the courtiers, all of them regarded chrysanthemum viewing and singing as the elegant pleasure of life.

The Chinese poems in the Chishu Sanseki and the Wakan Rangyongji both contain references to chrysanthemum banquets and chrysanthemum viewing and chrysanthemum singing. During the Edo period, chrysanthemums were brought from the imperial palace to the homes of ordinary people. Chrysanthemums could be grown by common people. Chrysanthemum-viewing became a popular flower-viewing activity, second only to cherry blossoms.

The same chrysanthemum-viewing, the Japanese people gradually shifted from appreciating yellow chrysanthemums, which were initially modeled after those in China, to favoring white chrysanthemums. From the initial praise of its cold and frosty character, the Japanese people began to sing about the beauty of the "shifting chrysanthemum" and the "broken chrysanthemum". The light sadness and inexplicable impermanence of the chrysanthemums are more in line with the Japanese people's aesthetic sense of "idleness and silence" and "sorrow for things".

As Liu Xizai said in the "Art Introduction": "Chrysanthemums are only aria, but I am also in the cover", a large part of our chrysanthemum poems are flowers to express their aspirations, and the flowers are also written by the poet himself, in order to show the poet's quality of purity and indomitability, or the sadness of the unrecognized talent, and to express his political aspirations.

On the other hand, Japan, chrysanthemum poetry is very few Chinese flowers to express political ideals and aspirations, the Japanese chrysanthemum poems are mostly through the description of the beauty of the flowers, or write elegant and leisurely life interest, or the impermanence of life, expressing a faint sadness. This is the difference between Chinese and Japanese chrysanthemum poems.