Miyakowasure (Gymnaster savatieri) Flowers

Spring in Japan starts with cherry blossoms, followed by peonies, azaleas, wisterias, and irises. Now all the representative beauties are gone, and I saw Miyakowasure (都忘れ, Miyako=Kyoto, wasure=forget) flowers at Shinnyodoh (真如堂) temple. They were very beautiful. Though the flower is not so eye-catching and you could easily pass by without giving a glance, its lovely shape and color is still very adorable.

The Miyakowasure was named after the story of the emperor Jyuntoku (順徳天皇) in the Kamakura (鎌倉) period. As the emperor was dethroned by the loss of the Jōkyū War (承久の乱) and was exiled to the Sado (佐渡) island, the emperor found this flower in the island. He admired the flower just because he wanted to forget about his beloved Kyoto. He found a consolation in it, and eventually the story gave this flower this impressive name, which means "For the sake of forgetting Kyoto" in Japanese.