Japanese | Word of the Day

Hello friends,

As it gets warmer summer quickly approaches, leaving us with a number of unique flora indicating the tail end of spring. With a culture of flower arrangement being ubiquitous in Japanese society, many types of plants hold a significant cultural value here. All across the country, flowers and plants are landscaped in a manner that acknowledges history, culture, and our awareness of the environment as we shift our lives through the changing seasons. One such flower encouraged me to write today's word of the day: ツツジ/Tsutsuji・Azalea.

ツツジ/Tsutsuji There is no kanji to discuss within today's word, so I'm going to give you the rundown on why these flowers are so popular. First,  ツツジ  typically bloom between late May and early June. This year, we saw them come into season very early due to the dramatic rise in temperature. At the time of writing, a lot of them have begun to wither away , but not before I managed to take a nice picture.

Next, It is very common to see the flowers placed alongside roadways due to their ability to recycle polluted air. Though the background is out-of-focus in the image above, I took the picture in front of an apartment that faces an intersection. Lastly, this particular genius of flower comes in 3 colors that were first bred over 300 years ago, purple, pink,and white.  ツツジ  are incredibly resilient to high temperatures, don't need much maintenance, and some are actually edible! Even though  ツツジ  are visible in most places throughout daily life, some shrines and gardens host brilliant Azalea festivals that celebrate the flowers. Because they adorn landscapes in such a majestic manner, I highly recommend you visit such festivals should you ever visit Japan during the season. 

Thats all for today, what do you think? Did you know  ツツジ  were exported to America and Europe in the 1800s? What is your favorite type of flower? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. As always, don't forget to like and share this post~

Until next time,
Peace