aoi matsuri

[Fred]

Lately I've seen the Aoi matsuri in Kyoto. I was thinking about the
meaning of Aoi, which is normally translated as a hollyhock. The
hollyhock is (according to my English-Dutch dictionary) some kind of
a rose (Althaea rosa). According to an 'official' brochure I found in
Kyoto, Aoi is the Asarum Caulescens, which is completely different.

Is my dictionary not complete and is the hollyhock more then only a rose or
is there something else? Does anyone know?

Kind regards

Fred

[Don Kirkman]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Fred wrote in article

Post by Fred
Lately I've seen the Aoi matsuri in Kyoto. I was thinking about the
meaning of Aoi, which is normally translated as a hollyhock. The
hollyhock is (according to my English-Dutch dictionary) some kind of
a rose (Althaea rosa). According to an 'official' brochure I found in
Kyoto, Aoi is the Asarum Caulescens, which is completely different.
Is my dictionary not complete and is the hollyhock more then only a rose or
is there something else? Does anyone know?

The hollyhock is not a rose; the "rosa" may be in reference to its
color. Hollyhocks are part of the mallow clan, which includes cotton,
hibiscus, marsh mallow, okra, and a number of wild plants.

Asarum spp. are commonly called 'wild ginger' (no relation to true
ginger), with small heart-shaped leaves; widely used as ground cover and
grows wild in western US forests.

I wasn't able to go from 'hollyhock' or 'asarum' to the Japanese names
(hoping to find 'aoi'), but I did find pictures of one member of the aoi
family, and the flowers are very similar to western hollyhocks and
mallows:
http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/BotanicalGarden/HTMLs/hana-aoi.html

[Fred]

Post by Don Kirkman
It seems to me I heard somewhere that Fred wrote in article

Post by Fred
Lately I've seen the Aoi matsuri in Kyoto. I was thinking about the
meaning of Aoi, which is normally translated as a hollyhock. The
hollyhock is (according to my English-Dutch dictionary) some kind of
a rose (Althaea rosa). According to an 'official' brochure I found in
Kyoto, Aoi is the Asarum Caulescens, which is completely different.
Is my dictionary not complete and is the hollyhock more then only a
rose or is there something else? Does anyone know?

The hollyhock is not a rose; the "rosa" may be in reference to its
color. Hollyhocks are part of the mallow clan, which includes cotton,
hibiscus, marsh mallow, okra, and a number of wild plants.
Asarum spp. are commonly called 'wild ginger' (no relation to true
ginger), with small heart-shaped leaves; widely used as ground cover
and grows wild in western US forests.
I wasn't able to go from 'hollyhock' or 'asarum' to the Japanese names
(hoping to find 'aoi'), but I did find pictures of one member of the
aoi family, and the flowers are very similar to western hollyhocks and
http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/BotanicalGarden/HTMLs/hana-aoi.html

Ah, this makes it clear to me. The leaves in your pictures looks like the
leaves used in the Aoi matsuri. Thanks a lot Don.

Fred