AzaleaTraditional garden plants

Azaleas are native to Japan, with around 40 original varieties. Long appreciated for their beauty, there are even poems about Azaleas in the ancient Man'yoshu anthology compiled around 759. The Kirishima Azalea from Satsuma Province (modern day Kagoshima Prefecture) was brought to the capital of Edo where gardener Ito Ihei III planted and cultivated them and also published a book on Azaleas, the Kinshumakura, which described 173 varieties of Azaleas and 162 varieties of Satsuki azaleas. In the mid-Edo period (1680s), the Genroku era boom in Azaleas took hold.

Original Azalea strains as well as a variety of cultivars can be viewed at Rikugien Gardens, the former Edo garden of a feudal lord, from April to the end of May. A pamphlet on Azaleas is distributed at service center windows during the period when Azaleas may be viewed. (Flowering periods will vary by year. For details, please contact Rikugien Gardens.)