Iris


HANASHOUBU garden
in MEIJI JINGU Shrine

Family: Iridaceae
HANASHOBU: Iris ensata habitat is a swamp area; blooming
season is June - May.
AYAME: Iris sanguinea habitat is grassland; blooming season is
May - June.
KAKITSUBATA: Iris laevigata habitat is by water; blooms, May -
June.

HANASHOUBU, AYAME and KAKITSUBATA are all indigenous to
Japan. Their habitat differs from each other, but it was hard for
 people to distinguish the three irises. There is a common saying
"IZURE AYAME KA KAKITSUBATA". This literally means that we
cannot distinguish AYAME and KAKITSUBATA. We use this saying
when talking about two beautiful girls and it means that we
cannot compare them because both girls are very beautiful.
The Japanese are especially fond of HANASHOUBU and there
have been many cultivars bred since the EDO period.
MATSUDAIRA SADATOMO (1773-1856) who was a retainer of
the SHOGUN was called SHOU OU (Iris Master) as he bred more
than 300 HANASHOUBU cultivars throughout his life. There are
still about 20 cultivars that he bred remaining today. At the end
of the EDO period, people got to appreciate the massed flowers
of HANASHOUBU in gardens. HORIKIRI SHOUBU EN (HORIKIRI
HANASHOUBU Garden) was established in 1801-4 in west EDO
(Tokyo). This garden still remains today and people visit there in
June.
Please visit another Japanese Iris page in the chapter
on Flower Events.
Please enjoy the photos of HANASHOUBU cultivars bred by Mr.
Willy Hublau who lives in Belgium. The photos are in the bottom of
this page.

Japanese Iris Wild Species

HANASHOUBU (Iris ensata )
in the habitat

a flower of HANASHOUBU
wild species

AYAME (Iris sanguinea)

KAKITSUBATA
(Iris laevigata)

HANASHOUBU (Iris ensata) cultivars

DATE DOUGU

KAMOGAWA

KOMACHI WARAI

NAGARAGAWA

OUYODO

SATSUKIBARE

YATA NO KAGAMI

SENNYO NO HORA

HANASHOUBU (Iris ensata) cultivars
bred by Mr. Willy Hublau
The photos bellow are the Japanese Iris flowers bred by Mr. Willy
Hublau who lives in Belgium. It has been more than 25 years since
he began to grow and hybridizing Japanese Irises in his garden.
Now, he has a collection 450 different Iris ensata (Japanese iris)
cultivars, old and new ones and many selected seedlings. He is a
member of the Japan Iris Society.

Belgium Crown

Beigium Silk

Belgium Treasure

Belgium Warrior

Chesley's Choice

Rich Randall

Recommended Site
The Japan Iris Society was established in 1929 and the members have dedicated themselves to introduce Japanese iris to the public and to preserve iris cultivars, especially iris ensata cultivars. They think that the cultivation of iris ensata is one of the main streams of Japanese culture.

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The background of this page is a traditional pattern
for KIMONO (Japanese costume)