August’s Flower – Morning Glory

If you walk around residential areas in Japan in the early morning, you will often see morning glories blooming. The blue, purple, and pink flowers are very beautiful and you feel refreshed just by looking at them.

This flower only leaves a momentary impression because they bloom early in the morning and withers away by noon.
There is also another version of this flower that blooms around noon and withers in the afternoon which is called Noon Glory.
The Evening Glory blooms in the afternoon and withers away by the next morning.

This flower has been around since the Heian Period and is mentioned throughout the 54 parts of one of Japan’s most prominent pieces of literature “Genji Monogatari”.
In the 4th part of this series, a woman named Evening Glory is introduced.
One day a nobleman named Hikaru Genji was walking around town and noticed that there was an all female family. He had his servant visit this family using the Evening Glory flower as an excuse.
Evening glory replied to this visit in the form of a poem. Hikaru Genji was so impressed with her intelligence that he decided to disguise his social class and visit her.
One day, the two stumbled across an old deserted mansion. As they were looking around, Hikaru Genji was visited by a woman’s spirit who was very bitter with him.
At that very moment, Evening Glory loses consciousness and even worse, passes away as the spirit disappeared. There is a saying in Japan that beautiful women never live long lives. Evening Glory was a woman who was a perfect example of this saying. Although she left a tragic last impression, she was known as a lovely girl with a cheerful personality. Hikaru Genji was consumed with Evening Glory for the short time that they spent together and continued to think about her often even after her death.
In the 20th part of the series, a woman named Morning Glory is brought into the story. She was named after the Morning Glories that were attached to a poem that was sent to her by Hikaru Genji.
Morning Glory was one of the princesses that Hikaru Genji was in love with since he was young. Morning Glory was also fond of Hikaru Genji but refused to marry him due to the stories she heard about his many other romantic relationships. She continues to refuse his love and enters the priesthood never to be heard of again.

Morning Glory and Evening Glory, like the flowers they were named after left only a momentary impression and did not have very happy endings. Regardless, both have been a favorite of the Japanese people since long ago.