Slaves Of Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemum growers,

You are the slaves

Of chrysanthemums.

I must admit I didn’t fully understand Basho’s haiku until I saw these astonishing examples of chrysanthemum husbandry at the Yushima Tenjin Shrine last weekend…

Yes, this is ONE plant!

This style always makes me think of the Yoyogi Park rockabillies’ hair!

All the specimens have to bloom at exactly the right time. How do they do that?

And how did they grow these, so they were the exact same size and height at exactly the right time? Even the leaves are perfect!

Jonelle Patrick is the author of the Only In Tokyo mystery series, published by Penguin/Intermix.