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Nagoya Castle

We have just returned from a trip to Japan to attend an Open House at Tokyo Orchids Nursery as a guest vendor. I went on the trip with Tom Perlite of Golden Gate Orchids. After the sale we traveled to Nagoya to visit some of the local orchid growers and visit the largest auction company, Toyoake.

One morning our host, Akihiko Nagata, took us to see one of the historical sites in the area, Nagoya Castle.

Nagoya Castle was constucted in 1612 to secure an important position in Central Japan and to ward off attacks from the Osaka area. Until the Meiji Restoration, Nagoya Castle flourished as the castle for the Owari linneage of the famous Tokugawa family.
In 1945, during air raids on Japan in World War II, most of the castle was destroyed by fire. Since that time, a restoration has been started to rebuild the Castle in it's original glory.

Kinshachi
Some of the best known decorations of the castle are the Golden Dolphins or Kinshachi. The dolphins from the original construction appeared later in the 14th century to represent a feudal Lord's authority. Although all the original dolphins were burned, new ones have taken their place.

The castle is completely surrounded by a moat, now dry, during construction. These moats acted as a means of defense. The stone walls are massive!

Emperor's Chrysanthamum
What was an unexpected pleasure was that there was an anuual display of Chrysanthamums being held on the castle's grounds. One cannot understate the beauty of this plant and it's importance to Japanese horticulture. There is a festival of happiness to celebrate this flower each year. This plant is one of many of the Emperor's private collection that has come through Toyoake. These varieties, which are so special, have been cultivated for hundreds of years.

I never was aware of the many diverse styles of flowers included in this family. The flowers can be very large with an infinite number of fine petals.

One of the most awe inspiring parts of the display were the individual entries shown by growers of their best varieties. The flowers were absolutely huge, like 8-10" dinner plate size.

This year's show included many pots, each containing one plant trimed to show three perfect flowers. Though not as large as the individual flowers on display, these were none the less spectacular

Another part of the show was a large display of Mums being used as bonzai of all things! One plant is slowly trained over a piece of drift wood to mimic a classic bonzai plant. Hours and hours of work go into each display and it is stupendous. These 'sculptures' are about 36" tall.

One of the nicest was a small forest created from the small Chrysanthamums, all about to burst into bloom.

No Mum. show is complete without a display trained to resemble a crown. This is made from one plant which is trimmed and trained to make a breathaking display.

My deepest thanks to Akihiko Nagata for taking the time to show Tom and me something so special.

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