Persian silk trees or pink silk trees (Albizia julibrissin) are native to southwestern and eastern Asia and can be found across Japan, producing "silk-like" pink flowers from June to July in Japan. They fold their leaves during the night, which makes them look asleep, so their Japanese name is "nemu no ki," which translates to "sleeping tree."
A Persian silk tree is popular in Japan as suggested by it being a kigo* for summer. It's also often used as a theme for paintings, such as the one in the last photo "Sparrow in a silk tree" by Keibun Matsumura at Tokyo National Museum.
* Kigo are words or phrases that are associated with a particular season in haiku or Japanese poetry.
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| 2023/9/9 |
