Why Japan for Autumn Leaves? Heian Aristocrats Created Famous Fall Spots

Why Japan’s Autumn Foliage is the Best in the World

Reports of autumn foliage have been coming in from all over the world. Many people from overseas also visit Japan to enjoy the autumn foliage. Why do people come all the way to Japan to see the autumn foliage, when there are other trees that change their leaves in autumn besides Japan?

The most common type of tree that changes its leaves is the maple tree, of which there are about 150 species worldwide. There are about 150 species of maple trees in the world, and although there are various theories, 25 to 26 of them are native to Japan. Moreover, many of them are endemic to Japan.

Shigeru Matsutani, director emeritus of the Kyoto Botanical Garden, says, “There is such an abundance of vegetation in Japan.

The reason for this abundance of vegetation is that the Japanese archipelago is long from north to south and has a wide range of climatic zones, from cool temperate in the north to warm temperate in the south, and plants adapted to each climatic zone grow wild. Furthermore, among developed countries, the ratio of forest area to total land area is high, and the temperature drops by 0.5°C for every 100 m rise, so that in a mountain range of 3,000 m, the temperature may be 30°C at the foot of the mountain but 15°C near the top. In other words, there are climatic zones ranging from warm temperate to cool temperate on a single mountain.

The green leaves gradually turn orange and then red. Or the green color fades and turns yellow. Because of the abundance of vegetation, climbers can enjoy a variety of colors when they climb the mountains. This kind of scenery is unique to Japan, according to Matsutani.

Certainly, mountains offer gradations of color because of the difference in elevation. But what about gardens?

Some trees grow wild, but we also used to bring trees from the mountains with particularly beautiful autumn colors and plant them,” says Matsutani.

According to Matsutani, Japanese people have long felt the change of the seasons in the changing colors of the leaves and enjoyed it as an aspect of transience. He suspects that the culture of “autumn-leaf viewing,” in which people go out to enjoy the leaves while they are still beautifully colored, may have taken root because people knew that the harsh winter would come after the autumn-leaf season had passed.

In “The Tale of Genji,” the author states, “It was not enough to just watch the mountains change color, but the aristocrats of the Heian period wanted to have the leaves close at hand and brought them into their gardens. The Tale of Genji describes a scene in which Hikaru Genji holds a folded maple over his head and performs a dance, so it is likely that people were admiring maple trees in gardens during Murasaki Shikibu’s time.

Kyoto is hot in summer and cold in winter. Kyoto is hot in summer and cold in winter, and there is a large difference in temperature between one day and the next. This is said to be the reason for the beautiful autumn leaves. It seems that the desire of the Heian aristocrats for autumn leaves resulted in the creation of a famous autumn foliage spot that is loved by people around the world.

The Heian aristocrats moved maple trees from the mountains to their gardens and planted them, but by the Muromachi period (1333-1573), they wanted to bring nature indoors to enjoy it closer to home. This was the origin of chabana (tea ceremony flowers), which in turn gave birth to ikebana (flower arrangement). The culture of creating horticultural varieties for appreciation also began around this time.

Whenever such a branch was found in the mountains, it was brought back and propagated through cuttings and grafting.

Especially in the Edo period (1603-1867), Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada loved flowers, and feudal lords offered rare flowering plants to their feudal lords. Japan developed a horticultural culture unlike any other country in the world, and this has continued to the present day.

As a result, while there are 25 to 26 native species of maple trees, the number of horticultural species has grown to as many as 100 or 200. The large number of horticultural varieties has also led to an increase in the variety of maple colors.

Many of the horticultural varieties have different leaf shapes and branching styles, so the increase in the number of horticultural varieties has not resulted in an increase in the number of colors of maple trees.

The reason why people love flowers and trees so much, according to Matsutani, may be due in large part to the Japanese people’s religious beliefs.

Japanese people have a religious view that everything in nature has a deity. They worship trees as sacred trees, and some shrines even use mountains as their deities. I think their reverence for nature leads them to love nature and enjoy maple trees.”

It has been more than 10 years since the autumn foliage in Kyoto was “extremely beautiful. ……

Autumn foliage has already begun in the north, but will Kyoto see magnificent autumn foliage again this year?

I don’t know. Global warming is a complete negative for autumn foliage. The problem is the minimum temperature. For beautiful autumn foliage, the minimum temperature must gradually drop and the days must stay below 5 degrees Celsius. And moderate rain is also necessary. It all depends on the weather from the beginning of November.

This summer was very hot.

High temperatures are good for photosynthesis, which is good for foliage, but if there is little precipitation, the foliage becomes chippy and unsightly, and the leaves fall off before they turn red.

According to Mr. Matsutani, the last time Kyoto’s autumn foliage was so beautiful was more than 10 years ago. Will we be able to see magnificent autumn foliage this year?

Shigeru Matsutani is the ninth director of the Kyoto Botanical Garden. He has been the director of the Kyoto Botanical Garden for four consecutive years and has achieved the highest number of annual visitors in Japan for a public botanical garden by combining academic excellence with entertainment utilizing plants. After his retirement, he became the first botanical garden in Japan to be awarded the title of “Honorary Director. He is currently a visiting professor at Kyoto Prefectural University.