Famous Views of Flowers and Beautiful Women: The Bush clover at the Ryuganji Temple in Kameido

Bush clover — hagi — was among the seven grasses of autumn enumerated in the Man'yoshu and carried strong classical literary associations by the Meiji period. Ryuganji Temple in Kameido maintained a garden known for its hagi plantings, which bloom from late August through October with arching stems bearing small pink-purple florets. The delicate, drooping form of mature bush clover branches created a compositional challenge distinct from the architectural structure of wisteria or the stiff verticals of iris, and Gekko would have emphasized the cascading quality of the stems framing his bijin figure. The temple setting implied a degree of solemnity appropriate to autumn themes, and the combination of Buddhist architecture with autumn flowers was a recognized visual formula. Pigment application for hagi required restrained handling — the florets are small and the overall tone relatively modest — distinguishing this composition from the more saturated treatments of summer flower prints in the same series.