# Rose

薔薇 bara

![Rose](https://www.furoshiki.com/swatches/bara.svg)

A Western flower taken up in Meiji-era and modern Japanese design; romantic and decorative rather than traditionally symbolic.

Native wild roses known since ancient times; Western roses in the Meiji period

Wild roses are mentioned in early Japanese poetry, and Heian court dress had a 'rose' colour combination (red over purple), but roses were never a classical crest or kimono motif. Cultivated Western roses arrived with Meiji modernisation, and the rose became a fashionable Western-style motif on kimono and meisen silks of the Taishō and early Shōwa periods.

A romantic, modern motif with no traditional symbolism.

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Source: https://www.furoshiki.com/patterns/bara/