Rose

薔薇 bara

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.