National Bonsai Foundation

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Chrysanthemum Moon Exhibit
September 21 - October 22 2007

Chrysanthemum Stones

The flowers frozen in these stones may appear to be fossilized chrysanthemums, but in fact, they are natural crystal formations. Over 250 million years ago, these crystals “grew” into three-dimensional, radiating shapes within the sedimentary mud on the bottom of a shallow ocean shelf. The dark mud matrix eventually hardened into limestone, halting the expansion of the crystal flower shapes. Over time, the configuration of the land and sea changed so that when chrysanthemum stones were discovered in China in the 1700s, the limestone formation was located in the provinces of Hunan and Hubei, far from the coast.

In Japan, chrysanthemum stones were discovered in the late 1800s in Neodani, a high mountain valley in central Japan. They tend to be denser than the Chinese chrysanthemum stones, and have smaller flower formations. The matrix surrounding the crystal flowers is volcanic in origin, with various minerals which give the stones their varied colors. When chrysanthemum stones are displayed with bonsai in a formal setting, the rough, unpolished stones are preferred.

Chrysanthemum Moon - The crisp days of autumn are particularly marked by harvest festivals, celebrations of the full moon, and chrysanthemum-viewing excursions. “Chrysanthemum Moon” is the poetic name for the ninth month in the traditional lunar calendar, a time when most other flowers wither under the onslaught of frost and icy winds. Originally noted for health-giving properties, wild chrysanthemums were first used in traditional Chinese medicine. Drinking chrysanthemum wine on the 9th day of the 9th month was believed to prolong life because the flower symbolized endurance.

In Japan this auspicious day was celebrated as the Chrysanthemum Festival – one of five sacred festivals observed by the Emperor and his court. Throughout the month they drank warmed sake with floating chrysanthemum petals, wrote poems about the flowers, and purified their bodies with the dew collected from the petals. From the time of Emperor Gotoba (1180-1239), the imperial family crest design has been a 16-petal chrysanthemum.

The chrysanthemum is native to China where it was first mentioned in texts dating back to the 7th century B.C. Its long history of cultivation in China and Japan resulted in thousands of different varieties of splendid color and unusual form. Chrysanthemums were exported to Europe from China in the latter half of the 18th century; however, it was not until they were exported from Japan in the late 19th century that they gained popularity with Western gardeners.