Atsumori

Hagiya & Ishizawa, 1967, Kyōto Engei Kurabu, Tsubaki Tokushū, No.8, black and white photo, p.3; Seibundō Shinkōsō , 1979, Senchinshū, p.12, colour photo, p.198, description: Flower, large, very pale pink single of 6-7 petals which are creped and waved and having a central ring of stamens with milk-white filaments. Average size 12 cm across. Flowers mid-season to late. Leaves, large, narrowly-elliptic with turned under margins. Vigorous, erect growth. Renamed from ‘Juraku-hachigō’. Originated in Kantō District, Japan. Atsumori of the Taira clan was only 15 years old when he was killed (1180) by Kumagai Naozane, veteran warrior of the Minamoto clan. During single combat, Naozane unwillingly killed the boy under the cold code of the battlefield. Rebelling against the cruel duty of the fighting man, Naozane renounced the world and entered the Monastery of Kurodani, Kyōto as a member of the Buddhist Jōdo Sect and spent his life, until his death in 1208, praying for the happiness in the next world of the short lived Atsumori. Named and released by Kataoka Juraku-en Nursery in 1967.

講談社　1975年　《現代椿集》 P.299.　保育社 .1974年. 《つばき》安藤芳顕著　ｐ.217.　誠文堂新光社.1998.《日本ツバキ.サザンカ名鑑》.ｐ.22. 【花】淡桃色の一重、輪芯、花弁にシ ヮが入る大輪、2〜4月。【葉】長 楕円、大形。【樹】立性。【来歴】19 67年に片岡樹楽園の命名•発表。そ れまでは樹楽8号と仮称していたもの。写/村内、文/樽本。