Plant Journeys blog post #10 – Maple: a feast of colour

Our current display at Broughton House, Plant Journeys, includes a beautiful selection of plant-inspired Japanese objects collected by ‘Glasgow Boy’ Edward Atkinson Hornel when he was in Japan in 1894–5 and again in the 1920s. In this series, researcher Dr Minna Törmä explores the same plants by season, highlighting the history of their introduction into Europe, their meaning and significance in Eastern cultures and what makes each one so special.

Enjoying and celebrating autumn colours in the landscape is common in many cultures in the northern hemisphere. Maples produce a great variety of coloured foliage, from yellows to reds and purples, though they are not the only deciduous trees providing this colourful feast.

In Japan, viewing autumn colours produces a similar rush to enjoy parks and gardens as the cherry blossom viewing in spring. A favoured destination is Kyoto, where hotel lobbies feature information boards telling visitors in which temples and gardens the leaves of maple trees are the most brilliant that day. In Kyoto and its environs, the maple viewing season coincides with the two weeks when museums and temples bring out a selection of their most precious art treasures for ‘airing’. Visitors go from temple to temple enjoying the colourful foliage and rare art treasures, or stand in a long line queuing to see the Shōsō-in Treasures at the Nara National Museum.

Appreciation of autumn foliage began in present-day Kyoto in the Heian era (794–1185) when people would travel in the surrounding landscape admiring the colours. Today, Kyoto temples and gardens feature Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) with their bright crimson leaves, and A. amoenum with leaves that change from bright yellow to red. In order to look their best, they are carefully pruned. Their surroundings are cleared of underbrush and regularly swept so that when a few leaves fall on the bright green moss, the contrast of colours is enchanting.

Several of Hornel’s kimono pattern books feature designs with maple leaves.