Today, in celebration of the weather finally getting nicer in my city, I wanted to talk about flowers! There are so many different types of flowers to be found in Japan, so I think it would be good if we could try and remember a few names!
It’s okay if you can’t remember them all, but let’s slowly study together!
Lily – Sayuri
While these are a special orange variation of lilies, they still serve the purpose of being lilies!
In Japanese, we can call a lily, a ” sayuri “.
The kanji, it’s meaning, and it’s reading in hiragana
We can spell ” sayuri ” using kanji like this: 小百合 .
This is a special reading, so don’t feel discouraged if you can’t read it just by looking at the kanji!
We can break down the meaning of the kanji like this:
小 – small
百 – a hundred
合 – to fit
We can spell ” sayuri ” using hiragana like this: さゆり.
Hydrangea – Ajisai
This is my favourite flower found in Japan! Did you know? There is a temple in Uji nicknamed the ” Hydrangea Temple “, or “Ajisai-ji”! That’s where I took this picture.
In Japanese, we can call a hydrangea, an ” ajisai “.
The kanji, it’s meaning, and it’s reading in hiragana
We can spell ” ajisai ” using kanji like this: 紫陽花 .
This is a special reading, so don’t feel discouraged if you can’t read it just by looking at the kanji!
We can break down the meaning of the kanji like this:
紫 – purple
陽 – sunshine
花 – flower
We can spell ” ajisai ” using hiragana like this: あじさい.
Tulip – Chu-rippu
This is my favourite flower found in Canada! This is also one of the easier flower names to remember – it’s just like the English word!
In Japanese, we can call a tulip, a ” churippu “.
The kanji, it’s meaning, and it’s reading in hiragana
While we can use kanji for this flower, we typically don’t! I will share the kanji and it’s not-so-commonly used name just for the sake of studying.
We can spell this flower as : 鬱金香
This has a different reading, as ” ukkonkou “, or ”うっこんこう”
We can break down the meaning of the kanji like this:
鬱 – gloom
金 – gold
香 – scent
* If we take away the last character, and just write ” 鬱金 “, then it becomes the word for turmeric! These kanji were chosen because tulips used to smell like turmeric. Literally, 鬱金香 can be translated as ” turmeric smell “
We can spell ” chu-rippu ” using katakana as チューリップ
Do you have a favourite flower? Let me know!
Maddies Manga 
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