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Hydrangea is a genus of flowering plants with 70 to 75 species that are native to Asia and the Americas. Most are shrubs ranging from 3 to 10 feet tall, but some are small trees, and others are lianas that can climb as much as 98 feet up trees. The flower of most species of hydrangea is white. However a popular species native to Japan, hydrangea macrophylla (ajisai) can have pink, red, light purple, dark purple, or blue blossoms depending on soil acidity. The strongest acidity produces blue blossoms. The age of the plant also influences flower colors.

Ajisai, a water loving plant, grows up to 7-feet tall and 8-feet wide. It blooms in the summer and autumn, Japan's rainy season.

Different varieties of ajisai have different types of flowers, some growing in balls and others (gaku-ajisai) have blossoms surrounding a "bald" spot. This latter type was the original plant. Other ajisai were cultivated from that beginning as long as 12 centuries ago.

The same plants can even have blossoms with different colors.

It can be easily seen why viewing hydrangeas when in bloom in Japan joins viewing cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, and others as national pastimes. It's not true that the Japanese do nothing but admire flowers, but sometimes it seems that way.

The photo below is from Kamakura's Meigetsu-in, nicknamed the Hydrangea Temple.

In the rainy season, the trains on the winding mountain train line, the Tozan Railway at Nakone, turn into "Hydrangea trains."

The photo below shows typical serrated ajisai leaves with a bud in the center.

However, some varieties have variegated leaves.

Amacha is a naturally sweet herb tea that the Japanese make from fermented ajisai leaves. It has antiallergic properties and is also used to prevent periodontitis, a gum disease. Special use of amacha occurs on April 8, the date on which Japan celebrates Buddha's birthday. Amacha is poured on small Buddha statues decorated with flowers as if washing a newborn baby.

Itō Jakuchū (1716 - 1800) was famous Edo Period (1603 - 1868) painter. His Rooster and Hen with Hydrangeas is shown below. Jakuchū trained with the Kano school, but he experimented with a range of techniques, including western-style perspective, long before other Japanese artists did. Rather than being identified with any particular school, Jakuchū is thought of as an independent literati painter. Roosters and hens were among his favorite subjects.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849) did this ukiyo-e print, Hydrangea and Swallow, in 1833. It was not part of a series but is generally classified along with a number of other paintings of his as part of his large flower collection.

Sakai Hōitsu (1761 - 1829) was the artist who helped to restore Ogata Kōrin's popularity and helped to gain recognition for what is called the Rinpa School of art. One of the painting techniques Rinpa School artists are known for is tarashikomi, the application of drops of paint on top of wet, freshly painted surfaces, creating a mottled appearance. This can be seen on the leaves in the painting below, a scene from an e-maki, painted scroll.