The Furutsubaki no Rei is a spirit that comes from a tsubaki tree, or Camellia japonica. The legends in Yamagata prefecture that surround the Furutsubaki no Rei is said that a beautiful woman breathed on a passing-by merchant, turned him into a bee, and died upon smelling the fragrance of the flowers--fragrance which does not last very long in Camilla blossoms. These flowers also are associated with death as all of the petals are known to fall off at once.
The ninmenju (or jinmenju) is a tree that blooms bald human heads as flowers. There are versions where the heads just smile creepily or laugh if people laugh back at it. If the heads laugh too hard, they die and fall off the tree. I wanted the ninmenju intertwined with the Camilla flowers as they have similarities with the heads or petals falling off.
The ninmenju concept is said to have originated in the Middle East according to the sancai tuhui, a Chinese encyclopedia published in 1609. The Arabian and Persian folklore has a similar tree called the waq waq (or Al-Wakwak) tree that grows human-like fruit. The folklore likely was brought through China and then Japan by the Silk Road.
16+ hours of drawing