November hanachozu with chrysanthemum

Hanachozu are a flower display in water. They are sometimes called floating flowers or flower water fonts. Literally, hanachozu 花手水 translates to flower hand water = flowers in the water font used for washing hands! Hana means flower, chou is the Chinese derived reading for hand when it is compounded with other kanji. Likewise, zu is one of the Chinese derived readings for water when it is compounded with other kanji. 

Hanachozu have become incredibly popular in the last five years or so. I suspect Instagram has played a significant role in their popularity. You can see hanachozu at temples and shrines around Japan. Not every temple or shrine has one, but there are plenty. Most of the temples and shrines that have hanachozu change them every week or two. A lot of them have Autumn flowers in them right now. Like the one pictured above, which has chrysanthemum flowers. 

November is the main month for chrysanthemum flowers in the Kanto plain. Right now you can see beautiful chrysanthemum exhibitions in several locations in Kanto. The chrysanthemum exhibitions are of potted chrysanthemum. But there are also chrysanthemum growing in flower beds at this time of year too. As such, the chrysanthemum in the hanachozu is an ideal representation of the month of November.

Have you seen any hanachozu this month? What flowers did they have in them?