Japanese ‘hanakotoba’ vs. floriography (huh?)
Speaking from the heart
–Flowers once used to convey particular virtue, message or thought –
Deseret Morning News | Monday, Feb. 11, 2008…
…This language of flowers, in which flowers and floral arrangements were used to send particular messages…. Floriography, as it is called, was also practiced in Japan, where it is known as “hanakotoba.” ….
…Of course, you can never go wrong with red roses [which represent true love] …Secret admirers might want to consider peonies —they stand for bashfulness and will let your valentine know you will reveal yourself in time…more….
As you see in the above scan of the cover of the manga named “Hanakotoba”, the heroine is wielding a lily. The word yuri , literally meaning “lily”, is a relatively common female name: However, here it refers to term “yuri-zoku” (”lily tribe”) aka lesbians. Actually yuri-zoku was derived from the “flower-language” term Bara-zoku (”rose tribe”), which was first used for the name of a Japanese magazine for gay men of the 1970s and later was Bara-zoku generalized to gay males.
Read more on hanakotoba“flower-language” on Wikipedia.
- 
