The love of flowers among the Japanese is universal and amounts almost to a passion. The whole population turns out several times in the course of the year to visit places which are noted for certain kinds of blossoms. Food and raiment are relative luxuries, while flowers are a necessity.
To supply the daily demand for flowers the street venders carry them about the principal cities on bamboo frames, balanced at the ends of a pole carried across the shoulder. They are veritable walking bouquets, and add much to the picturesque street life that, like a kaleidoscope, abounds in movement and color.
Francis Brinkley (30 December 1841 – 12 October 1912) was a British newspaper proprietor and publisher who served as a foreign adviser to Japan during the Meiji era. He lived in Japan for most of his life and was the author of several books on Japanese culture, art and architecture, as well as an English-Japanese dictionary. He is also known as Frank Brinkley or Captain Francis Brinkley, and was the great-uncle of Cyril Connolly.
Source: JAPAN. Described and Illustrated by the Japanese. Written by Eminent Japanese Authorities and Scholars. Edited by Captain F Brinkley of Tokyo Japan. With an Essay on Japanese Art by Kakuzo Okakura Director of the Imperial Art School at Tokyo Japan. 1897.
