Camellia is one of the flowers that has been especially cherished in Japan since ancient times.

It is characterized by its glossy leaves and refined, perfectly formed blossoms.

Though elegant and striking, it has a quiet, restrained, and dignified presence.

In the world of tea ceremony, a single camellia has long been displayed as a tea flower, allowing people to discover beauty in its natural, unadorned form.

Within this lies the spirit of wabi-sabi—finding beauty in simplicity, restraint, and the spaces left unfilled.

The camellia has also been admired for its vitality, blooming even in the cold, and for the beauty of impermanence seen in the way its flower falls cleanly from the branch.

Gloss and restraint. Elegance and strength.

The camellia holds within a single form a beauty that may seem to exist in contrasts.

Then, in the 19th century, the camellia began to take on a special presence in literature and the arts in Europe as well.

In 1848, French writer Alexandre Dumas fils published the novel La Dame aux Camélias, which was later given new life as the opera La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.

The camellia left its mark not only on the world of Japanese gardens and tea ceremony, but also within European literature, music, and the performing arts.

A single flower takes on different expressions of beauty within different cultures.

In Japan, it came to embody quietness and elegance, vitality and the beauty of impermanence. In Europe, it came to evoke love and sorrow, fragility and splendor.

Though given different meanings by different cultures, the camellia has continued to captivate the human heart across time.