#098: Three Friends of Winter (Semiweekly-pedia of Japan)

#098: Three Friends of Winter (category: plants)

Ancient Chinese people regarded the pine, bamboo, and plum as "Three Friends of Winter" because each of them can stand the cold in winter season. Originally, that was used as a metaphor for a modest, but respectable way of life.

This concept came to several countries in East Asia and these three plants are called "Sho-Chiku-Bai" in Japanese. "Sho" is "pine" in English, "chiku" is "bamboo", and "bai" is "plum", respectively. They are regarded as symbols of good luck in this country.

(Friday, March 7th, 2014)    See Archive