Art textile:bamboo gentian

The gentian blooms with sweet bluish-purple flowers in autumn. Because these blossoms open upward and outward, they are an auspicious motif symbolizing ascension and advance. The traditional name for this motif, “bamboo gentian” (sasa-rindo), comes from a resemblance seen between the plant’s leaves and those of bamboo.It was also adopted as the crest of the Genji branch family that founded the Kamakura Shogunate, and is still used in the City of Kamakura’s official seal. The flower thus also represents Awai’s affection for Kamakura, a city to which it is deeply linked.