Photo by Masashi Igari © 2001
is Japanese for Violet. And in Japan, most violets'
nomenclature makes use of the suffix "Sumire." For
example: Nagahashi-sumire (Viola rostrata) means "the
violet with a long spur." Or take Miyama-sumire (Viola
selkirkii), that is, the violet "growing in the deep
Among all these violets, you can find a very special violet,
Viola mandshurica bearing, simply, the Japanese name for
violet, "sumire." The name "sumire"
represents this species as well as the whole gamut of violets
to be found in our country. Of course, it can lead to
confusion when discussing violets in detail, because we use
the term "sumire" without adjectives for this
Although it originates in China, v. mandshurica represents the
Japanese violet and the word violet immediately brings to mind
v. mandshurica. This in itself accounts for its popularity in
Japan but truly, there is another violet that is just as
common and a native of Japan, and that is viola grypoceras.
From the ecological point of view, v. grypoceras is a true
native but the Japanese still consider viola mandshurica the
Japanese violet par excellence and most representative of all
One of the reasons for the popularity of v. mandshurica is the
facility with which it can be crossed with other species, but
this is only of importance to violet enthusiasts and not a
well-known fact for the public at large.
In my opinion, the popularity of v. mandshurica is connected
to the traditional aesthetics as cherished by the Japanese
culture. The deep violet color and sharp narrow leaves make
them widely accepted because the color violet has been the
noblest of colors since ancient times when only the nobility
was allowed to wear clothes of purple color. Therefore, in
people's minds, the "right" violet color
approximates that of the flowers of v. mandshurica, not the
pale and somewhat shabby color of v. grypoceras. The choice is
clear but it bears noting that v. mandshurica also grows in
Northeast China and the Russian Far East, and originates from
a Chinese locality.
This spring I saw v. mandshurica in Russia, near the Chinese
border, that is, Manchuria. I felt the violet was somewhat
different from the one found in Japan. And although I'm no
taxonomy expert, I wish that these two violets were in fact
two different species, and the new name given to the popular
Japanese violet be Viola sumireana or something like that.
Only then, our "sumire" could become the true
representative of the Japanese violet not only in its Japanese
name but in its scientific one as well.