Hondoji is particularly known as Ajisaidera ("Hydrangea Temple") because hydrangea bloom in abundance on the temple grounds during the rainy season around June.
There is said to be around 5’000 Irises and over 10’000 individual Hydrangea plants.
The colorful part of the Ajisai-plant that look like petals are actually the “Gaku” and the small unassuming part in the middle is actually the flower. The word “Ajisai” is expressed using the three kanji characters for the color violet, the sun or also the passage of days, and the character for flower. So in other words, the name means “a flower that grows violet as it soaks up the sun and the days go by.”
A passion of many Japanese people is to chart the flowers across the year in photographs.
Facebook accounts, Instagram feeds and personal blogs in Japan, are ever awash with artfully taken photos, as the sliding of one season into the next is marked by ever-changing floral phenomena as my blog.
Local people will be selling local products such as yuzu mochi, yuzu udon noddle, yuzu. sweets and others at the temple's gate...That's also Japanese style..