Flowers of spotted bellflower started to bloom around niwaroji area at Hoshinoya. This flower is called “hotaru-bukuro” in Japanese, literally meaning “firefly bag.”There are two views about the reason why people named like this. The first view is that children used to put fireflies into the flower and play with it. However, it might be a hard task especially for children, as the inside of this flower is too bushy to put insects. Another view is that people in the past compared this flower to a lantern. Since lanterns were also called “hotaru (firefly)” in the old days, people started to call spotted bellflowers “hotaru-bukuro” as well.Well, the latter explanation sits better with me!
星のやの庭路地に咲き始めたホタルブクロ。なぜホタルブクロと呼ぶかについては諸説あるようで…一つ目は子どもたちがこの花の中にホタルを入れて遊んだから、という説。でも実際には花の中は毛がいっぱいで、ホタルを入れるのは難しそう!二つ目は、提灯のことを昔は「火垂 (ほたる)」と呼んでいて、それに例えられて名付けられたという説。こちらの方が、しっくりくるかも!