CHRYSANTHEMUM STAMPS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7979, 9 December 1911, Page 13

CHRYSANTHEMUM STAMPS

ON all the stamps of Japan issued since 1572 the chrysanthemum forms some part of the design. Not only is the flower popular with the masses — it also has .the distinction of being the emblem of royalty and its use iu symbolic form is strictly reserved for the Imperial Government or such objects as may bo published under direct Imperial authority. In the “American. Journal of Philately," Mr C. A. Howes, tells us: “It has been the emblem of the Imperial Government from remote antiquity, (4 and on the restoration of the Mikado’s 1 full power it naturally became the badge or seal of the Government, just as the arms of reigning families iu Europe have become the State coats-of-arms for their dominions. In its use as such it appears in a conventionalised form which is best Seen, perhaps, on the • one yen stamp of 1883. This shows a small circle at the centre which represents the central head of true flowers (for the chrysanthemum is a composite flower like the daisy and dandelion, and its so-called petals are but bracts according to the botanist), while the radiating rays represent the petals. Por Government use these petals number sixteen, while sixteen more ‘tips’ may appear around the periphery as if from behind. This number, which is traceable to Chinese geoirantic- notions, is practically reserved for Imperial use and ordinary subjects are forbidden under penalty to represent the flower in just this form." A LACK OF INFORMATION Tombstones generally impart full information upon two points respecting the deceased —namely, when they were born, and when they died. But the knowledge of what they did in the interval is always, withheld.' ; There is nothing of which we are so liberal as advice.—La Rochefoucauld.