It is often said that beautiful things have thorns.
It’s not about women. It is safflower. ! Roses, which have almost the same origin in the world, have thorns, but safflowers belonging to the Asteraceae family are injured when harvesting.
There is a legend that the young girl who is harvesting safflower bleeds from her hands with the thorns, which makes the color even more crimson. They have the sadness that they cannot use the lipstick made from safflower for themselves because the safflower is the most important trade item.
Why do safflowers turn crimson color when they are blooming yellow? Actually, when I brought back the safflower to dry flower, the flower turned crimson without doing anything. It is said to turn crimson by melting yellow pigment off by water and then fermenting the remaining ingredients. Then the safflower shaped as rice cake was exported to Kyoto and Osaka via the Kitamae ship down the Mogami River. It seems that Mogami (Yamagata) brand safflower was as valuable as gold.
The Safflower Museum in Kahoku town is the former site of the building of a merchant who made a fortune in handling safflower, and you can also see the production of safflower.
