Choyo, Artificial flowers

The history of artificial flower-making in Japan goes back to the 8th century, when a poem in the Man yoshu anthology contains a poem apparently referring to such flowers. In the Heian period (794-1 1 85) artificial flowers were made of thread and cloth as a part of seasonal court events. The head of the Unjo-ryu； the final school to carry on this tradition, is located in Kyoto.
The most representative cerempnies featuring courtly artificial flowers are the called Go-sekku the Sekku. The jinjitsu, Joshi, Tango, Shichiseki, and Choyo originally came from China and were ratified by the shogunate in 1616.
There is a legend that gumi (silverberry) be worn on the body to ward off misfortune on the day of Choyo. There is also the custom of praying for longevity while drinking chrysanthemum sake, which is accompanied by an Unjo-ryu bag containing gumi and chrysanthemum flowers.