A pattern of fall plants - Akikusa (秋草).

• Material: Brass, gold and silver plated finish on gilt copper ibushi
• Fuchi Dimensions (縁): Length 41 mm, Width 24 mm, Height 11 mm
• Kashira dimensions (頭): 34.5 mm length, 17.5 mm width, 08 mm height

This floral composition includes seven autumn plants including the lespedeza (Hagi 萩), the Japanese vine (Kuzu 葛), the reed (Obana 尾花), the pratinia (Ominaeshi 女郎花), the carnation (Nadeshiko 撫子), the purple eupatory (Fujakama 藤袴) and the campanula (Kikyo 桔梅).
Other flowers and plants can also be found in these autumn compositions such as chrysanthemum (Kiku 菊), maple Momiji 紅葉), Japanese Hirugao (Hirugao 昼顔), Oriental hibiscus (Mukuge 木槿), Eulalie (Suki 薄).

These 7 herbs (Nanakusa 七草) refer to an ancient poem by Yamanoue No Okura 山上憶良 (660-733), a Nara aristocrat the time who traveled to China on missions to the Tang court. They evoke the contemplation of the ephemeral beauty of autumn, symbol of the transitory nature of life and its manifestations.
This concept is the Mono no aware (物の哀れ), a Japanese aesthetic and spiritual concept that can be translated as "empathy for the ephemeral of existence," used by Motoori Norinaga in his interpretation of Genji monogatari 源氏物語, The Genji Tale, one of the founding documents of Japanese culture.