Hanakotoba: Expressing One's True Self

Throughout the times, letter writing has always been one of the most heartfelt way a person can do to express their sincerity. It survives even to this day of technology where still a lot of people value a handwritten letter over any other expensive gifts.

The best writers can capture the hearts of their beloved through one letter. Their ability to express their deep emotions through the words seem almost like a cheat to some.

It is understandable really because what if you can not write as well as the others? What if your beloved is not a fan of fancy words? How can you tell them what you feel if your words can not do that? Is it a love doomed to fail or is there another way?

Fortunately for everyone involved, there are a lot of different ways to express one's feelings without using any words. However, my favorite has always been using the flower language.

Hanakotoba is a Japanese language of the flowers where one can express their desires and emotions through the use of good flower arrangement. It is an art that many want to master but very few have the ability to make the flowers speak, and few people to receive the message perfectly.

Every aspect of the flowers in Hanakotoba speaks for something that the sender wants to express, it is up to the receiver to be able to understand the meaning of the flowers arranged beautifully. This is is one of the oldest way of using flowers in conveying emotions.

I remember the first time I encountered this idea of using flowers as a way to send a message is back when I was reading a fanfiction of Naruto. Out of the thousands I have read it is impossible to pick out which ones are the first that I read that introduced me to this concept.

The main element of these kind of fanfics involve allowing the characters (usually kunoichis) to learn the language of flowers because it will be helpful in undercover missions that they are sure to take when they become full-fledged ninjas.

One character will always has an edge over the others because of her family business. She is Ino Yamanaka, the one who is clearly the expert in this field in the world of fanfiction. Through her careful hands, everyone can convey the emotions they wish to tell someone but can not be carried out through words. There are also secret messages used for the spies that they would have to decipher.

I found the idea so cool that I started looking for more stories that incorporate that element. And as I was reading one such fanfic, I had an idea! Maybe I could use my interest in learning the flower language to make articles that I can share with everyone.

I got so excited that I made drawings of flowers immediately using royalty free images from Pixabay as reference that do not require attribution and are free for commercial use. I think to myself that this is better than hitting two birds with one stone. With this plan I can hit three stones- writing articles, learning about Hanakotoba, and practicing my drawing skills.

Which is when I managed to convince myself that this is a good idea instead of an impulsive one that I will drop at the slightest challenge. Moreover, if I stay focused on this topic I could be worry-free for quite some time about which topic to write about because there will be no shortage of flowers to share and flowers to understand.

Mind made up, I decided to write an introductory article for the writing series that I will call "Hanakotoba: Expressing One's True Self" that will feature different flowers for every article.

The style of writing may range for why I consider the flower a good fit for its meaning to a story that incorporate the meaning of the flower. It will be a challenge to make sure that each article can still shine outside of the series that I will set them in. I also want to incorporate the Filipino culture somehow, maybe in the settings or values in the articles. I am still working on it. This is the reason why I would need to find some time to dedicate to writing the next few articles so that I will not run out of daily content.

I was just so excited to tell you guys about this that I decided to post an article about it. The series will officially start on Monday, May 24, 2021 to give me some time to create at least a few articles.

I might still post unrelated articles to this series just to keep me flexible and so that I will not miss posting a daily content. However, for the foreseeable future, Hanakotoba: Expressing One's True Self will be my main focus.

I hope that you guys will be excited for it just as I am excited to write about it. I can not wait to share what I come up with to all of you supportive people.