a bit more into the silent communications of the kimono. since some of this language, like ancient languages the world over, has been lost, perhaps we should make up the symbology anew.

...Japanese attention to nature arose from ancient Shinto teachings of sacred spirit temporarily inhabiting trees, rocks, and waterfalls. This concern was reinforced by Buddhism’s respect for all life, when it was imported from China and Korea in the 6th century.

[Japanese] prints are rife with symbolism, often drawn from Chinese art: cranes equal long life; pines equal winter, longevity, and endurance; cherry blossoms equal spring and transience. Many of the images draw their subjects from poems, with bits of the texts incorporated into the design. Some ... pictures are elaborate puns, as in a 1760s print in which butterflies flutter over a cat curled up on grass. In Chinese, the word for cat sounds like the word for age 80 to 90 and the word for butterfly sounds like the word for age 70 to 80. The sounds aren’t the same in Japanese, but the meaning — wishes for long life — carried over. 1

One cannot ask loneliness,
How or where it starts.
On the cypress-mountain Autumn evening
Jakuren, 13th Cent.

Japanese Metaphors and Symbols: A Partial List

Pine tree and Heron: Long life or anything enduring
Moon: Nighttime, Mirror, Reflection of your beloved's face.
Dragon: Wind, Clouds, Power, Rain

Spring: Blossoms, Birds, Wild Flowers, first greening of the Willow, Plum blossom (earliest flower = new love), Cherry blossom (beauty with emphasis on its fragile & ephemeral qualities)

Summer: Heat, Singing Frogs (end of Spring), Cuckoo (True love), Willows, End of summer (longing for home & family), Souls (O-ban Odori festival)

Autumn: Orange Moon, Falling or colored Leaf, Sound of wild Geese or flight of birds, Stag calling, Pine Tree (nobility), Chrysanthemum (also symbol of the Emperor)

Winter: Snow, Ice, Crane’s call, Wind, Bare branches. 2

(very slightly edited)