May in Kyôto must be the last month in the first half of the year that one can enjoy a comfortable life there.
Soon after that a nasty rainy season follows,and furthermore,it will be followed by extremely hot summertime,which is so severe that one can feel it almost unbearable.

Iris,a flower in May,comprises many varieties.
In Japan you can see such categories as below,for example:

Ayame(Iris sanguinea Donn.):regarded as the most typical.
The wild folowers can be seen only up on the heights.

Hanashôbu(iris ensata Thunb.):the most intensively improved and the most popularly cultivated.

Kakitsubata(Iris laevigata Fisch.):often picked up in poems,plays,and pictures,partly because of the influential ancient book named "Ise Monogatari",a group of short tales which center around a pleasure-loving noble,who was good at making Japanese style poems of 31 syllables,tanka(Ariwarano Narihira(825-880),although refered merely as "a man" in it).
Each tale is developped by connecting several poems attributed to him and constructing an episode.It tells about his love affairs,refined parties,a journey into the countryside,and so on.
In this book,kakitsubata is picked up in a famous poem made by its protagonist,in an episode about his journey for a retreat to the countryside.

Ichihatu(Iris tectorum Maxim.):the one imported from China.

Pictures pasted below were taken in Kyôto,mainly in Rakuhoku(north part of Kyôto City).

Kakitsubatas in Ôtajinja(Ôta shrine).	A white kakitsubata in Midorogaike,a small pond in Rakuhoku.
A yellow flag(not indigenous,but originating in Europe) in Midorogaike.	Ichihatsu in Higashiyama(earstern Kyôto).

-Taken in May,2001-

MEMO
Ôta Jinja(Ôta shrine),located in Rakuhoku, is famous for its kakitsubatas flowering in May as seen above.
Midorogaike is a small pond also in Rakuhoku,which houses many kinds of wild plants and insects.
To gain access to both sites,Kyoto Citybus is available.
First,Bus No.4 can take you to Midorogaike at a bus stop of the same name.Beware that this bus also rotates inside Kyôto city both in the right and left direction,so getting on the wrong direction must take you a terrible roundabout and a waste of time.
Second,with getting on Bus No.46,its final destination named "Kamigamo Shrine"would be the nearest stop,although from the stop you must a little further walk to the east.