"Soramimi Botanical Garden" introduces the world's most wondrous plants—those with astonishing talents, flora from the remote island of Socotra, plants that ignite passion, and those that speak of love—through their intriguing backstories and illustrations, presented in a guide-like format.

The author is Seijun Nishihata, a plant hunter who thinks about plants day and night. Born in 1980, Nishihata is the fifth-generation head of "Hana-U," a wholesale flower and plant business established in 1868, now in its 150th year. He has traveled across Japan and dozens of countries worldwide, collecting and cultivating thousands of plant species. He was featured on the popular TV program "Jōnetsu Tairiku" (MBS) in March 2011.

From the thousands upon thousands of plants he has encountered on his global journeys, Nishihata has exclusively selected about 60 for this book, presenting them with his personal insights and biases. The book is envisioned as a plant essay that, like a plant's whisper, can transport you to a botanical garden within your own heart.

Notably, the illustrations were created by students from Musashino Art University, and the cover design by Chié Morimoto.

Nishihata commented, "I've created a book of peculiar plants, written late into the night. It's filled with plants I've encountered, heard about, or imagined during my travels around the world, along with their stories. It's a plant guide written with utmost seriousness, yet playfully. I hope you will enjoy it." (Quoted from the website)

We invite you to experience this unprecedented "plant essay," brimming with Seijun Nishihata's deep affection for plants, which recounts anecdotes of global flora from a unique perspective unlike conventional guides.

"Soramimi Botanical Garden"
Text by Seijun Nishihata
Illustrations by Soramimi Kobo
Publisher: Tokyo Shoseki
Price: ¥1,470
Specifications: A5 variant, 160 pages
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