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No wild rose without a thorn... R. multiflora

In the oldest collection of verses in Japan, "Man'yoshu: A Collection of a Myriad Leaves", there exist two odes to "roses". One of them seems to refer to trifoliate orange (Citrus trifoliata) which is a thorned plant of a totally different family. This kind of mix-up occurs because many thorned plants were once called "roses". But the other verse does seem to refer to R. multiflora or the wild rose. The wild rose was highly appreciated for its simplicity in haiku (poems) of the Edo period, as famed haiku poets Basho and Issa read in their verses. Since the scent of the wild rose is highly diffusive, these haiku poets were probably enticed by its fragrance. Since the sweet scent of phenethylalcohol is known to have a mind-calming effect, it might have well taken effect on these sensitive poets.