I went to go see some ume blossoms the other day. They were looking pretty good! I went to the same shrine I showed you a while ago, but this time the blossoms were out. Well kind of. This shrine has hundreds of ume trees, all of them different types. There are over 300 different types of ume blossom but I can never remember any of the names. At any rate, only a few were blooming when I went. The white and pink ume blossoms seemed best on this day, so I focused on them.

(Some people translate it "plum blossom" but although it is related to the plum and apricot it's not really the same as what we picture when we use the word, so I'm trying to get out of the habit of using that term and keeping ume instead)

Anyway, like I said I took photos of the white and the pink ones.

First up: the pink ones.

Lovely flowers. They smell even better than they look. Luckily it's still a bit too cold for any bees or else I'm sure they would be all over these. Usually now they do attract birds like the Japanese white-eye, but I didn't see any out when I was here. Oh well.

Let's go in closer...

At one time the ume blossoms were the preferred flower in Japan for all the aristocrats to watch on their viewing parties. This would have been the Nara period (710–794) when Japan was in love with all things Chinese. The ume blossoms were the most celebrated flowers of China, so therefore the Japanese copied this idea. It's not hard to see why they were so beloved. They are beautiful, they have a delightful fragrance, and their blooming marks the start of true spring when the weather is finally getting less cold and nicer.

closer...

Eventually Japan grew less excited about copying China and in 812 Emperor Saga decided he liked the cherry blossoms more and he started throwing cherry blossom viewing parties every year. Slowly the hipsters switched to cherry blossoms, they became the cool thing and have remained the more popular of the two in Japan.

But while the heart of Japan may prefer the cherry blossom, people do still enjoy the ume blossom.

closer...

During cherry blossom viewing season it always seems like the goal is to enjoy street food and get drunk and actually enjoying the blossoms is a secondary goal, but for the ume blossoms the people who come out for them seem to actually enjoy them more.

An easy way to tell the ume apart from the sakura, by the way, is how they grow on the branch. Sakura will grow in bunches whereas each ume blossom grows alone on the branch.

Anyway, let's move on to the white ones. I didn't get as many shots of these. The tree wasn't quite as full.

Our buddy, the komainu was enjoying them. That's the statue. They come in pairs and guard against evil things. The ume trees are also thought to protect against evil and for this reason they are one of the trees you are suppose to have in a traditional yard. They go in the northeast corner which is where evil is believed to enter.

But many new houses no longer have yards. I guess that means they aren't protected from evil. Too bad.

A little closer...

There is also a deep red one, but that tree hadn't bloomed at all yet. And there are many many shades between the deep red and pale white.

In the post I mentioned at the top of this one, I mentioned that the god of this shrine is the kami Tenjin, and that Tenjin is the divine version of the Heian period scholar Sugawara no Michizane. In that post I didn't give any more info on him, mainly because I couldn't be bothered to open my notes and get the details correct. So let's dive in a bit more today.

Closer...

Sugawara no Michizane (845 – 903) wasn't just a scholar, he was also a poet and politician. A very very good politician. The extremely powerful Fujiwara family hated him and hated his influence over Emperor Uda even more. When Uda died, they forced the new emperor to exile Michizane to an island where he died a few years later. After his death, a series of disasters happened: the emperor's son died, there was a drought, and the imperial palace was struck by lightning. Priests said that it was caused by the angry spirit of Michizane. In order to appease his spirit, they dedicated a shrine to him, Tenmangu Shrine. Now, hundreds of years later, there are Tenmangu shrines dedicated to Michizane all over Japan. The ume blossoms were his favorite, therefore all Tenmangu shrines have many ume trees all over their grounds.

Anyway, with these coming out I guess it's official: spring is here!!

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.