The plum trees blossom in Kyoto

Last weekend we went to Kyoto for the market. The 25th each month there is my favourite market (Kyoto has several) just outside the Kitano Tenjun shrine. This Saturday we were lucky, the weather was beautiful and the plum trees blossomed.

Yes, the shopping at this market is great (more about that in a future posting). If the airfare wasn't so outrageous I would go there more often (old kimonos for 1.000 yen each...). But inside the walls of the shrine people milled around and admired the flowers, and the pace slowed down compared to the bustle outside. The photo above is taken just up the stairs inside the main entrance. The shrine was established in the tenth century, and the buildings you see there now are from 1607. The are lots of plum and apricot trees on the grounds.

The cherry blossoming is normally the big thing in Japan, with big festivals, a lot of public drinking and unruly behaviour going on, but the plum trees are in bloom just for a short period of time. And I guess the monks would frown on people swigging sake under their trees.

The Kitano Tenjin was established to honour Sugawara Michizane (845–903). The guy is said to have been fond of plums and apricots. He was a politician and intellectual during the Heian period. Kyoto was the capital of Japan from late 8th century until 1868. The city was given the name Heian-kyo, "the capital of peace (hei) and tranquillity (an)". Inside the Kitano walls it's almost possible to believe it...

The flowers of the Japanese plum, "ume", vary in colour from white to dark pink, and they smell lovely. The fruit, however, has very little to do with the western, sweet variety. Ume is rather sour and is usually processed in different ways before eaten.

Kyoto's plum trees blossomed late this year, due to the cold and persistent winter. But this day, sun shining, the lines outside the main building were long. People waited to pray, clap their hands, throw coins and having their wishes fulfilled. For the rest of us there were flowers to sniff.

The bees were already out in force last Saturday. They will have more work in the month to come; in April the cherry trees blossom, and Kyoto is packed with tourists, both Japanese and foreign.