Finding Stillness in a Plum Blossom Storm

On Fleeting Beauty and Appreciating the Seasons

Last year, the plum blossoms were blooming under a light dusting of snow.

I was told it never snowed in Tokyo. Indeed, it only lasted for two days but those two days were magical.

一

Originating from China, the Japanese plum flowers in January and February. Its popularity is only topped by the cherry, which flowers in April. Both trees form their buds during the previous summer, which become dormant during the longer autumn nights. Plum trees flower earlier than cherries because they need fewer days of intense cold before breaking this dormancy. As soon as temperatures increase, they wake to grace us with their delicate fragrance¹.

二

In Japan, the plum has carried poetic and legendary significance since ancient times. The most well-known tale is the Legend of the Flying Plum Tree or 飛梅 tobiume: When revered ninth century poet and scholar Sugawara no Michizane was falsely accused of treason and lost favour with the court in Kyōto, he was forced to leave for remote Dazaifu in Kyūshū. Sad to part with his favourite plum tree, he wrote a poem expressing his feelings.

東風吹かば Kochi fukaba
にほひをこせよ nioi o kose yo
梅の花 ume no hana
主なしとて aruji nashi tote
春を忘るな haru o wasuru na

When the east wind blows,
flourish in full bloom,
you plum blossoms!
Even though you lose your master
don't be oblivious to spring.

Now, his beloved plum tree stands in front of the main hall of Kitano Tenmangū Shrine in Kyōto, which is dedicated to Michizane and features the plum blossom in its emblem.

Sugawara Michizane in Exile by Kobayashi Kiyochika, 1884, source

三

There’s also a kabuki play about Sugawara no Michizane, which is traditionally performed in March. Titled 寺子屋 Terakoya, it tells the story of one loyal retainer sheltering his lord’s son, even at the cost of killing another child. The kabukiza theatre website summarises the play as follows.

The former imperial minister and master calligrapher Kan Shōjō has now been exiled and his family are in grave danger. Takebe Genzō was Kan Shōjō's most gifted disciple. Genzō runs a small school in the country and is sheltering Kan Shōjō's son and heir, Kan Shūsai, whom they are trying to pass off as their own son. However, word has reached the enemy that Kan Shūsai is at their school and Genzō has been ordered to behead him. Moreover, the retainer Matsuōmaru who knows Kan Shūsai's face is to come to inspect the head. Genzō's only hope is to kill one of the other students as a substitute. On that day, a new student named Kotarō who has a refined bearing arrives. Genzō takes the terrible decision to kill him in place of his lord's son.

It is said that after Michizane’s death, lightning struck the Emperor’s residence many times. Out of fear of the scholar’s vengeful spirit, Kitano Tenmangū Shrine was built and dedicated to him.

四

The Japanese plum features in many lists of plants and flowers. The 四君子 Shikunshi or Four Gentlemen have deep significance in traditional arts such as tea ceremony and feature the plum alongside the bamboo, orchid, and chrysanthemum².

Plum Blossoms by Sun Long and Chen Lu, early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), source

There’s also the 歳寒三友 Saikan no San’yū or Three Friends of Winter, a traditional art motif that includes the pine, plum, and bamboo, and the 雪中四友 Setchū no Shiyū or Four Friends of the Snow, a list of flowers that bloom in the snow that includes plum, wintersweet, camellia, and daffodil.

五

If you need even more proof that the plum has cast deep roots in Japanese culture, the name of the current Japanese era 令和 reiwa takes its inspiration from an ancient poem about plum blossoms.

時に、初春の令月にして、気淑く風和ぎ、梅は鏡前の粉を披き、蘭は珮後の香を薫す。
Toki ni, Shoshun no reigetsu ni shite, kiyoku kaze yawaragi, ume wa kyōzen no ko o hiraki, ran wa haigo no kō o kaorasu.

In this auspicious month of early spring, the weather is fine and the wind gentle. The plum blossoms open like powder before a mirror while the orchids give off the sweet scent of a sachet.³

It has connotations of beautiful harmony and culture flourishing when people come together in mind.

六

The plum blossom continues to be a symbol of harmony and elegant beauty in the cold season. It’s dear to me as one of the first examples in a rich world of literary and cultural symbolism that greeted me after my arrival: plum blossoms in the snow. Through learning about this symbolism and its roots, we also learn larger lessons about appreciating every season, every day in the nature around us and the experiences we share.

Beauty Admiring Red Blossoms in Snow by Ito Shinsui, 1929, source

What’s your favourite flower or tree and does it have symbolic meaning in your culture? I certainly hope to learn and share more as I keep experiencing the seasons in different places in Japan!

1. See A Fondness for Flowers: The Japanese Plum on Meguri Japan.

2. My sensei teaches her students to remember them with the Japanese mnemonic Kitamura: ki for 菊 kiku or chrysanthemum, ta for 竹 take or bamboo, mu for 梅 ume or plum, and ra for 蘭 ran or orchid.

3. Translation by the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan.