In Tokyo, I lived in a neighborhood famous for its plum blossoms. A sleepy little place, Mogusaen was not even large enough to merit an express stop on the Keio Line. But every year, during the coldest month of February, Mogusaen’s famed plum trees exploded in flowers. The event always made the nightly Tokyo news, bringing in huge crowds of blossom-viewers. In fact, such was the rush of people that the entire Keio Line train network had to be reorganized to turn Mogusaen into an express stop for the blooming weeks.
But all too soon, the flowers would fade– and Mogusaen reverted back to its ordinary incarnation of sleepy, little local stop again. Even now, I still can’t help but smile when I think of how those flowers commanded the complete rescheduling of one of Tokyo’s busiest train lines!
There is a famous 9th century poem about plum blossoms that most Japanese people know by heart, written by Sugawara Michizane. An aristocratic man-of-letters in the service of the emperor, Michizane was also a renown poet, famous for his verses about plum blossoms. As usually happens with political favorites, Sugawara lost favor with the court and was exiled to Dazaifu. Located on the island of Kyushu, it was like being sent away to Siberia. After his death, plague and fire swept the capital and many believed it to be the angry spirit of Michizane. There was little to be done but restore his titles posthumously and build a Shinto shrine in his honor, turning him into the god of education, known as Tenjin.
Even today, students hoping to pass their exams flock to a Tenjin Shrine to pray for the assistance of the god of scholars. And because of Michizane’s fondness for plums, plums are always planted in Tenjin shrines. Plums, then, over time also came to be associated in Japan with education and scholarship. Known as 好文木 (education loving trees), in China, too, their fragrance is associated with education. It is said in China that the plum sends out its fragrance in times when scholarship too is blossoming, and the fragrance of plum blossoms is also thought to “cultivate a sublime spirit.”
Probably one of the most famous Japanese poems about plum blossoms, Michizane wrote of the plums in his garden in exile in Kyushu:
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When the East wind blows
Send me your fragrance
Beautiful plum blossoms
Though your Lord may be absent
Do not forget it is Spring
東風吹かばにほいおこせよ梅の花、主なしとて春な忘れそ
Over the centuries, it has been debated, was he encouraging his wife to remember the beauty of spring in his absence of exile, or was he encouraging the plum blossoms in his garden not to forget to blossom while he was away…
How well I remember your plum blossoms!