(春立) --Beijing asks me: why did the Japanese do away with the spring festival (Chinese New Year)?
When I first arrived in Japan all those years ago, it was the cherry blossom season. I recall writing in my journal at the time that “the entire country seems drunk on flowers!” I don’t think in many other places in the world you would see so much activity surrounding a blossoming tree—no matter how beautiful. Trains change their schedules to facilitate easier blossom-viewing and it seems that the whole country becomes mobilized into flower-viewing mode.
Indeed, so beloved are they that most people refer to them simply as "o-hana," meaning flower. The preference for the sakura, however, is not as old as you might think. In classical poetry, there are surprisingly few poems about cherry blossoms as it was the plum which was considered the most beautiful of all blossoms. Like so many other things which are highly valued by the Japanese, plums originally came from China and they were valued in great part because of their connection with the great civilization of the continent; for in those days, “made in China” was the height of fashion and prestige in the same way as “imported from France” is nowadays.
Ume (梅)-- in China, plum is celebrated as a symbol of winter. Grouped together with pine and bamboo, the plum is known as one of the “Three Friends of the Cold ”岁寒三友 as the Asian plum (which is actually closer to an apricot) blooms during the coldest month of the year. When I lived in Tokyo, I lived in a town famous for its plum blossoms. During the time when the plums were in bloom the Keio line would change its schedule so that trains full of blossom-viewers could travel on express trains from Shinjuku. Closer still, right around th corner from the apartment I was living in, was a small orchard of plum trees.
To see those fragile-looking plum flowers blooming defiantly in the snow was unforgettable. "Plum blossoms covered in snow"...Especially at night, the pale flowers on the half dozen frozen trees would shimmer in the moonlight. It was probably seeing them ifor the first time glimmering in moonlight that I made up my mind forever: I stand with the Chinese.
Sei Shonagon's Elegant Things (For MW)
A white coat worn over a violet waistcoat.
Duck eggs.
Shaved ice mixed with liana syrup and put in a new silver bowl.
A rosary of rock crystal.
Wisteria blossoms. Plum blossoms covered with snow.
A pretty child eating strawberries.
And, of course, they smell like paradise too.
I seem to recall that there was an imagined ancient battle between Murasaki Shikibu who insisted that it was the plum which was the finest among blossoms and Sei Shonagon who never waivered in preferring the plum.
The battle of the blossoms-- it is as ancient as the "battle of the seasons." For while the poets tell us that Chinese prefer spring and plum blossoms, we know that the Japanese prefer cherry blossoms and the fall. And speaking of the battle of the blossoms, I remember at least 10 years ago there was a debate on the continent to decide upon a national flower. Polls were taken across the provinces and it was a dead heat between the plum blossom and the peony. Obviously, I wouldn't have known which way to vote. Of course, my lover the emperor loved peonies-- hence my name. But, the plum, is perhaps more elegant blossom.
I remember the popular vote had the peony coming out ahead of the plum, but the National Congress failed to ratify the selection. The plum had already been designated the national flower of Taiwan as early as 1964, and with the upcoming Olymic 2008 Games in China, the debate has simmered on. China watchers (China watchers perhaps being a bit more subtle back then?) were saying things like we are headed for a "one country two flower" conclusion! I lost track of how it ended (either way as they are both-- to me-- peerless among flowers).
So, I leave you with a poem by the man-who-became a god, Sugawara Michizane. An 9th century man-of-letters in the service of the emperor, he was also a renown poet, famous for his poems 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.
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…
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Anyway, yes, Japan doesn't really do "Chinese New Year" anymore-- and here it has been the year of the ox for an entire month almost! However, the Japanese have not given up the plum blossoms-- so symbolic of the spring festival. And today, an eastern wind if blowing...(do not forget it is spring, as the good professor says so faraway)
And... because I loved it too! (Namit's alma matar-- and where the hell is matt?)
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