The plum came to Japan from China. One theory suggests that it arrived during the Yayoi period (BC300 - 300) via the Korean Peninsula. Some think that it was brought back to the archipelago by Japanese diplomatic missions sent to Tang China. Another theory says that it was introduced from China as a medicinal tree, around the Nara period (710-794).
Plum blossoms were valued more highly than Cherry blossoms during the Nara era. Although plum and cherry blossoms are both lovely flowers, plum blossoms are generally preferred because of their exquisite fragrance. In the old days, aristocrats would gather to write poetry while admiring plum blossoms, a custom that later evolved into what is nowadays known as “hanami”, or cherry blossom viewing.
Otomo no Yakamochi wrote in the classical collection of “Man’yoshu” a short poem that I like a lot:
“A song brushed after seeing the beauty of Konan (Jiangnan) by the mansion’s gate.”
“When I look around, there is a woman standing in the flowers at Onoe, smelling good and shining brightly. Whose wife is that?”
Surprisingly, the “flowers” in this poem are always translated in modern Japanese (and thus in English) as cherry blossoms. But the original text just says “flowers”, it does not specify which one. It is generally accepted among Japanese that those flowers are cherry blossoms. However, a Chinese exchange student, who was in my class years ago, when she read that poem for the first time, immediately thought about plum blossoms, and seems rather surprised that it would be translated as “cherry”.
I tend to agree actually, because:
・In those days, plum blossoms were way more popular than cherry blossoms.
・The poem says that the flowers (and by extension, to woman) smells good. Plums are more fragrant, when cherry blossoms barely smell anything.
・Yakamochi located the girl in Konan, which is nowadays a place called Namba, in Osaka. There used to live many merchants and traders from China, and since they liked plum trees, it is possible that the area had more plum than cherry trees.
・Also, in ancient Japanese, ”Konan” has a double meaning: it can be meant “the south of a river” (as the characters just imply), or refers to Jiangnan, on the southern side of Yangtze River in China.
These clues make me think that those flowers are probably plum blossoms rather than cherry blossoms.
In the “Man’yoshu”, plum blossoms are mentioned more often than cherry blossoms. Because it is a tree that came from abroad, people at that time may have liked its exotic beauty. It is also the first flower to announce the arrival of spring, so it must have been loved even more.
Actually, the name of the era we currently live in, “Reiwa”, was based on a poem about plum blossoms in the “Man’yoshu”.
And like winter in Westeros, Plum blossoms are soon coming back to Japan. You can generally admire them as early as January, depending where you are in Japan.
Comments