Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ume Matsuri


The best time to experience Ume Matsuri (Plum blossom festival) in Japan is during mid January till mid March when you can see the beautiful plum flowers in the parks across Japan. There are some famous park for its Plum blossom such as Atami baien in Shizuoka, Yushima Tenmangu in Tokyo, Mito Kairakuen park in Mito-Ibaraki, and Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto where you can find 6,000 plum trees.



The plum blossom photos above were taken by a friend at Sumaura Rikyuu Park in Suma, Kobe. Suma is known as one of the places in The Tale of Genji, the first long novel in the world, written more than 1,000 years ago.

*Thanks Kumi-san for the pictures and the information about Suma*

Ume or plum is also called Japanese apricot, which is famous for Umeboshi or Japanese pickled plum. Talking about plum, plum wine is my favorite wine which is very famous in Japan and Korea. Some says that the sweet taste and aroma of umeshu could appeal those who even don't like alcoholic drinks.

5 comments:

Yuliana-Fun said...

bingung.... ada ya tanaman yang bunganya langsung nempel ama batangnya? biasanya kan bunganya tumbuh didahan ranting itu... apa gw yang terlalu norak yak? hhehehe :) bagus yak.. apalagi kalo penuh sebatang2nya...
wuah kalo soal wine, ga tau deh rasanya seperti apa.. ga pernah cobain... hehe :)

Rashai said...

Fun, iya emang unik ya kalo bunga tumbuh dari batang langsung. Photonya emang agak telat, bunganya udah ga penuh lagi ;-)Kalo nemu yg jual cobain deh plum wine, enak kok manis...

Jeanne M. Wigoena said...

kalo cherry blossom Rash? sama ga?

keren yah d Jepang, liat bunga mekar aja jadi festival..

Rashai said...

Jeanne, Cherry blossom (Sakura) akan muncul sesudah Plum blossom (Ume jadi ntar sekitar awal april baru musim cherry blossom dan ada Sakura Matsuri (festival) juga he..he.. Di Jepang emang banyak banget masturi/festival.

Jeanne M. Wigoena said...

Cherry blossom, plum blossom.. apparently two different things.. I'll remember that.

Hope to see them someday too.
The only cherry blossom I know cuma lotion dari L'occitane, hahaha..