Plum Trees, Shingetsu and the Beginning of JapanPlum trees are a wonderful sign that spring is coming. With the frost still on the ground, blossoms from these plum trees begin to open in beautiful white, pink and purple colors. Winter was surely felt in late-January when my neighborhood of Imazaike, in Nara’s Katsuragi City, had our annual Tondo (Bonfire Festival) in the nearby rice field. It was a cold night that was eventually warmed by the bamboo, straw and other New Year’s decorations that were blazing in front of all of us, ushering in prosperity and good health for the New Year. Not unlike many wintery Nara nights, the crisp air brought with it a bright bold moon that was playing with a few clouds. It was amazing to see an ancient tradition continuing and bringing the whole town together on this festive mid-winter night. The nights are still chilly in February and March, but the days are starting to warm up, making it the perfect time for tanbai, or searching for ume, plum blossoms. I could have started with one of the three most highly recommended and must-see plum blossom covered mountain spots in Nara, namely Tsukigase, Hirohashi, or Anou, but I wanted to find a more solitary place where I could more deeply appreciate nature with a song from my bamboo flute. 
One thing I have found interesting, and slightly ironic, was that it was during the Nara period (8th century) that the ume were actually appreciated more than the sakura, cherry blossoms, which the Yoshino area is now famous for. So, I guess like any good Yamanto, or person from the ancient area of present day Nara Pref., I planted plum trees in the north-east of my garden to ward off evil. Actually, I just planted them there by coincidence and later learned that the north-east is the right place because evil is said to come from that direction. Anyway, we’re protected and I get to enjoy the scent of the oncoming spring.
However, what I was in search of were plum trees much larger than my small garden trees which stand at about 2 shaku (2 feet) high. The song I was preparing to play on my shakuhachi was a very austere song that I felt was best suited for a moonlit area of solitude. I recently came across a few special plum trees when I was on one of my routine runs throughout Mt. Nijo and Taima Temple. Hidden away on the Nijo mountain side, which is traditionally said to be the dividing line between this world and the otherworld, stands a plum tree that overlooks Nara. I later returned with my shakuhachi at dusk and played a traditional piece entitled “Yamato Choshi”, which was composed and played by komuso (wandering monks) of the Nara area.Like the birth of this song from Nara, I believe that it is also symbolic of a beginning. “Yamato Choshi” along the way also took the name “Shingetsu” (The Moonlit Soul). This song is featured here on my Mahoroba album. The Yamato area is the traditional beginning of Japan and Japanese culture which celebrates its 1300th Anniversary in 2010, but the song is also representative of the moon reflecting our true selves and our place in this world around us. I believe that this song’s history and musical structure truly represents Nara at its core, very slowly changing along the way, but never changing its essence. The same can be said about the people and the seasons in general, always changing, never really changing. Plum trees take on a somewhat rough and jagged form, with their trunks sharply bending and curving in different directions. This is a small difference between the later blooming cherry trees, which tend to be more straighter. I enjoy the scraggly look of the plum trees and the beautiful scent the blossoms bring with them. If you are ever in Japan in March, definitely search out your own serene spot for appreciating the plum trees.
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