After tea ceremony lessons in Kyoto, I visited Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, and enjoyed plum blossoms.
As the cold days continued in this year, the blooming of plum blossoms are later than usual years. Red plum blossoms are full of bloom, while white plums are not yet. The buds of white plum are light-green and fresh spring color. I enjoyed the fragrance of plum blosssoms with closing my nose to each flower. The fragrance of plum is very lovely and nice, not equivalent to any other flowers. Maybe, I like plums more than cherryblossoms, because the have a good fragrance.
The grand tea master, Zabousai said that there are people who always say "Konohana" (another name of plum blosssom), as a seasonal poetic name of Chashaku (tea scoop) in the tea lesson. He advised to have variations of seasonal poetic names, as there are many poetic names for early spring season. It is one of host's funs to prepare the tea utensils which poetic names fit to the season.
After visiting Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, I dropped to a Japanese traditional confectionary shop, Oimatsu at Kamishichiken, and bought sweets for Hinamatsuri (Doll's festival) for my daughters.
