Kawazu-zakura (Cerasus × Kanzakura ‘Kawazu-zakura’) flowers: Engaku-ji

 

Ume (Japanese apricot) flowers: Tokei-ji

Before any other flower, Ume flowers begin blooming in the cold of February to silently announce the incoming of long-expected spring.

Under the wintry sky, these flowers come into bloom dignifiedly on the dried and bare branches and emit their faint but fragrant scent into the chilly air.

In East Asia, it is said that a precious flower of Ume symbolizes the image of an innocent and pure young lady because of its virtue of noble blooming.

Red Ume (Prunus mume) flowers: Tokei-ji

Winter peony flowers: Tsurugaoka-hachimangu

Sidare-zakura (Prunus pendula f. pendula) flowers and the five-storied pagoda in Daigo-ji (Kyoto)

Ume flowers and a Zen-monk in Engaku-ji

In the front garden of the Shari-den (a hall for Buddha's bones), a trainee Zen-monk, who had just returned from his training of asking for alms, paused momentarily and casted his eyes to the white Ume flowers.