The flower of the plum tree, or ume, is perhaps the second most popular flower in Japan — after the cherry blossom, of course.
But the ume is my personal favorite.
Maybe it’s because the blossoming of the plum tree signals is the first sign of spring. I’ve seen plum trees budding in Tokyo’s Ueno Park during the month of February, weeks before the cherry trees blossom.
Or maybe it’s because they’re a hearty flower, opening when there’s still a hint of snow in the air. Ume are not as fragile as cherry blossoms, either; the blossoms last until the birds start chirping that it really is 
spring.
Or maybe plum blossoms are my favorite because they are yet another symbol of longevity — something I appreciate now that I’m in my seventh decade — or because they are the flower beloved by Japanese scholars and poets.
Lafcadio Hearn, one of the first Americans to reside in Japan during the 19th. century, wrote about an interesting distinction that he observed. He said that the Japanese compared a “woman’s beauty– physical beauty–to the cherry flower, never to the plum flower. But womanly virtue and sweetness, on the other hand, are compared to the ume-no-hana, never to the cherry blossom.”(1)
Guess I’m okay with that, too.
(1) Hearn, Lafcadio and Donald Richie (Editor). Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan: An Anthology of His Writings on the Country and Its People. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1997, p. 76.
In a small bowl sitting among other more expensive items were a mound of two different chopstick rests. The first one repeated the decorative motif of one of the two prizes in the MOA Museum’s collection, the “Tea-Leaf Jar with a Design of Wisteria” created by Nonomura Ninsei in the 17th century. The other one featured a portion from the museum’s other prize, the “Red and White Plum Blossoms” byobu or folding screen created by Ogata Korin in the 18th century. The hashioki were priced at just 250 JPY, or roughly $2.50 each at the exchange rate then.
Museum is the first place I have seen chopstick rests that specifically replicate objects in a museum’s collection. I think it’s wonderful that this museum has made a small and inexpensive souvenir available to their visitors, allowing guests to go home and actually remember some of the artwork that they saw as they use their hashioki.
museum in their gift shop. But this chopstick rest is not as satisfying as the MOA products. It’s an oddly shaped rest; there’s a grove for one chopstick tip on one side, and a less pronounced groove on the other side, and an unexplained hole in the middle. Maybe the idea is to burn a stick of incense between the tips of your chopsticks. In some ways this hashioki almost looks like a miniature sculpture, which is appropriate for a modern sculpture museum, but it doesn’t replicate any of the buildings or sculpture shown as the museum. Therefore, it does not seem as successful a souvenir as the MOA hashioki.
Instead Genji might have conspired to have a hashioki like this lacquered bow, fashioned from handmade washi paper that perhaps recreates the colors of the cape he wore to a tryst the night before, and then magically appearing on the breakfast tray of his new love.
longing on her face that the shining prince will visit her once again tonight. At least, that’s the way it might have been, to paraphrase the last line of Royall Tyler’s translation of The Tale of Genji.
Over the years I’ve encountered this bird a number of times. It’s famous in the tiny (no pun intended) world of hashioki. So I was inspired to find out why this hashioki is so venerated.
Both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan raise a little extra income by selling omikuji, or “sacred lot” paper fortunes. The omikuji are usually white paper strips that are rolled or folded. They are randomly dispensed to a fortune seeker after he or she drops 100 yen coin in a wooden box at a booth or into a vending machine.
travel or childbirth, or something like that. Suggesting that the individual will find new and unusual hashioki doesn’t seem to be one of the standard fortune options, but there’s always hope. In any case, the fortune is derived by combining the two parts. So you could have a great blessing in business, or a small curse in travel, and so on.
madai in Japanese, is one of Japan’s most popular fish. Like many other species of sea bream around the world, it is prized for its taste, whether it is sliced raw for sashimi, grilled over a charcoal fire, or poached and served whole. In Japan tai is considered a lucky fish because its name rhymes with medetai, meaning “auspicious.” It is often featured at the New Year, at weddings, and at other celebrations, and is considered to especially bestow good fortune when it brought to the table whole because of its appealing shape.
Tai swim in the waters around all the Japanese islands. During the months of March and April tai move into coastal waters to spawn. At that time the skin of the fish turns red, and they are considered to have an especially good taste. During these months, which is also when cherry trees bloom in Japan, the fish are sometimes referred to as “cherry blossom tai.”
That is why maneki neko are often pictured holding a large oval gold piece, like the cats here. The characters on the gold piece signify an archaic monetary measure equal to 18 grams of gold. Some maneki neko wear a bib with the character for takara, or treasure, like the blue and white stoneware example on the left below. The white hashioki on the right displays the kanji fuku, or good luck, which is a kind of fortune on its own.
fallen into disrepair. Once he passed through the gate the lord was suddenly inspired to repair and restore the temple. Temple administrators must put stock in this tale, because maneki neko charms are often sold at Japanese shrines and temple today. This smiling example, which has ball bearings inside that rattle when you shake it, seems like it might just be such a charm.
Some maneki neko beckon with their right paw, and some beckon with their left paw. There is some debate about the significance of which paw is raised. Some say that a raised right paw indicates general good luck, while a raised left paw specifically asks for customers or financial luck. But it probably boils down to the whimsy of the artist who made the pieces.
Like the tanuki, the kappa is one of Japan’s bad boys. However this mischievous water imp is entirely imaginary. The kappa is reportedly the size of a child, a body covered with scales, webbed hands and feet, and shaggy bobbed hair. They live in rivers, which explains their piscine characteristics and reportedly fishy smell. Kappa supposedly have double-jointed arms and legs, which undoubtedly helps them perform their most heinous crime: dragging innocent humans, especially children, into the water and drowning them. But we could argue that kappa are not entirely bad, because they are a convenient scapegoat for parents to use to warn their children about playing too close to the water.
which holds a liquid which is the source of their powers. Somewhere in their mythic history a folktale story teller decided to have some fun with the kappa, claiming that kappa are obsessively polite, and that when they bow the liquid spills out and they become powerless.
HASHIOKI 