Ume blossoms - harbinger of spring

                 梅一輪、いちりんほどの暖かさ

服部嵐雪 (1654-1707)

one ume blossom
brings us just one more
step to the warmth

-Hattori Ransetsu-

This "haiku"  is about the joy of weather becoming warmer with each new bloom.   りん of いち(one)-りん　means both “a little （厘）”　and “full of spirit, or dignified, 凛”.  In ume blossoms, I see not only beauty but also perseverence and refinement.

                                         (weeping ume in my garden)



Now ume buds、 which have been constanly swelling persevering the bitter cold of winter, have bloomed into white, plae pink, rose, or deep red.

                                   

Early spring of Nara Park starts with the sweet, clean scent of ume, or Japanese apricot blossoms, in  Kataoka ume-grobe. 

Sometimes deer accompany visitors. Though they are wild deer, they are very friendly.

"Keep Out" due to a preservation order

Marumado-tei, a square hut with a thatched roof and round windows, was built in Kamakura period (1192-1333)  as a sutra repository of Kasuga Grand Shrine, moved to this site in 1894, and then renovated into current form. 

"Marumado" means a round window.

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