Narita Daily

Spring, almost...

>> Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Japanese plum or ume (sometimes referred to as a Japanese apricot) has played an important role in Japanese culture. The plum is associated with the start of spring, because plum blossoms are some of the first blossoms to open during the year. In the Tokyo area, they typically flower in February and March. The event is celebrated with plum festivals (ume matsuri) in public parks, shrines and temples across the country.

Like cherry trees, plum trees come in many varieties, many of which were cultivated by humans over the centuries. Most plum blossoms have five petals and range in color from white to dark pink.

Source here.

Yaezakura (Cherry blossoms)

>> Sunday, May 2, 2010

This type of cherry blossoms are a surprise to me...most of the sakura are gone but this is still in full bloom. This is the same type a friend over at ViennaDaily features often and we had been wondering why this type has so much petals compared to the others.

See some fruits here.

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Koinobori (Carp Streamer)

>> Friday, April 30, 2010

--Koinobori--

---means "carp streamer" in Japanese, they are carp-shaped wind socks traditionally flown in Japan to celebrate Tango no Sekku, a traditional calendrical event which is now designated a National holiday; Children's Day. These wind socks are made by drawing carp patterns on paper, cloth or other nonwoven fabric. They are then allowed to flutter in the wind. They are also known as satsuki-nobori (皐幟).

A koinobori set consists of, from the top of the pole down, a pair of arrow-spoked wheels (矢車, yaguruma?) with a ball-shaped spinning vane, flying-dragon streamer (飛龍吹流し, hiryū fukinagashi?) that looks like a windsock, a black koinobori and a red koinobori. If more boys are in the household, an additional blue, green and then purple koinobori are added. The red koinobori's color can be varied as orange or pink. These carp sets are flown above the roofs of houses with sons, with the biggest (black) koinobori for the father, next biggest (red) for the eldest son, and ranging down to the smallest carp for the youngest son.

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Momo (peach blossoms)

>> Saturday, April 24, 2010

Cherry blossoms (Sakura), Plum blossoms (Ume) and Peach blossoms (Momo) might look all the same but they are different in the shape of their petals as well as the number. These are peach blossoms they have more petals in layers compared to plum and cherry blossoms which have 5 each.

A peach tree in bloom, we're still waiting for its fruits, though I can't be sure if they are the type that bears fruit.