Micro-Season: "The Plums Turn Yellow" (2023)

Mark S

Jun 16

We have entered the micro-season of "The Plums Turn Yellow". This is the third micro-season of the season of Grain in Ear. The other micro-seasons within Grain in Ear are:

The Praying Mantis Hatches (Jun 5 - Jun 9)
Fireflies Rise from the Rotten Grass (Jun 10 -Jun 15)
The Plums Turn Yellow (Jue 16- Jun 20)

These seasons were established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai. While they are specific to Japan, they can be helpful to people all over the world. No matter where you live, you can use these seasons as a starting point for your own exploration of the natural world.

To celebrate this season we will learn about the Japanese Flowering Plum (Prunus mume) and then read haiku by Basho, Issa, Jane Reichhold, and Jack Kerouac.

Prunus mume

The Japanese Flowering plum is a plant with many names. Its scientific name is Prunus mume while its other common names are Japanese apricot, Chinese plum, or Japanese plum.

The Prunus mume is a deciduous tree and a member of the Rosaceae (Rose) family. There are 4,828 different species within the rose family.⁽²⁾ The genus Prunus, which the Prunus mume is a part of, contains 430 species of trees and shrubs.⁽³⁾ Other fruit trees in the genus are plums, cherries, peaches, and nectarines.

The Prunus mume is native to China and Korea and was cultivated around 15,000 years ago. It typically grows in sparse forests, along mountain trails, and near streams. It does well in many soil conditions except for heavy or wet soil.⁽⁴⁾ Prunus mume can grow to be about 20 feet tall.

Prunus mume Flowers

The Prunus mume flowers in late winter (January or February). The flowers are a little less than an inch in diameter (2–2.5 cm) and can be a variation of white, pink, or red. The flowers are said to be fragrant and smell a bit like almonds.

Due to the early appearance of Prunus mume flowers and the potential threat of late frosts, the plant has adopted a survival strategy called staggered dormancy. Staggered dormancy involves a gradual release of flowers and buds, rather than all of them appearing simultaneously. This adaptive mechanism ensures that even if the early flowers and buds suffer frost damage, there are still protected and dormant buds ready to bloom.

Ume flower (white plum), at Kadokawa Garden, Suginami Ward, Tokyo. Credit: Kakidai via Wikimedia Commons

Prunus mume Fruit

After the Prunus mume flowers wither away, the fruit begins to develop and will ripen in June or July. The fruit's ripening phase aligns with the onset of the meiyu, also called "plum rain," which denotes the rainy season in China and Japan.

The fruit of the Prunus mume is a type of drupe or stone fruit. Below is an excellent description of a drupe by the researchers at Brittanica.

"simple fleshy fruit that usually contains a single seed, such as the cherry, peach, and olive. As a simple fruit, a drupe is derived from a single ovary of an individual flower. The outer layer of the ovary wall is a thin skin or peel, the middle layer is thick and usually fleshy (though sometimes tough, as in the almond, or fibrous, as in the coconut), and the inner layer, known as the pit, or putamen, is hard and stony. The pit, which is often confused with the seed itself, usually has one seed or, rarely, two or three, in which case only one develops fully."(Brittanica)

While the fruit of the Prunus mume is edible, it is considered too bitter to be eaten right off the tree. However, it can be used to make plum wine, salted plums, tea syrup, a variety of jams, and plum preserves.

When I wrote about the season last year, I provided links to recipes for Plum Wine (Umeshu) and Pickled Plums (Umeboshi). Find out more about Prunus mume's culinary uses here.

Seasonal Haiku

According to the World Kigo Database, "Plum Blossom" is primarily a spring kigo. Whereas, "Dried Plums" and "Pickled Plums" are summer kigo. "Plum wine" and "plum liqueur" are considered non-seasonal references.

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words as selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, "green plum" is a summer kigo.

In A Dictionary of Haiku by Jane Reichhold, "apricots", "cherries", "peaches", and "plums" are all summer kigo.

Now, with all these types of summer stone fruit in mind, let's read some haiku.

Basho

a falling sound that sours my ears  plum rain  (translated by Jane Reichhold)

sing cuckoo: you're the Sixth Month's plum blossoms  (translated by David Landis Barnhill)

Issa

added to holy Jizo's jewel... a plum (translated by David G. Lanoue)

"Jizô is the beloved guardian deity of children."- David G. Lanoue

resting his hands on the green plum, asleep... a frog (translated by David G. Lanoue)

Jane Reichhold

red hearts with centers of stone under cherry leaves

midnight the dark smell of ripe plums

Jack Kerouac

White rose with red    splashes–Oh Vanilla ice cream cherry!

Fighting over a peach    stone, bluejays In the bushes

Haiku Invitation

This week's haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu that references a summer stone fruit.

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your own page and link back to this post. I can't wait to read what you write!

Resources

"Prunus mume"; Wikipedia
"Rosaceae"; Wikipedia
"Prunus"; Wikipedia
"Japanese Flowering Apricot"; Brooklyn Botanical Garden
"Prunus mume"; Oregon State University
"Drupe"; Brittanica

Basho's haiku was retrieved from Matsuo Bashō's haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations. Issa's haiku was retrieved from David G. Lanoue's HaikuGuy.com. Jane Reichhold's haiku were retrieved from A Dictionary of Haiku. Kerouac's haiku were retrieved from Kerouac's Book of Haikus.