Neat little temple gardens adorn the house entrances in Bunkyo, a local neighbourhood within walking distance of Ueno Park. In the streets behind our ryokan, the neighbourhood imperceptibly changes character. It is now the plum blossom festival, a little before the usual Tokyo cherry blossom season, and we are entering the Yushima Tenjin area.

The Yushima Tenjin Shrine is Tokyo’s most significant shrine for scholars. Tenjin is the god of learning, which explains the popularity of the shrine among young people.

Students come here to pray for their exams and for admission to university. They write their prayers on small, rectangular wooden plaques or tablets, ema, decoratively hanging in large numbers along the shrine, each representing a scholar’s or a student’s prayers and wishes.

The Yushima Tenjin Shrine with the scholars’ prayers on wooden plaques | Photo: Travel In Culture

It is precisely the day of the February plum blossom festival of the Yushima Tenjin Shrine. A couple of monks dressed in turquoise blue robes are making preparations in the shrine for some of the planned activities.

Activities at the Yushima Tenjin Shrine behind our ryokan | Photo: Travel In Culture

Other monks are busy distributing bottles and drinks around. With a determined effort, the monks succeed little by little in setting up small food stalls that will serve visitors during the day. Before long, there is a pleasant odour of fried octopus balls, barbecued fish and meat, and other delicious snacks.

Early morning at the Yushima Tenjin Shrine before the festival starts | Photo: Travel In Culture

The plum blossom festival is celebrated with a play and kimono-clad dancers performing on a temporary stage in a corner of the Yushima Tenjin grounds.

People stroll among blossoming fruit trees, food stalls, frames of wishes written on tiny pieces of paper and piles of prayers on wooden plaques. A group of people gathered in a corner catches our attention. They passionately admire a variety of Japanese cherry or plum bonsai, all varying in degree of bloom.

Japanese plum or cherry blossom season at the Yushima Tenjin Shrine in Tokyo | Photo: Travel In Culture

The white-pink plum trees in the shrine garden are in full bloom, which is slightly before the famous cherry blossom season in Tokyo. Honestly, I don’t know if I can tell the difference between the blossoming plum trees and the blossoming cherry trees with their delicate, pink flowers, barely visible yet.

Surprisingly, cherry blossom season in Tokyo is early this year. In Ueno Park, pinkish-fragrant flowers have already appeared on some trees. Majestic cherries flank the paths side by side. We are lucky to be here just as the first branches turn pink.

The picturesque pale pink cherries are admired from all angles by dedicated Japanese amateurs and probably professional photographers. The impeccably well-dressed Japanese people take endless pictures to get the year’s unique and amazing photos of sakura, cherry blossoms. It is all part of Japanese tradition.

Informal meetings and chats in Ueno Park | Photo: Travel In Culture

People sit informally on benches next to and on the edge of the small lake. Conversations around us are easy, and we immediately feel that this is a very convenient place to come to if you need to relax for an hour or two. There is the young couple in love, giggling teenage girls, and a group of identically dressed high school boys in their discrete and tidy school uniforms. Also, a large group of enthusiastic kindergarten children are gathered in the far corner – right along the lake. Toddlers, all wearing identical orange sun hats, are running laps around the lake. That is the epitome of Tokyo in early spring!

Plum blossom vs cherry blossom in Japan: We are then told that, to distinguish cherry blossoms from plum blossoms, it is helpful to know that cherry blossoms have split-ended petals, while plum blossoms do not. Likewise, multiple cherry blossoms bloom from a single bud, whereas plum blossoms do not. That is basic knowledge here!

Little by little the parks turn pink | Photo: Travel In Culture

Cherry blossoms, or sakura, have had significant importance in Japan throughout history. It is linked to culture, hope, and nobility, and follows principles of Shinto philosophy.

When do cherry blossoms bloom in Japan? The full bloom sakura is short. Sakura blossoms in Japan only last about one week and moves from the southern Japanese islands, Okinawa, to the north, Hokkaido, within two months. Usually, the cherry blossoms bloom between March and early May, depending on location. Sakura cherry blossom season in Tokyo is most likely to fall in March.

Pink trees can be seen everywhere during the Japanese cherry blossom season | Photo: Shell Ghostcage / Pixabay

The Japanese celebrate sakura with festivals and hanami or ‘cherry blossoms viewing’ in the parks under the pinkish petals. Families and groups of friends eagerly organise lively hanami parties with accompanying picnics under the blossoming branches. It becomes particularly beautiful when the petals begin to fall from the sky like white, pink, and purple raindrops.

Photo: T Watanabe / Pixabay

To plan the right moment to arrive for the Tokyo cherry blossom season, you can follow the forecasts for Japan. Blossoms forecasts are available online each year for the various locations in Japan – right from the beginning in subtropical / tropical Okinawa until the late blossoms in northerly Sapporo.

Tokyo Cherry Blossom Season | Photo: Pexels / Pixabay

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