Ume

梅 Plum Blossoms

1 Source and/or Related Material

Kokugaku, such as Tayasu Munetake’s Naniwazu no uta no ron

2 Author

Kanze Motoakira

3 Repertoire

Kanze

4 Synopsis

Fujiwara no So-and-so (waki), who lives on Fifth Avenue in the capital, takes his attendants (wakitsure) with him to visit Naniwa Bay (Osaka). Moved by the beautiful scenery, he recites a poem by Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Just then, a woman (maeshite) comes and chides him for reciting a poem about cherry blossoms when plum blossoms would have been seasonally appropriate. She then speaks more about Yakamochi and the principles of poetry, and when the man asks the woman who she is, she replies that she will reveal her true form tonight: he must wait for her under the plum tree. She vanishes. A local man (ai) comes to tell about the plum blossoms in Naniwa. As the man waits beneath the plum tree, the spirit of the plum (nochishite) appears. She praises the auspicious blossoms, then dances as she blesses the imperial reign.