Uguisu/Japanese bush warbler - audible but invisible

There is a bird on the branch of ume (Japanese apricot) tree. 

Some Japanese people might think he is a Japanese bush warbler.

Look at his eye which is barely visible among the flowers.   
Now some of you would know what he is.

He is a Japanese white-eye.

 He has the distinctive white eye ring, which gives its name.

Many Japanese people mistake Japanese white-eye (目白　mejiro) for Japanese bush warbler (鶯　uguisu).  There has been a confusion between the two birds among the Japanese people and there are a couple of reasons for that.  For one thing, 梅に鶯, Ume blossom and Japanese bush warbler, is one of certain traditional pairings of flowers and birds/animals like 松に鶴/pine tree and crane (an auspicious pair),　藤に不如帰/wisteria and cuckoo, 紅葉に鹿/maple leaves and deer, and so on.

Ume and Uguis of Hanafuda (Flower-cards)
image via here

48 cards of Hanafuda
image via here

For another, the two birds have the similar appearance, the color of olive green, either deep or pale.
 

mejiro-colored uguisu-mochi on the uguisu-colored plate

This is a traditional sweet “uguisu-mochi”.  It is slightly oval-shaped rice cakes, sprinkled with green tea powder and filled with bean-paste, which is meant to suggest uguisu, or Japanese bush warbler.  Actually, this is not the color of uguisu but that of mejiro, or Japanese white eye.  The color of uguisu is closer to that of the plate.

Uguisu/Japanese bush warbler, image via here

Japanese bush warblers are drab olive green.  They are cautious and usually remain deep in the shadow of foliage in the grove.

The olive-green birds which come for the nectar of ume blossoms are Japanese white-eyes, while Japanese bush warblers come to Ume trees for insects when they are thick with foliage.  Japanese white-eyes are not so cautious that are spotted out rather easily. 

Ume blossoms are thought to be a harbinger of spring as they bloom much earlier than other spring plants when air is still cold.  The cry of male Japanese bush warbler also heralds the arrival of spring with their distinctive chirps, Ho-Hokekyo, which is a pan to 法-法華経, the Lotus Sutra of Buddhism.  People hear the chirping of a Japanese bush warbler from nowhere and see the appearance of Japanese white-eye among ume blossoms, which caused misunderstanding and confusion about the two birds.

Bush warblers and Ume blossoms have been featured in haiku as seasonal words of spring and often the motif of paintings and other arts.   

song of Japanese bush warbler

Umami Hills Park in early spring

There is a saying in Japan: "Neither heat nor cold lasts beyond the equinox."  
It is getting warmer little by little with three cold days
followed by four warm days, repeatedly.

Japanese Camellia is one of the most popular shrubs because of its long flowering period from January to March or April and appearance like winter roses.  These mountain camellias shed their heads as they fade while the commonly known variety clings to the shrub till the last moment.

Asiatic dogwoods, or Cronus officinalis　(サンシュユ), look like yellow veil

when they are in full bloom.

"Asebi,　馬酔木", or Japanese Andromeda, have just started blooming. 

They  droop in clusters among glossy leaves.

Titmouse, 山雀

Pussy willow, 猫柳

Thunbery spirea,　雪柳

Pussy willow has the same name in Japanese Neko-yanagi which means cat-willow.
Thunbery spirea is Yuki-yanagi in Japanese meaning snow-willow. 

At this time of year, Ume (Japanese apricot) blossoms are the most vibrant in the park

and are the center of people's attention.

Japanese white-eyes come for the nectar of ume blossoms.  

They are often mistaken for “uguisu,　鶯”, or Japanese bush warbler.

Ume blossoms are blooming, radiating their scent to the cold air and to the blue sky,
which is encouraging and inspiring.

I used to collect white, pink, and red petals as meals

when playing house as a child.

Grasses are still grey at the pond

where most of the migratory ducks have already left.

Another pond is fringed by yellow Asiatic dogwoods and red Japanese quinces.

Japanese quice is called "boke, 木瓜" in Japanese. 

There is another word "boke, 呆け" meaning "senility". 

When I make a blunder, I say "Oh, the flower of boke has bloomed."

Boke is such a lovely flower.

While I walked, the feeling of joy overflowed within me.

- Our World Tuesday -

Tempted by the color and fragrance ...

Ume (Japanese apricot) blossoms are at last in bloom brightening up the pale wintry landscape about two weeks later than usual due to the severe cold this year. 

After hectic two weeks with emotional turbulence, I walked to Yamato Bunka-kan in my vicinity and found it was the right time for ume blossoms.  Isn't the view over the walls inviting?

Ume, which starts flowering in mid-winter, symbolizes strength, resilience, perseverance, and purity.   The aroma of the blossom and its pure white color has made it very popular with everyone since the ancient times.

There are also red and pink blossoms.

There are many buds yet to open. 

Sugawara Pond is said to be the site of the oldest dam in Japan in Nihon-shoki, the Chronicles of Japan.

 Ume trees had been so favored by the ancient people since its entry from China. There are as many as 119 tanka poems about ume blossoms in Manyoshu Anthology compiled in the 8th century.

Ume was once called as “mume”. I suppose probably due to an euphonic change “mu” to “u” in the pronunciation, "mume" from its scientific name “prunus mume” became “ume”.

Shidare-ume/weeping branches

Like sakura (cherry trees), ume come in many varieties.

Even if not so explicit like cherry blossoms, don't you feel enchanting aura?

Winter-blooming iris near the pond

On the ground under the ume trees

Although air was so cold, I found spring had been already in my heart awaiting for this kind of scenery.  The season of warmth and fertility is around the corner.

Last year's ume post: Ume blossoms - harbinger of spring

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Doll's protection and golden knot

- Small pieces of cultural information about wedding in Japan. -

An empress doll wearing the ceremonial attire of a Japanese court lady consisting of twelve layers of unlined kimono / a handicraft by an artisan

My daughter had a wedding on March 4th.  The previous night we had a home party, Hina-matsuri (Dolls-festival).   Dolls are believed to protect people from diseases and misfortunes.  When a daughter is born, a set of hina-dolls are presented to pray for her healthy growth and happiness customarily from the grandparents.  I have displayed hina dolls without interruption since my daughter's first March 3rd.  Prior to her start of the second life stage, we thanked dolls for their good protection of the past years.

Seven-tired set of dolls is grandeur and brightens up the cold Japanese mat room of February.

These are wedding money gift envelopes.  I like the lovely papers and the golden or colored decorative knots which fit to English idiomatic expression "tying the knot".  Families, relatives, and those who are invited to the wedding ceremony are supposed to give a gift of money sometimes along with goods.  The envelopes are traditionally made of Japanese papers, while the red one from her brother and his wife at the lower left is modern and is made of a handkerchief.

My daughter was attracted by a simple and small wooden chapel in the woods of Tsurumi where Flower Exposition was once held. Many Japanese couples choose chapel wedding regardless of their Buddhism or Shintoism background. For one reason, only families and relatives are supposed to attend the ceremony in traditional Japanese style, while everyone is welcome to chapel wedding. She wanted their friends to be the part of the wedding ceremony.

A traditional Japanese fan (suehiro), a small vanity case (hakoseko), and a sheathed dagger (kaiken) are carried in the obi belt, when a bride wears Japanese bridal kimono. The dagger was for both self-protection and the ritual suicide when the bride (of a samurai warrior, not a merchant or a farmer) was insulted or dishonored her husband in feudal age.



A bride wears "hikifurisode", a kimono with long, flowing sleeves and a padded, trailing hem.

Married women wear "tomesode", the most formal black kimono with five family crests and designs along the bottom of the kimono.

There has been the superstition that if a family does not put the dolls away right after the Hina-matsuri, the daughter will be troubled getting married. I'm not so superstitious that I have kept them displayed during the whole March as seasonal decoration.

 These dolls will continue to protect my granddaughter, hopefully granddaughters.

Though marriage and having children is a choice and what is happiness depends on the person, personally I'm happy to be married with children.

Cheers to the well-being of all the girls young and old!

Sweet white sake made from fermented rice is used as the celebratory drink for the Doll's Festival.