From 1st of March, Japan is in spring. Oh these pink bursts in front of this shrine? No, these beautiful blossoms aren’t cherry blossoms – they are plum blossoms.
Not known to many foreigners, plum blossoms end the Japanese winter and kicks off the spring season between mid-February to the start of March which is a few weeks before the cherry blossom season.
On the second day of spring, we headed to Yushima Tenmangu (湯島天満宮) near Ueno for its 62nd plum festival.
Since it opened in 458, this Shinto shrine is known for the god of learning (hence a lot of people write
“合格” which means success or passed on their ema (絵馬), the wooden plaques in the left picture.
Not only this but since the Edo period (approximately 1603-1868), it has been famous for its plum trees and its blossoms.
Currently, they have 300 plums within its ground where 80% of these are of white plum variety and most plum trees are 70-80 years old.
We came here for the plums but was pleasantly surprised that the plum festival consisted of many performances. We saw hula dancing (?), shamisen (三味線, a traditional Japanese three stringed instrument), and energetic Japanese drumming performances.
It was quite warm in the sun with lots of food vendors, a wedding ceremony and a plenty of plum blossoms were a perfect way to start spring in Tokyo.
The plum festival ended on 8th March 2019 but if you want to pray and wish good luck for important exams, this is the place to come.
Want to check it out yourself? Yushima Tenjin is located at 3 Chome-30-１ Yushima, Bunkyō, Tokyo 113-0034 and the closest metro is Yushima station.
Native Expat 
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