Oh! Sumo-san!!

Look who I'm with in the picture!
I came across two sumo-wrestlers in Osaka! In Japanese they are called お相撲さん(osumou-san)
Who are they?? What ranking are they in?
I'm sorry,, I don't know :p

Waving flags with the names of the supporters ...these are displayed around the big dome in Nanba, Osaka, where I came to work today.
Sumo tournament is held here in this time of the year. I didn't know about that..

Actually never have I thought that sumo tournament, our traditional sport has been held in middle of the downtown area like this.

This is the entrance gate! not so crowded... because matches were already started by then.
It was around 4 p.m. when I passed by here.. the highly ranked osumou-sans will show up for match later than this. So I guess the ones I took pictures with could be the lower-ranked. But I'm happy anyway!!

It's time for Ume!

Everybody who comes to Japan in spring is so excited to see Sakura, cherry blossom.
It's coming soon! But before that why don't we enjoy another special flower??
This time of the year is the best time for viewing 梅(ume) or plum blossom.
Plum flower is another famous flower, and lots of historical buildings have them in their gardens.
Here, Kitano Tenmangu(北野天満宮) is the best place if you want to see a lot of beautiful plum blossoms.

Why it's famous for plum blossoms? The deity worshiped here was said to be a plum blossom lover. He is called Michizane Sugawara(菅原道真) , also renowned as a great scholar in ancient time. This episode gives a great influence on the fact the shrine crest here is the design of plum blossom.
Plum was brought from China and originally used as a medicine.
When one said {flower}, actually it often referred to plum blossoms.
So it started to be one of their favorite flowers to view.

What do you think they are doing here??
This is the place to make wish to the deity who is enshrined in the main hall, which is located behind the building in the picture. They are lining up for wishing.. and most of the time their wish is connected with study for Michizane himself was a great scholar in Japanese history.
I used to line up like them when I was a student!

Michizane was also a competent politician, climing up the ladder in Imperial Court, and won the strong trust from the emperor. As a result, he succeeded in being his right arm.
But there came up a group of people who were so jealous of him(he was not from the higher class of family and many of the bureaucrats were from prestigeous families)and whispered to the emperor about his bad rumor, which made Michizane fall into their trap. He was demoted to a minor official of a further western island of Kyushu, where he later ended his life by disease.
What happened after his death was epidemic disease and thunders and storms attacking Imperial Court and Kyoto, which made them believe that all this were invoked by Michizane's anger.
So people started to build small shrines for him to appease his anger. That is the story behind the establishment of this shrine.. Things never change! We can not escape from being jealous.. I guess it's the fate of human beings.

These are wooden votive tablets at the shrine.

People write down wish on them. There are lords of them!!

Kitano Tenmangu is one of the major spots not only in Kyoto, but Japan to make your scholastic wish! This season is the time of entrance examination at schools, so I saw a lot of young people today.

Back to Ume..

I'm taking the picture of a man who is trying to take photo of ume.

What flexible legs he has!

Unlike sakura, ume stay in bloom more than a week, so it means you have more time

to enjoy them and it's hardly possible that you miss viewing their beautiful blooms. These are parts of the reasons why I like them.

I'm so excited to see more beautiful flowers in coming spring..!

I'm a bit crazy photo person, so I'll post more pics of flowers as soon as I take some.