Plum Festival
Kairakuen, Mito. February 2026.
Three thousand plum trees bloom every February in Kairakuen, Mito. They’ve been doing this since 1842. The name means a park to be enjoyed together.
The blossoms are small, pale, close to the bark. You have to get close to see them. Lanterns strung between branches, food stalls steaming in the cold, a taiko drum somewhere behind the trees. Nobody rushes.
Cherry blossoms get all the fame but plum festival is quieter, earlier, colder. Still winter. Heavy coat weather. Your breath is visible.
There’s a word, shun (旬) --- the peak ten days of a thing. When a fruit is at its most perfect, a fish at its fattest, a flower at its most open. You show up because the trees are ready. The gathering is shaped by the season, not the other way around.