12 THE JAPANESE FLORAL CALENDAR. 



and holiday. "Often one sees visionary old men sitting lost in rev- 

 erie, and murmuring to themselves of ume-no-hana, the plum-blos- 

 som. They sip tea, they rap out the ashes from tiny pipes, and 

 slipping a writing-case from the girdle, unroll a scroll of paper, 

 and indite an ode or sonnet. Then with radiant face and cheerful 

 muttering, the ancient poet will slip his toes into his clogs, and tie 

 the little slip to the branches of the most charming tree."* Ac- 

 cording to a Japanese poem, "the sight of the plum-blossom causes 

 the ink to flow in the writing-room." 



So prevalent is flower-viewing in Japan, that Prof. Chamber- 

 lain tells of a party of "380 blind shampooers who went out to see 



A VIEW IN THE RECUMBENT DRAGON PLUM GARDEN. 



the plum-blossoms at Sugita," and were made safe by a long rope 

 which held them together ! 



The following is a free translationf of another plum-poem : 



"In spring-time, on a cloudless night, 

 When moonbeams throw their silver pall 

 O'er wooded landscape, veiling all 

 In one soft cloud of misty white, 

 'Twere in vain, almost, to hope to trace 

 The plum-trees in their lovely bloom 



* Miss Scidmore's Jinrikisha Days in Japan. 

 t Conder's Flowers of Japan. 



