Gifu, as quiet as it is, has some unique aspects and places. One of those is a park featuring exclusively plum trees – 130 different varieties of them, in fact. Plum blossoms in Japan are associated with the end of the school year and graduation, because they tend to bloom in March, which is the end of the Japanese school year. (Cherry blossoms, on the other hand, are associated with new beginnings, and typically bloom around the time the Japanese school year begins – early April.)
Cultural notes aside, the city holds a festival at this park the first weekend in March. This happens to coincide with my partner’s birthday, and with as much as she loves seasonal things and plants, there was no question about it. We were going.
The blossoms were stunning, and I got thoroughly drooled on by a Burmese Mountain Dog.
More pictures here! Written-out.
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