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A folktale of Fukushima

The Tale of Yagibairin (The Plum Groves of Yagi)
Japanese French Vietnamese

A Tale from Asaminami Ward in Hiroshima.

Once upon a time, around 1,150 years ago. This story tells of the start of rice planting around the time that the towering Mt. Abu was enrobed in green. The location of our story is the set in the village of Yagi, at the foot of a mountain upon which Yagi Castle stood.

A lone monk was walking slowly along the path towards the village.

“My goodness, today is awfully hot and humid.” As he said this, wiping the sweat from his forehead, he noticed a teahouse of a roadside hotel.

“Ting. Praise Buddha. Praise Buddha. May I please rest here for a little bit?”

Yonezaemon, the shopkeeper replied, “Of course, come in, come in. It is cool in here. Please come in and rest.”

“Thank you, thank you. It is almost unbearably muggy today.”

“Mr. Monk sir, it must be difficult to carry out your practices on a day like this.”

The proprietor of the teahouse placed a single pickled-plum into a teacup, and then poured bancha tea over it. “Mr. Monk sir. Here, please drink this plum tea. We only serve this when it is hot. It will ease your mood. And it will quench your thirst immediately.”

“Thank you for your kind gesture. I accept this gratefully.”

The monk took a sip of the plum tea. “Oh, this plum tea is incredibly delicious. Can you tell me where these plums are grown?” he asked.

“Well, they are from the land around here.”

“I see, I see. The land around this village must have the most ideal soil for plums. So, in appreciation of this delicious tea, might I trouble you to show me around the village, so that I can examine the land that grows these perfect plum trees?”

“Yes yes, I would be happy to.”

The monk, guided by the teashop owner, walked around the village, examining the soil until they reached a district called Azakibara. “Oh. This place is ideal for plum trees. They should be planted here,” he said, wanting to encourage the planting of the plums. And he continued, “Use the seeds from the delicious plums I had the pleasure of enjoying earlier. Plant them here. Before long they will bud, the flowers will bloom, and they will bear fruit. And with this fruit, you will avoid disaster and plague, and there will be prosperity in this land.”

Then he headed off towards Kawauchi.

“Ting. Ting.”

Over time, just as the monk had said, the trees grew large, producing beautifully blooming flowers with a sweet fragrance that reached the banks of the Ohtagawa River. And they bore many fine, large, fruits. And that was the beginning of Yagibairin (the plum groves of Yagi). The plums contained plenty of potassium, phosphorous, iron and many other minerals.

Pickled plums and other things that can be made from the fruit, including plum tea, plum wine, and roasted pickled plums, can have an extremely positive effect on the human body. Also, because the saying “With plums, you can escape the troubles of the day” lives on through literature, travellers place pickled plums in their luggage. There is an excellent view of about 33,000 square metres of plum grove from across the Ohtagawa River, and it is said that in the spring, visitors flock to the plum grove for blossom viewing or talking strolls through the trees.

During the typhoid epidemic following the Sino-Japanese War, the army kept a supply of plums for medicinal purposes. However, since the plum groves were used as wheat and vegetable fields during World War II, the numbers of the plentiful plum trees slowly began to dwindle. And now, since the renovation of the Ohtagawa River floodway, you can hardly see them at all. This only really leaves the train station and public housing with the name bairin (plum grove). The white plum blossom has been incorporated into the Yagi Elementary School badge and school song.

Oh, and by the way, Kukai supposedly opened the Fukuo Temple in Kabe and the Yakushi Temple in Fukugawa in appreciation of the monk.

So it was told, once upon a time.

The End




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