PLUM BLOSSOM PALACE
Umenomiya Taisha (梅宮大社), familiarly known as Ume-no-miya (梅宮 the 'Plum Blossom Palace'), enshrines the 'god of saké', Ōyamatsumi (大山祇神), and his daughter, 'god of easy childbirth', Konohanasakuya-hime (木花咲耶姫).
It's also known for its cats
It is the goddess of childbirth that we have to thank for the many plum trees growing in the grounds of Umenomiya Taisha.
The word for 'giving birth' (umu 産む) and 'plum' (ume 梅) sound similar, and as ume are some of the first trees to bloom after the winter they have come to symbolise new life.
Offerings of ume trees were made throughout the centuries.
The scholar Motoori Norinaga (本居宣長 1730-1801) included this poem with his gift...
may a plum be planted,
nay, may a thousand
or eight thousand be planted
so that seen from afar
they appear as a sacred shrine fence.
It's no coincidence that plum blossoms became connected to the enshrined goddess 'Konohanasakuya-hime' (木花咲耶姫), for 'konohana' (此の花) has long been used as an appellation for ume.
Just as at Tenman-gū shrines, ume are considered to be sacred symbols.
The shrine was likely founded by Agatainukai-no-Michiyo (県犬養三千代 655?-733), mother of Empress Kōmyō (光明皇后), to enshrine her family ancestors (she was the first of her clan to hold the name Tachibana).
Empress Kōmyō then moved the shrine to the capital Heijō-kyō (平城京 the old name for Nara).
With the capital moved to Heian-kyō (Kyōto), Tachibana-no-Kachiko (橘嘉智子 786-850) brought the shrine to the banks of the Ōi-gawa (大堰川).
Years before, struggling to conceive, she had visited Ume-no-miya to ask for divine help.
She was blessed with a son, the future Emperor Ninmyō, and so moved it closer so her family to could more easily worship the gods.
Following a run of bad luck Ninmyō moved the shrine to its current site after it was noted that his mother had not quite fulfilled an oracle received from the gods about where in Kyōto they wished to reside.
Members of the Tachibana clan would serve as head for many generations.
Although it's unclear when the shrine's garden was first created, it took its current form in the Edo period.
Water from the Ōi River (大堰川) feeds the east (iris and azalea), north (hydrangea, cherry and iris) and west gardens (ume, daffodils and spider lilies).