Colours of Spring in Kyushu, Japan

Spring is when nature starts to clear the grey and bid farewell to the cold and reintroduce a range of fresh-scented, vibrant flowers that will help you invite the outside in. Spring is fast on its way to Japan and with spring comes a fascination with her flowers. Beautiful blooms sprout as the days begin to warm.

The best way to celebrate the flowers of spring in Japan is to head out to a local park or garden for a stroll or a picnic – it’s a popular pastime so we have to be prepared for crowds!.


Kyushu is the third largest island in the Japanese archipelago and the southernmost in the chain. The region includes eight prefectures: Fukuoka, Saga, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Oita, Kagoshima, Miyazaki and Okinawa.

Here's are some of the "colours of spring" captured here in Kyushu Island. Enjoy it!

1) Plum or Apricot Blossoms (Ume)
Ume blossoms can range in color from almost white to a bright pink and are often mistaken for cherry blossoms.

+- close up of pink Ume -+

+- long shot of Pink Ume -+

+- Nazhan and I under the White Ume Tree at Dazaifu Shrine-+

The fruit of the ume tree, the Japanese plum is considered to bring good luck in Japan, that is if you eat one each morning!.

The photos that I'm sharing here in this entry were taken at the Dazaifu Shrine in Fukuoka prefecture and also at the Glover Garden in Nagasaki.

+- SN's family with the Pink Ume Trees -+

+- combination of White and Pink Ume Trees at Glover Garden, Nagasaki -+

2) Peach Blossoms (Momo)
The peach holds a special place in the hearts of the Japanese is said to be useful in driving away evil. This concept is the basis for the popular folk tale Momotaro, where a young boy is found floating in a giant peach and grows up to defeat demons.

+- White Momo -+

+- Bright Pink Momo -+

+- Peach Momo -+

+- Maroon Momo -+

+- Left pic: Pink Momo -+
+- Right pic : SN's family under the White Momo Tree -+

3) Vegetable Flower (Nanohana)
The nanohaha is a brilliant yellow plants which indicate that spring is coming!.

I found this flowers by the highway; on my way to buy groceries on last weekend. From the distance, I saw some bright yellow flowers planted in a bed in someone's garden. In neat, tidy rows, upon closer inspection, I saw that yes, it is actually flowers in a vegetable.

Nanohana, in Japanese literally translates into 'Vegetable Flower' but it also can be read to mean wild flower, or flower of the field.

The plant is completely edible but in case if you asked, NO I didn't eat it!. Nanohana blooms just before the cherry and it's view is breathtakingly beautiful.

+- stiffing the non-fragrance flower -+

+- ♥ is in the air -+

I've shared about yellow rape blossoms flowers in my entry last year. Check out Nokonoshima Island 1 and Nokonoshima Island 2.


4) Tulip

The tulip is a bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which belongs to the family Liliaceae. ^-wikipedia-

These photos of tulips were captured during our visit to Glover Garden in Nagasaki, last month.

+- pink and yellow Tulips -+


+- Nazhan was sleepy, I already fell asleep while hubby is the only one wide awake in this picture. LOL! -+

I've shared some other info about tulip in the entry Huis Ten Bosch and Nokonoshima Island. Check it out if you've missed reading it before this.


5) Japanese Flowering Quince

So many people grow these flowers in front of their houses in Japan so I can enjoy looking at these flowers every single day.

+- Look at Nazhan's mouth; it goes pouting on his effort to pronounce the word "purple" -+

6) Cherry Blossoms (Sakura)
The cherry blossom season is so anticipated that there are even calendars that will tell you when the cherry blossoms will start to bloom.

+- close up shot of the Sakuras -+

Sakura; without any doubt is considered as Japan's trademark alongside with their famous Ultraman, Doreamon, Ninja and Geisha.

+- Masya Allah; it is remarkably beautiful -+

+- we surely don't want to be missed out in capturing this captivating view -+

The life of the cherry blossoms is short, only about five to twelve days, so you need to act fast and plan well to take in these blooms at their peak.

+- SN's family were stunned by the stunning view of sakura from under the tree -+

Sakura is a symbol of Japan, and it's said that there are over four hundred varieties of cherry trees in Japan. The most popular kind of sakura which can be viewed everywhere in Japan is somei-yoshino (Yedoensis). Japanese cherry trees do not yield fruits like other cherry trees.

+- Thank you Allah for this opportunity to view Sakura once again this year -+

+- A pose inspired by the ANTM show. Tyra, please don't eliminate me this week -+

I've mentioned about Sakura before this in my blog. If you've missed reading it, check it out at Spring Equinox and Hanami.

(7) Unidentified flowers/plants

It is called Unidentified Flower not because it is unusual; but purely because of the lack of information from my side, thus I was not able to provide you the name of this beautiful plants. Nevertheless, I do hope you enjoy the view and if ever anyone who's reading this entry know what is the flower, kindly leave comment in this entry. Thanks in advance.

+- Beautiful unknown purple flower -+

+- green and white bushes seems nice too, aren't they? -+

Also, you can find several other flowers during the spring season here in Japan; as I've shared in my last year's entry of Uminonakamichi Park.

Most of the bloggers will upload photos with no or less words in Wednesday in conjunction with the Wordless Wednesday. As for me, I found it really hard to upload photos without accompanying it with my blabbering in the post. I actually wanted to make a Wordless Wednesday post too today; but it seems that I've failed in doing so.

Some of the info about the flowers mentioned in this entry were taken from here, here, and here.

This coming weekend, we are going to throw out a Hanami (sakura viewing) party at Kasuga Koen. I'll surely blog about it later; next week. Till then, I hope you guys enjoy the pictures as well as those info and explanations that I've put along in this entry.

Pssssttt : sekarang ni subuh pukul 4:30 pg dan sunrise pukul 6 pg..uhuhuhuh, kena set 3 alarm untuk bangun Subuh; kalau tak..memang terbabas jauh lah jawabnya.