For the first time in four years, producers in Wakayama, which boasts the highest plum harvest in Japan, donate plums to Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto and other places wearing Heian costumes.
About 50 people visited Shimogamo Shrine in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, including members of the Kishu Plum Blossom Association, an organization made up of plum producers in Wakayama Prefecture.
In the Muromachi period, the organization designated June 6 as "Plum Day" based on the record of offering plums at the annual festival, which corresponds to the current Aoi Festival, and has held the "Kishu Ume Dochu" every year to dedicate plums to Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine.
On the 6th, it was held for the first time in four years after the corona disaster, and the group, dressed in Heian costumes, put about 4 kilometers of Minamikoume in a basket and walked along the approach to the shrine.
They then dedicated plum blossoms to the main shrine and prayed for a disease-free life and thanked for the blessings.
Mune Sugimoto, chairman of the Kishu Plum Association's Umeboshi Subcommittee, said, "The plum harvest has begun in earnest, and I hope that the plum culture will spread to young people and eat it."