Mikan Blossoms

Opening my study window lately has brought me the faint scent of mikan blossoms--the neighbor has a single mikan tree in her yard. Catching that aroma has made me long for mikan orchards, so I made a brief day trip down to the Nishiura district of northwest Izu this week. I've been meaning to visit since Orchards was released...but almost nothing has gone as expected in Japan this spring.

In Nishiura, my husband and I dropped in on the farm family that I worked with for 18 months. It was like visiting relatives you have missed, and I was finally able to give them a copy of Orchards.

The generations have shifted in the few years since I worked there: the grandfather and grandmother have both passed away, and the eldest son now has two young children. It is reassuring to know that  the three-generation household continues.

We sat and chatted at the house for over an hour, catching up on family news and recent happenings. We talked about tsunami escape routes, nuclear power, and how what used to seem safe is no longer  really safe. How years ago in the villages the houses were all set farther back from the bay but that gradually they have been built closer and closer to the water for convenience.

Then we drove up in the truck to the terraced orchards and parked in the grove where I'd done my very first thinning work.

the farmer with a copy of Orchards

And thanks to cool temperatures lately, flowering has been delayed, so that the mikan trees up at 160 meters are just now in full bloom. The fragrance wafts over the mountains and blows through the villages, a rich honey aroma like that of jasmine. I have so missed that scent, and in the groves I gulped lungs full of the sweet air.

mikan (Citrus unshu) blossoms

We looked closely at the flowers on the trees and tasted the nectar surrounding the tiny peppercorn-sized mikan inside.

examining the flowers

 We talked about mold concerns. About how there haven't been enough bees this year. How the deer are becoming real pests, and that they will even eat ears of rice. How shinryoku (new green leaves) in the hills is even prettier than fall foliage. I was so glad to be back in the groves immersed in farm talk among the rows of trees, and I breathed in the heady scent of mikan blossom until I was nearly hyperventilating.

Eventually the farmer said, "Do you want to take some home?" and he cut two branches for me.

 among the mikan trees with hills in new green

When we left village, the farmer and his wife gave us a bag of large natsu mikan (summer mikan, Citrus natsudaidai) and cans of jutaro mikan, the district's famous variety.

Before leaving the area we had a lunch at the farmer's cousin's restaurant Irie, 井里絵.

aji (horse mackerel) rice bowl lunch

We also stopped at the district hall to donate a copy of Orchards to the district library. Then we took a brief hike in the Darumayama area...

and enjoyed a quick hotspring bath in Shuzenji. Perfect.

All the way back to Kamakura in the car I breathed in mikan bloom. At home I set the branches in a vase. Now the breeze blows through the open windows. If I close my eyes, block my ears, I can imagine I'm back in the mikan groves.

cans of Jutaro mikan, branches of unshu mikan, plate of large natsu mikan