Source: Tenmangu goden kiryaku, by Hirata Atsutane (1820) with illustrations by Kuwagata Keisai

Michizane saying farewell to his plum tree before he leaves to go into exile. Overcome with emotion at having to leave his home, he is supposed to have recited the following poem:

kochi fukaba	When the east wind blows
nioi okoseyo	let it send your fragrance,
ume no hana	oh plum blossoms.
aruji nashi tote	Although your master is gone,
haru o wasuruna	do not forget the spring.

He is said to have then composed the following poem for his favorite cherry tree:

sakurabana	Oh cherry blossoms,
nushi o wasurenu	if you are the ones
mono nareba	who do not forget your master,
fukikomu kaze ni	send me a message
kotozute wa seyo	in the wind that blows my way.

Both poems' basic idea is that a tree should recall its owner by blooming even when he is gone; its fragrance will be carried to him by the wind. These poems are given in the oldest version of Kitano Tenjin engi (The Origin of Kitano Tenjin Shrine). The first illustrated version of this text includes the story that the plum tree was so affected by the poem that it flew to Kyushu so that it could be with its master. There is a plum tree growing in front of the Tenjin Shrine in Kyushu that is supposed to be a descendent of the one that flew from Michizane's garden in the capital.

In the Edo period a slightly different version developed: when Michizane arrived in Kyushu he longed for his favorite plum tree and recited the poem above. The tree then flew to join him. The cherry tree, feeling neglected, withered and died.

Around this same time a pine tree was added to the plum and cherry. Michizane is said to have composed this poem after being banished from court:

Oinu tote	Although it is old,
matsu no midori zo	The pine tree grows
masarikeru	ever greener,
waga kurokami no	while my black hair
yuki no samusa ni	becomes frosted with snow.

The stories that developed about Michizane and the pine tree relate to puns on the first word in this poem, oinu. In the poem, oinu means "grown old" or "aged," but it can also mean "grown" in the sense of "a tree has grown" as well as "followed."

Michizane was first connected to the pine in the Omi oracle of 947. It revealed that a servant named Oimatsu (Old Pine) had accompanied Michizane to Kyushu and that Michizane wished to be worshipped at Kitano, where pines would grow. Soon afterward thousands of pines were said to have miraculously grown at Kitano overnight, and so it became the site of the first Kitano Tenjin shrine.

By the early Edo the following poem had been created to incorporate all three trees:

ume wa tobi	In this world,
sakura wa karuru	the plum has flown;
yo no naka ni	the cherry has withered.
nani tote matsu no	Why is the pine alone
tsurenakaruran	so heartless?

According to the legend attached to this poem, the pine at Michizane's home in the capital was so embarrassed by Michizane's poetic remonstrance that it "followed" (oinu) the plum and flew to Kyushu. The Noh play Oimatsu (The Old Pine Tree) hints at this story. And these three trees (and poems) are one of the keys to the elaborate plot of the Bunraku puppet play, Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy, which we will be reading later in the course.

[all translations and information from Robert Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court]