Ume(often translated as "plum tree",but in the strict sense these two are different species altogether)is believed to have its origin in China and that it was imported from there in the ancient ages along with various things such as hashi(chopsticks),kanji,and noodle,which have taken root so deeply in Japan that now no one takes them for the imported.
In Kitano Tenmangû,a shrine in north Kyôto City,you can see three types of ume blossoms:hakubai(literally "white ume",white flowers),kôbai(literally "red ume",red flowers),and rôbai(literally"wax ume",yellow flowers whose petals are semitransparent).
People enjoy to see them in rather a quiet manner,contrary to enjoying sakura(cherry) blossoms with an extreme euphoria.

This shrine is dedicated to Sugawarano Michizane(845-903),a learned and competent but downfallen and relegated courtier in the Heian period(around 9C-12C).
After his death he had his honor retrieved and was enshrined as a god called Tenjinsama,now believed to help believers pass entrance exams with his knowledge(Originally,Tenjin was a god of thunder,rain and farming before him,but since Michizane was deified and regarded as Tenjinsama its origin had been forgotten.).

Statue of a cow,believed to be a messenger for Tenjinsama.	Hakubai and kôbai.
A shrine behind kôbai blossoms.
Shidareume(weeping ume).	These ume trees are for seeing.To make umeboshi,there are some varieties other than them.
In late February,you can see full of flowers here.	What's this ume-blossom-like mark? - It's an advertisement plate for EXPO back in 1970...(a discovery on the wall at central Kyôto)

-Taken in February,2002-

MEMO
Kitano Tenmangû is in the north part of Kyôto,where Kinkakuji(the Golden Pavillion) and Ryôanji(famous for its Zen garden) are also located nearby.
To reach Kitano Tenmangû,get on Kyoto Citybus No.203 and get off at a bus stop named "Kitano Tenmangu-mae".
Be careful that this bus rotates inside Kyôto city both in the right and left direction,so getting on the wrong direction must take you a terrible roundabout and a waste of time.
Kôbai and hakubai begin to bloom around early February and probably the best season to see their flowers would be from the second half of February to the early March.
But rôbai,a variety of yellow flowers,starts to bloom in the earlier season and its flowers begin to wither ahead of other trees.