梅 means 'plum tree'

This "fruit basket" has caused creative juices to flow in Japan. The trees and fruits connect to colors, haiku, proverbs, myths, folktales, and wordplay. People associate peaches with Shangri-la and instability, Japanese apricots with happiness, and persimmons with Mount Fuji and writing brushes. The Japanese fully use certain trees—the wood in furniture, the leaves in tea (and even in sushi!), and fruit, roots, and bark in dye, paper, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The juice goes into drinks, alcoholic or tame. And the Japanese and ancient Chinese have viewed these fruits and their trees as warding off misfortune!

Storms produce down-to-earth concerns about when the rain will begin, the damage to crops and buildings, and more. Such grounded thinking permeates these essays. But they also include wildly fanciful beliefs: lightning impregnates rice, thunder is a scolding from a god who might wield a hammer, and a chant or a charm affords protection from lightning. Weather inspires copious metaphors, such as "political storm," "tempest in a teapot," and "thunderous applause." There's also 花に嵐 (inevitable storm that blossoms have to face); literally, it knocks off blossoms, and figuratively it means that one is bound to encounter difficulties.