Sakon no Sakura, Ukon no Tachibana

Japanese: 左近の桜･右近の橘 - さこんのさくらうこんのたちばな

Cherry trees and tachibana trees planted in the front garden of Shishinden (also called Nanden) in the Heian Palace. Sakon and Ukon are abbreviations for the Left and Right Konoefu. Sakon and Ukon were set up to the east and west of Shishinden, respectively, and these trees were named after the fact that they were planted right at the head of their camps. In the Kojidan, written at the end of the Heian period, it is said that the cherry trees in Nanden were originally plum trees, planted when the capital was moved to Heian in 794 (Enryaku 13), but were destroyed in the fire that destroyed the Imperial Palace in 960 (Tentoku 4). When the Imperial Palace was newly built, cherry trees from the home of Prince Shigeakira were planted in place of the plum trees, and the tachibana trees grew in the home of a man named Tachibana no Daifu, who lived there before the capital was moved to Heian.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

平安宮内裏の紫宸殿(南殿ともいう)前庭に植えられている桜とタチバナ。左近･右近は左近衛府･右近衛府の略称。左近は紫宸殿の東方に，右近は西方に陣をしくが，ちょうどその陣頭の辺に植えられているのでこの名がある。平安時代末期にできた《古事談》に，南殿の桜はもと梅であって，794年(延暦13)の平安遷都のとき植えられたが，960年(天徳4)の内裏焼亡の際に焼失し，内裏新造のとき，梅に代えて重明親王の家の桜を植えたものであり，タチバナは平安遷都以前，そこに住んでいた橘大夫という人の家に生えていたものである，という話が見える。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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