Udo — not job-hunting or living in Germany, but the spring mountain vegetable sold at greengrocers. Its crunch, aroma, and slight bitterness with vine miso is irresistible; tempura, charred peel with miso, kinpira — all taste of spring.
That udo blooms white in the mixed woods of the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace before Palaceside Building. Flowers open now — slender stems with spherical sprays of tiny white blooms like tiny fireworks.
It seems to move without wind — hence "udo" (moving); "independent living" kanji followed. Sprouts push up like living soil — "living earth" is another theory.
The idiom "udo no taiboku" (useless big tree) mocks tall weak stems good for neither timber nor food — unfair to a useful medicinal plant. Ganbatte.