Hanami
(cherry blossom viewing)
Spring is the season of flowers in Japan. When spring comes, Japan is full of flowers of many hues and shapes, beautiful and colorful. The best known spring flower is the cherry blossom, which is called sakura in Japanese. The cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan, and the Japanese have traditionally enjoyed viewing cherry blossoms every year in the spring. This custom is called hanami in Japanese. When the cherry blossoms bloom, usually early in April, people go cherry blossom viewing. They spread straw mats under the cherry trees, sit there, and enjoy viewing the beautiful blossoms. People also enjoy eating many different kinds of food packed in lunch boxes, drinking sake, and singing. Hanami, therefore, looks like an outdoor party.
The custom of viewing cherry blossoms originated from a Buddhist ceremony that was performed by the court nobles in the twelfth century. It gained wide popularity in the seventeenth century although the religious aspect of the ceremony disappeared.
The cherry blossoms only remain for a few days. This causes people to associate the changes in human life with the blossoms. These short-lived cherry blossoms also symbolized the ideals of Japanese militarism that glorified death in battle during the war. Death in battle, which was likened to the falling cherry blossoms, was regarded as beautiful at that time.
Towards the end of March, the Meteorological Agency starts forecasting the days the cherry blossoms will bloom for each part of Japan. These forecasts are covered in the newspapers and on TV. These forecasts help people decide when and where to go cherry blossom viewing.
There are many kinds of cherry trees. Most of the cherry trees planted in parks and along dikes are someiyoshinos. Many of the cherry trees that grow wild in the mountains are yamazakuras. There are also many types of blossoms including the weeping cherry and the double-flowered cherry. Weeping cherries are called shidare-zakura in Japanese, and double-flowered cherries are yae-zakura. There are also a variety of blossom colors ranging from pale pink to reddish pink.
The Japanese language has many idioms that are related to the cherry blossoms. The idioms hana-gumori and hana-bie both refer to the weather in the season when the cherry blossoms bloom. Hana-gumori means the cloudy weather in this season, and hana-bie means that the cold returns even though the flowers are already in bloom. The expression sakura-fubuki refers to petals of cherry blossoms falling and scattering like snowflakes in a snowstorm. The idiom hana-yori-dango literally means that people prefer dumplings (dango) to flowers (hana). This implies that the true purpose of viewing cherry blossoms is simply to enjoy drinking and eating.