Heritage

Cherry blossoms frame a pagoda on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
On Meadow-hills and dale,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?

These lyrics begin the famous traditional folk song Sakura, which pays tribute to the magnificence of the cherry blossom. Because of their short blooming times, these flowers appear and disappear like the transient nature of mist and clouds, and to the Japanese symbolize the ephemeral cycle of life. The concept of mono no aware - a sensitivity and appreciation to the transience of things - is embodied in this delicate flower.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency gives daily reports on the sakura zensen (cherry-blossom front) as it moves up the archipelago with the warmer weather. The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches the popular tourist destinations of Miyajima, Kyoto, the Mt. Fuji area, and Tokyo around the end of March or the beginning of April. The public tracks these movements with great anticipation.

Hanami, flower-viewing parties

During the Heian Period (794–1191) cherry trees were planted and cultivated for their beauty especially in Kyoto, the capital city during this era. The phenomenon of hanami - which translates loosely as flower viewing - came into vogue especially among the Japanese nobility of the time and has never left. Instead, the trend blossomed to include all levels of the social strata. Modern-day Japan has not lost the enthusiasm for hanami as reflected in Nobel-Prize winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata's The Old Capital, which is set in Kyoto. His protagonist Chieko Sada – in spite of being in the midst of family issues and affairs of the heart - is still as eager as the rest of her fellow countrymen and women to view the magnificent blossoms.

Twenty-first century Japan continues the tradition of hanami with people flocking to parks, shrines, and temples with family and friends to hold flower-viewing parties. Sakura Festivals take place throughout Japan as the flowers reveal themselves from the Yaedake Cherry Blossom Festival in Motobu on the southern island of Okinawa to the Matsumae Park Cherry Blossom Festival in the town of Matsumae on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Many cherry blossom festivals incorporate other Japanese rituals including tea ceremonies and traditional Japanese music and dance performances.

At cherry blossom festivals vendors set up temporary stalls selling regional Japanese delicacies, as well as all kinds of o-miyage (souvenirs) embroidered or emblazoned with the sakura. The sakura is, after all, an omen of good fortune, and is an emblem of love.

As the season of the cherry blossom proceeds northward, a beautiful blanket of pedals is left in its wake. As with life, the cycle is complete. <Explore more>