Find love as spring time blossoms.

Find love as spring time blossoms.

When spring arrives in Japan it is a delight to the senses. The dullness of winter transforms into warm spring colors as boughs of cherry blossoms or sakura create magnificent pink canopies all over Japan.

The viewing of cherry blossoms in Japan is a centuries old tradition known as hanami. Literally the translation of hanami is hana “flower” and mi “to view” or simply put “to view flowers”, but there is much more to hanami than just viewing flowers.

In Spring, warmer weather and more sunshine create a happy atmosphere. To celebrate this season families, friends and coworkers like to get together and have potluck style picnics under the cherry blossoms. It is a common sight to see groups sitting on blankets spread under the trees eating, drinking and enjoying hanami.

Common foods at these parties are rice balls onigiri that are sometimes colored pink like the blossoms. Toasting with sake, singing, laughing, enjoying food and camaraderie under the cherry blossoms make these merry and sometimes boisterous occasions.

Blossoms in the spring have often been written about by poets to describe the restless promise of new romance in both the east and the west.

Early Japanese waka poet Ariwara no Narihira (825-880) wrote, “If there were no cherry blossoms in this world, how much more tranquil our hearts would be in spring.”

Much later, echoing the same restless sentiments, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote, “O, how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day!”

The romantic atmosphere cherry blossoms bring to a spring evening is not lost on couples in Japan. Viewing sakura at night is called yozakura or “night sakura”. Many parks in Japan hang temporary paper lanterns for the purpose of night time yozakura. The decorative appearance and soft glow of the lanterns add to the romantic ambience. Couples walking together under the cherry blossoms at night hand in hand is a common sight during yozakura.

The cherry blossom season in Japan is short, lasting only a few weeks. Once the cherry blossoms reach their most colorful peak they begin to die and fall from the trees shortly thereafter. Sakura are a colorful reminder of the beauty and constant renewal of life, but also of its impermanence. In this way, hanami reminds us that life is beautiful but short and we should celebrate being alive!