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花見 - Hanami
posted Sunday, 26 March 2006
Date: Sun 26 Mar 2006 — Sat 15 Apr 2006,
Type: All Day Event
China is the plum blossom, the most enduring of all the blossoms.
Majestic, wise, and ancient.
Japan is the Cherry Blossom, the most fragile and glorious of all the blossoms.
Brief, yet Fiery and beautiful.
Majestic, wise, and ancient.
Japan is the Cherry Blossom, the most fragile and glorious of all the blossoms.
Brief, yet Fiery and beautiful.
櫻 (Sakura), meaning cherry blossoms, are seen by many in Japan as being a metaphor for life: shining and beautiful, but fleeting and fragile, and the blooming of the Japan’s cherry trees is celebrated each year during the festival of 花見 (Hanami)
花見 literally means the ‘flower viewing’, and is one of the most evocative Japnaese festivals. It is celebrated between late March and early April with the exact date depending on the seasonal weather and the region of Japan that you are in, with cherry blosoms openning at slightly diffferent times each year and at different times in different locations.
In many places, Hanami celebrations happen at the beginning of the Japanese school year, and are often combined with welcome parties.
During Hanami, Japanese families like to gather in parks and other green areas to have family picnic beneath flowering cherry trees, at night paper lanterns are often hung from the cherry trees to giving them a beautiful ethereal tone while families have picnics and parties beneath them.
History
The tradition of Hanami began as the admiration of flowering plum blossom, which was introduced to Japan through contact with the Chinese Tang Dynasty (Nara Period, 710-784). Hanami became associated with the Cherry Blossom during the reign of Emperor Saga (746-842) and is now almost exclusively devoted to the cherry blossom.
View
Those interested in seeing Angry Chinese Blogger's 2005 Hanami photographs can do so simply by clicking here.
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