Hanami 2007

(Open to view album)

花見 literally means the ‘flower viewing', and is one of the most evocative Japanese festivals. It is celebrated in March and April with the exact date depending on the seasonal weather and the region of that you are in, with cherry blossoms opening at slightly different times each year and at different times in different locations.

The tradition 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.

櫻 (Sakura), meaning cherry blossoms, are seen by many as being a metaphor for life: shining and beautiful, but fleeting and fragile, and the blooming of the cherry trees is celebrated each year during the festival of Hanami.

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.

During Hanami, 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. In many places, Hanami coincides with the beginning of the new school year, and are often combined with welcome parties.

If you open this entry, you can see a selection of my personal Hanami pictures from this year, including 3 different varieties of blossom. As you can probably tell from the clear blue skies, these weren't taken in Shanghai (the home of yellow smog). Instead, they are from somewhere a little more "traditional".

tags: hanami  cherry blossom  blossom  sakura  flower  

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