Hanami

Close up on Cherry blossoms

Hanami (花見, lit. "Flower Viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms (Jp. sakura). From late March to early April, Sakura go into full bloom all over Japan. In modern-day Japan, Hanami mostly means of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura, which are pretty in daylight and enchanting at night. Hanami at night is called Yozakura lit. night Sakura.

History

The practice of Hanami is many centuries old. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710-784) when the Chinese Tang Dynasty influenced Japan in many ways; one of which was the custom of enjoying flowers. Yet, it was Ume (plum) blossoms that people admired at that time, and by the Heian Period, Sakura came to attract more attention. From then on, in tanka and haiku, flowers meant Sakura.

Sakura originally was used to divine that year's harvest as well as an announcer of the rice-planting season. People believed in gods' existence inside the trees and made offerings at the root of Sakura trees. Afterwards, they partook of the offering with Sake.

Emperor Saga of Heian Period adopted this and held flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the blossoming boughs of Sakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Poems would be written praising the delicate flowers, which were seen as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful yet fleeting and ephemeral. This is said to be the start of Hanami.

The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to Samurai society and by the Edo period to the common people as well. Under the Sakura trees, they had lunch and drank Sake in cheerful feasts.

Today, people continue with the tradition of Hanami, gathering in great numbers wherever the flowering trees are found. Thousands of people fill the parks to hold feasts under the flowering trees, and sometimes these parties go on until late at night.