Hanami (花見; "flower viewing";pronounced[hanamiꜜ]) is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers; flowers (花,hana) in this case almost always mean those of thecherry (桜,sakura) or, less frequently,plum (梅,ume) trees.[1] From the end of March to early May, cherry trees bloom all over Japan,[2] and around the second week of January on the island ofOkinawa.[3] The blossom forecast (桜前線,sakura-zensen) "cherry blossom front" is announced each year by theJapan Meteorological Agency and watched carefully by those planninghanami, as the blossoms only last a week or two.
In modern-day Japan,hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night. In some contexts theSino-Japanese termkan'ō (観桜; view-cherry) is used instead, particularly for festivals.Hanami at night is calledyozakura (夜桜) "night sakura". In many places such asUeno Park temporarypaper lanterns are hung for the purpose ofyozakura. On the island of Okinawa, decorative electric lanterns are hung in the trees for evening enjoyment, such as on the trees ascending Mt. Yae, nearMotobu Town, or at theNakijin Castle.
A more ancient form ofhanami also exists in Japan, which is enjoying the plum blossoms instead, which is narrowly referred to asumemi (梅見; plum-viewing). This kind ofhanami is popular among older people, because they are calmer than the sakura parties, which usually involve younger people and can sometimes be very crowded and noisy.
In these spring days,
when tranquil light encompasses
the four directions,
why do the blossoms scatter
with such uneasy hearts?
The practice ofhanami is many centuries old. The custom is said to have started during theNara period (710–794) when it was plum orume blossoms that people admired in the beginning. The Japanese practice ofhanami originated from theChinese custom of enjoying poetry and wine underneathplum blossom trees while viewing their flowers, that was replicated by Japanese elites. This is supported by the fact thathanami started in urban areas rather than rural areas, that Japanese people initially admired plum blossoms like the Chinese rather thancherry blossoms, and that classic Japanese poetry does not associate cherry blossoms with merriness.[5]
By theHeian period (794–1185), cherry blossoms orsakura came to attract more attention than the plum blossom andhanami was synonymous withsakura.[6] From then on, in bothwaka andhaiku, "flowers" meant "sakura".[7][8] The historical textNihon Kōki, documented the first observation of thesakura bloom in the year 812, which has been observed and recorded over the next twelve centuries.[9][10]
Hanami was first used as a term analogous to cherry blossom viewing in the Heian eranovelThe Tale of Genji. Although awisteria viewing party was also described, the terms "hanami" and "flower party" were subsequently used only in reference to cherry blossom viewing.
Sakura was originally used to divine that year's harvest as well as announce the rice-planting season. People believed inkami inside the trees and made offerings. Afterwards, they partook of the offering withsake.
Emperor Saga of the Heian period adopted this practice, and held flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the blossoming boughs of sakura trees in theImperial 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 was said to be the origin ofHanami in Japan.
If there were no cherry blossoms in this world
How much more tranquil our hearts would be in spring.
The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread toSamurai society and, by theEdo period, to the common people as well.Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.
Since a book written in the Heian period mentions "weeping cherry" (しだり櫻,shidarizakura), one of the cultivars with pendulous branches, it is considered thatPrunus itosakura 'Pendula' (Sidare-zakura) is the oldest cultivar in Japan. In theKamakura period, when the population increased in the southernKanto region, Oshima cherry, which originated inIzu Oshima Island, was brought toHonshu and cultivated there, and then brought to capital,Kyoto. In theMuromachi period, theSato-zakura Group which was born from complex interspecific hybrids based onOshima cherry, began to appear.[12]
Prunus itosakura (syn.Prunus subhirtella, Edo higan), a wild species, grows slowly, but has the longest life span among cherry trees and is easy to grow into large trees. For this reason, there are many large and long-lived trees of this species in Japan, and their cherry trees are often regarded as sacred and have become a landmark that symbolizesShinto shrines, Buddhist temples and local areas. Famous examples include theJindai-zakura (~2,000 years old),Usuzumi-zakura (~1,500 years old), andDaigo-zakura (~1,000 years old).[13]
In the Edo period, variousdouble-flowered cultivars were produced and planted on the banks of rivers, on Buddhist temples, in Shinto shrines and indaimyo gardens in urban areas such asEdo, and the common people living in urban areas could enjoy them. Books from that period recorded more than 200 varieties of cherry blossoms and mentioned many varieties of cherry blossoms which are currently known, such as'Kanzan'. However, the situation was limited to urban areas, and the main objects of hanami across the country were wild species such asPrunus jamasakura (Yamazakura) and Oshima cherry, which were widely distributed in the country.[12]
Since theMeiji period when Japan was modernized,Yoshino cherry has spread throughout Japan, and the object of hanami for Japanese people has changed to Yoshino cherry.[15] On the other hand, various cultivars other than Yoshino cherry were cut down one after another due to the rapid modernization of cities, such as reclamation of waterways and demolition ofdaimyo gardens. The gardener Takagi Magoemon and the village mayor of Kohoku Village Shimizu Kengo worried about this situation and saved them from the danger of extinction by making a row of cherry trees composed of various cultivars on theArakawa River bank. In Kyoto, Sano Toemon XIV, a gardener, collected various cultivars and propagated them. After World War II, these cultivars were inherited by theNational Institute of Genetics,Tama Forest Science Garden and the Flower Association of Japan, and from the 1960s onwards various cultivars were again used for hanami.[16]
The teasing proverbdumplings rather than flowers (花より団子,hana yori dango) hints at the real priorities for most cherry blossom viewers, meaning that people are more interested in the food and drinks accompanying a hanami party than actually viewing the flowers themselves.[17][18]
Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees! is a popular saying abouthanami, after the opening sentence of the 1925 short story "Under the Cherry Trees" byMotojirō Kajii.
The Japanese people continue the tradition ofhanami, 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. In more than half of Japan, the cherry blossoming days come at the same time as the beginning of school and work after vacation, and so welcoming parties are often opened withhanami. Usually, people go to the parks to keep the best places to celebratehanami with friends, family, and company coworkers many hours or even days before. In cities like Tokyo, it is also common to have celebrations under the sakura at night.Hanami at night is calledyozakura (夜桜, "night sakura"). In many places such asUeno Park, temporary paper lanterns are hung to have yozakura.
Thecherry blossom front is forecast each year, previously by theJapan Meteorological Agency and now by private agencies, and is watched with attention by those who plan to celebrate hanami because the blossoms last for very little time, usually no more than two weeks. The first cherry blossoms happen in thesubtropical southern islands ofOkinawa, while on the northern island ofHokkaido they bloom much later. In most large cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the cherry blossom season normally takes place around the end of March and the beginning of April. The television and newspapers closely follow this cherry blossom front as it slowly moves from south to north.[19] In 2018 blossoms were scheduled to open in Fukuoka on March 21, in Kyoto March 27, in Tokyo March 26 and Sapporo May 1.[20]Thehanami celebrations usually involve eating and drinking, and playing and listening to music. Some special dishes are prepared and eaten at the occasion, likedango andbento, andsake is commonly drunk as part of the festivity. In 2020, traditional cherry blossom season events were canceled and tourists did not come to Japan due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[21] The 2021 peak bloom day in Kyoto, March 26, was the earliest since record-tracking began in 812. Peak blooms have been trending earlier since 1800, an example ofseason creep caused byclimate change.[22][23][24][25]
.jpg)
.jpg)
Similar celebrations take place in Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and China.[26]
In the United States,hanami has also become very popular. In 1912, Japan gave 3,000 sakura trees as a gift to the United States to celebrate the nations' friendship. These trees were planted inWashington, D.C., and another 3,800 trees were donated in 1965.[27] These sakura trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction, and every year, theNational Cherry Blossom Festival takes place when they bloom in early spring.[28]
InMacon, Georgia, another cherry blossom festival called theInternational Cherry Blossom Festival is celebrated every spring. Macon is known as the Cherry Blossom Capital of the World, because 300,000 sakura trees grow there.[29]
InBrooklyn, New York, the Annual SakuraMatsuri Cherry Blossom Festival takes place in May, at theBrooklyn Botanic Garden.[30] This festivity has been celebrated since 1981, and is one of the Garden's most famous attractions. Similar celebrations are also held inPhiladelphia[31] and other places through the United States.
Another popular collection of sakura in the United States is inNewark, New Jersey'sBranch Brook Park, whose over 5,000 cherry trees of 18 varieties attract 10,000 visitors a day during its annual Cherry Blossom Festival.[32][33]
InToronto,Canada the Hanami is celebrated in the many parks in the city in late April, due to the city's cold climate. Around 50 Yoshino Sakura trees have been donated to the city as symbols of international friendship and good will by the descendants of Japanese immigrants.[citation needed]High Park, the home of the most extensive cherry tree collection in the city, closes its streets to auto traffic to better allow for sakura viewing during the week of peak bloom.
Vancouver[34] has over 40,000 cherry blossom trees of different varieties.Queen Elizabeth Park is a popular spot to view the cherry blossom trees.
Hanami is also celebrated in several European countries. For example, in Finland people gather to celebrate hanami inHelsinki atRoihuvuori. Local Japanese people and companies have donated 200 cherry trees which are all planted inKirsikkapuisto. Those cherry trees usually bloom in mid-May.[citation needed]
InRome, in Italy, the hanami is celebrated, where are a lot of cherry trees were donated by Japan in 1959.[35]
In Stockholm there is an annual festivity in Kungsträdgården[36] where a lot of people celebrate hanami.[37]
Paris has several stunning displays of cherry blossom trees in the Trocadero Garden,Jardin des Plantes, Parc de Sceaux, and many other spots.[38]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic in England, theNational Trust initiated the #BlossomWatch campaign, which was inspired by Japanese cherry blossom festivals. It encouraged people to share images of first flowers on their lockdown walks.[39][40]
hanami.
As cherry blossom front comes up, the whole Japan goes into a war; we just can't sit home and let it go.
We examined a 25-yr record (1981–2005) of flowering times for 97 trees, representing 17 species and hybrids of cherry (Cerasus sp. or Prunus sp.) grown atMt. Takao, in Tokyo, Japan. The cherry trees flowered earlier over time, by an average of 5.5 d over the 25-yr study.
The longest and best known phenological records come from the Far East and Europe, including ... the 1300+-year Kyoto cherry blossom time series [37]... These longterm historical records can serve as proxies for temperature where thermometer data are unavailable.
Media related toHanami at Wikimedia Commons
