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 Flower
viewing as a social phenomenon in Japan first took place in the
Heian Period (794-1191). The nobility
was interested in things Chinese and sought to emulate the imperial
Chinese rulers art of partying under the blossoms. Poets composed
verses and singers sang, while aristocrats viewed the blossoms and
displayed their finery.
The plum was the tree of choice in
China, and the species was duly imported from the mainland. The
first recorded hanami or flower-viewing event took place at Kyotos Shinsen-en Garden
in 812.
Whether it was because the cherry blossomed later in the year, when
the weather was warmer and outdoor parties were more comfortable
to attend, or someone noticed the stunning beauty of the native
sakura (a species of flowering but non-fruit-bearing cherry) already
growing on the nations hillsides, by the middle of the ninth
century the sakura had replaced the plum.
 A
Street of dressmakers From the nobility to the warrior class to
merchants and artisans, hanami came to be enjoyed by all the people
of Japan. So much so that today, the cherry blossom and its connotations
are indelibly imprinted on the nations psyche. Hideyoshi Toyotomi
(1537-1598), one of the countrys best-known warlords, was famous
for holding opulent events, while the shogun Tokugawa, the regent
to the Chrysanthemum throne, was instrumental in promoting the ritual
among the common people at the close of the 17 th century.
Sakura flowers throughout Japans four main
islands. It blooms in mid-March in southern Kyushu and at the beginning
of May in the northern island of Hokkaido, where winter
lingers longer. The blossoming of the flowers moves northward in
a front (sakura-zensen) at the rate of about 30 kilometers a day,
and this is reported on a daily basis by the press and TV as everybody
awaits its arrival with anticipation. By the time it reaches Tokyo
it is usually the beginning of April.
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The Tokyo Metropolitan
Government Park Association (website: www.tokyo-park.
or.jp) gives updates from March 16 to April 19 as to where the sakura-zensen
currently is.
 The
blossoming of the cherry is synonymous with the coming of spring.
It is also the beginning of the fiscal year and the time when new
graduates start their first jobs. The weather is suddenly warmer
and the last vestiges of a cold winter and its icy chill have gone.
Spring is a time for getting together with friends, for spring clothes,
and for enjoying the beauty of the cherry blossoms as they burst
forth in all their resplendent beauty.
And what better way to so, than by sitting under
a flowering cherry tree to eat, drink and be merry.
In former times, hanami was looked on as a fertility rite. It was
a way of welcoming the gods and bestowing on them goodwill in the
hope that theywould bring abundance to
that years rice harvest. The fuller the trees were of blossoms,
the belief was, the larger the yield of grain there would be.
It is not just the beauty of the sakura that is striking; it is
the ephemeral nature of the blossoms themselves. It is the poignancy
of the moment, the thought that something so beautiful could exist
for such a short period of time. Hanami is a good time to contemplate
ones life, indeed, to wonder at the meaning of all life!
 Most
trees are in full bloom for only a week when their petals start
to fall. With gusty winds or a shower of rain, or the passage of
just a few short days, what was once a canopy of color becomes a
carpet of pink and white. Between the two is the most joyous moment
… and the saddest, too: to be caught up in the subliminal whirl
of falling blossoms.
This is called sakura-fubuki or cherry
blossom “snowstorm.”
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