Cherry Blossoms – Sakura 2005
Posted on 12. Apr, 2005 @ 1:51 am by harvey in Culture
I had a chance to go out and see the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) trees last weekend. I went to Osaka Castle Park (大阪城公園）and slacked around for a few hours. “Hanami” is a good excuse to get some sake in the middle of the afternoon. Life is good.
The Cherry Blossom trees in Japan are a really big deal. They sit around quietly for most of the year, and then suddenly, for a few days in the spring time, BAM! They’re blooming everywhere and Japanese people are outside at 11am getting drunk on their plastic mats.
Seriously though. I would say that the blooming of the trees is an event big enough to warrant planning an entire trip to the country around. It is hard to predict the exact weekend they will be blooming, but if you could time it right, it would be worth it!
My friends tell me that there are a few reasons for this strange love of the flower. Here they are.
The trees usually bloom in late March / early April, which marks the coming of Spring. Once they bloom, they will only stay at 満開 “mankai” full-bloom for a few days. Usually until the next rain or windy day. For Japanese, this delicate temporary nature of the Sakura is beautiful.
Some kids in the park I chatted up said that, when the Sakura trees leaves fall to the ground, their life energy returns to earth. Then, when we humans die, our life energy will go to the Sakura trees, and the trees will bloom again. The kids were 20. And they were drinking beer at noon. Interesting philosophy anyway.
In Osaka Castle Park, it was weird to notice some homeless tents up right underneath the sakura trees. The homeless had some of the best seats in the house. I have never seen Japanese hang out so close to homeless before. Kids were literally going through their junk to find things to play with.
Anyway. This particular year in Kansai the trees bloomed on Saturday, and then Sunday night it rained all night.
Though actually even though it rained there are still some trees going strong near my place in Nara!
- Harvey
One Response to “Cherry Blossoms – Sakura 2005”
Leave a Reply
Welcome to JapanNewbie.com! My goal is to get you excited about Japan and the Japanese language. Love it! This blog has been around for more than five years now, so be sure to dig into the archives and use the search. You never know what you might find!
Recent Comments:
- Ultra Low Rise Denim Bikini Pants (26)
- astridestler: Really? I accidentally happened upon the discovery that these existed by googleing images of clothes for inspiration to include in my...
- Cosplay in Kunming China (7)
- Japan Australia: Looks like an interesting event and well worth checking out if nothing else but out of interest.
- daniel mardjuadi: yea…the arale cap is so cute ^^
- 何赛: I love the Arale cap too!!!
- sanseed: You should come ,I promise it wiil be worth it.
Charlotte Martin
Aug 23rd, 2009
at 12:20
I have found that some of the theories and traditions of the japanese are so passionate it touches me as a human being and causes me a yearning for their harmony in life. i have studied their culture, and language since I was a very young girl and I had hoped one day to go there. My husband cannot fathom the beauty of the sakura nor how important they’re existance is to me, but now he can at least grasp at the beauty by beholding your images. Maybe he will find that connection with him and the life of the earth and all around him by the japanese tradition of the Sakura. Your photography is phenomenal and I wish you the best on your travels. the Japanese have an amazing culture, I could spend my lifetime in they’re traditions if I could. Blessed be, and Merry Meet.