Hanami: The cherry blossom celebration. Every year, crowds gather around the entire nation to unify under the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossom tree to celebrate the brief blooming of the cherry blossom flowers. Under trees, near the trees, and around the shrines and temples crowded with the “Sakura”, one is sure to find several people rejoicing in this short lived welcoming of the spring season. Japanese poetry reflects this fascination with the Sakura, as you may find in this article:
When one thinks of the beauty of a flower, you may often find the description to be in the vibrant colors or the alluring smell. In Waka and other traditional Japanese poetry, however, the falling of the sakura seems to captivate the attention of the poet beyond its existence. The sakura is often a representation of the winds of change as the literal winds cause the flowers to fall of the tree, like one last snowfall of sorts, marking the ending of winter and the commencement of spring.
Today, we find festivals and celebrations, even in Hirakata, as these pictures depict, of the gathering. Here music is played and dances are performed along the river on the way to the Hirakata train station. People sitting with foldable chairs, drinking beer and eating bento, talking and admiring the short-lived beauty of the flowers makes this a very special time of year in Japan.
The lanterns and decorations hang from the sakura tree, but are soon removed as well, as the flowers fall. Acceptance and the welcome of change fill the air with a mystical feeling of togetherness. Congregations of people make this one of the most significant annual spiritual unifications of the Japanese nation.
