November 24th, 2009 by dee

Please don’t squeeze the Charmin.
In Japan, sakura has a profound history which stems from thousands of years ago. Watching sakura became a grand folk activity in the period of Edo. Gradually a traditional custom was formed. In Japan, a festival more exciting than New Year is in April, because April is a season of sakura blossoming.

The life of sakura is very short, and there is a saying of 7 days of sakura; withering while blossoming becomes the feature of sakura. The heroic moment of cherry tree lies in the brightness when the flowers are in full blossom. When they come out, tens of thousands of flowers will dangle in the breeze, while when it comes to the down time, they will return to the roots and leaves accompanied by wind and rain.

When cherry trees are flowering, you can find a faint smell in the air in a park or on the street. At that time, sacrifice for sakura is held in many parts of Japan.When cherry trees are flowering, you can find a faint smell in the air in a park or on the street. At that time, sacrifice for sakura is held in many parts of Japan. Relatives and friends gather under the Sakura tree and bring out their self-cooked meals.Drinking champagne or sake, they talk and joke cheerfully with fallen petals in the wind occasionally sweeping around them. Whether or not the flower appreciators know each other, they will greet each other, even exchange their food. It is a real “family day” or “friendship day” rather than flower admiration. No wonder that Japanese always enjoy it, and some companies even make admiring cherry as a “appointed project”.

The spring in Japan, Kyushu cherry blossom begins early in March to mid-May in Hokkaido far, all the way from south to north. Whenever it arrives, the cherry blossom will be full-blown. A prosperous cherry blossom party is extending from south to north. It takes up only ten days for the process of blooming and fading. Once it rained, the glorious sakura will probably drop the next day. Though florescence is brief, Japanese celebrate it by setting up feasts as a happy sakura canival.

When the flower fades, all the petals are falling with the wind, which arouses jubilation of the people down, and people call this shatter “Rain of flower”. They don’t feel blue about that, and even take the showering in petal as a kind of happiness.

What Japanese admire for is cherry’s life attitude of living vigorously and going degagely, which is the same view of Japanese philosophy to stive for realizing intrinsice value.

Tags: cherry, culture, Japan, oriental cherry blossom, sakura