A. Hanami is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, especially cherry blossoms — sakura. The practice of Hanami is more than a thousand years old, and is still very popular in Japan today. A more ancient form of hanami also exists in Japan, which celebrates the plum blossoms instead of cherry blossoms. This kind of hanami is popular among older people, because they are more calm than the sakura parties, which usually involve younger people and can sometimes be very crowded and noisy.

B. The practice of hanami is many centuries old. The sakura blossoms were considered sacred by the Japanese, and they were so important that they still are a cultural symbol of Japan. People believed in gods’ existence inside the trees, and the hanami party was used in the beginning to divine that year’s harvest and to announce the season of planting rice. Those who went to the hanami made offerings at the root of sakura trees, and after the ceremony, they took part in the offering drinking sake.

C. Emperor Saga (786—842) of the Heian Period adopted this custom and celebrated parties to view the flowers with sake and feasts under the blossoming branches of sakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. This «temporary» view of life is very popular in Japanese culture and is usually considered as an admirable form of existence; for example, in the samurai’s principle of life ending when it’s still beautiful and strong, instead of slowly getting old and weak. How much easier things would be in spring without the sakura blossoms, because their existence reminded us that life is very short!

D. Hanami was used as a term that meant cherry blossom viewing for the first time in the Heian era novel. From then on, in tanka and in haiku poetry, flowers meant sakura, and the terms hanami and flower party were only used to mean sakura blossom viewing. Poems were written praising the delicate flowers which were seen as a metaphor for life itself; beautiful but lasting for a very short time.

E. The Japanese people continue the tradition of hanami, 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 of the beginning of school and work after vacation. Usually, people go to the parks to keep the best places to celebrate hanami with friends, family and company coworkers many hours or even days before. In cities like Tokyo, it’s also common to have celebrations under the sakura at night.

F. The blossom forecast is announced each year by the Japan: Meteorological Agency 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 the subtropical southern islands of Okinawa, while on the northern island of Hokkaido, 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.

G. Recently, hanami festivities have also become popular outside of Japan. Smaller hanami celebrations in Korea, Philippines and China (where the custom was first created) also take place traditionally. In the United States, hanami has also become popular. In 1912 Japan gave 3000 sakura trees as a gift to the United States to celebrate the nations’ friendship. These trees were planted in Washington, D.C., and another 3800 gifted trees were also taken there in 1956. These sakura trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction, and every year the National Cherry Blossom Festival takes place when they bloom in early spring.

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