While St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are some of the spring events people celebrate in the U.S., 花見 hanami (“flower viewing”) is the most notable spring event in Japan. The traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of 桜 sakura (“cherry blossoms”) is over a thousand-years old.
In Japan, cherry blossoms start blooming in February in Okinawa (the southern islands). 桜前線 sakura zensen (“cherry blossom front”) is announced each year by the weather bureau so that people can plan their best days to go 花見 hanami. The cherry blossom front moves from south to north. In Tokyo, usually the cherry blossom season is from the end of March to the beginning of April. In the north island of Hokkaido, cherry blossoms can be seen as late as in May.
How do you do 花見 hanami? You can simply enjoy the intensity of beautiful pink blossoms from a distance or up-close. Taking a stroll between the trees makes for a great retreat. But in Japan, 花見 hanami usually entails going on a picnic under cherry blossom trees. This involves lots of eating, drinking, and even sometimes singing.
Cherry blossoms are not just something beautiful to see. They are also something to contemplate. In Japanese culture, the cherry blossom is a metaphor for life – luminous but fleeting. Part of what makes the cherry blossom so precious is that their beauty only lasts for a short period of time. In this sense, we consider 花見 hanami a celebration of life.
In the United States, 花見 hanami has also become popular. In 1912, Japan gave 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the U.S. as a gift. These trees were planted in Washington D.C. The National Cherry Blossom Festival takes place annually. This year, it will be held between March 20 and April 14.
In Brooklyn, New York, the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival takes place at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This year, it will be held on April 27th and 28th, but you can enjoy the trees any time throughout the month of April. Their website offers “Cherry Watch”, where you can track blossoms blooming on a map. You can also watch these fleeting beauties bloom over the course of 8 days in this time lapse video taken at the BBG.
