春が来た
桜花は開く
長くない

The spring has now come
Cherry blossoms are blooming
But only fleeting

I usually find myself preferring the cold and dark of winter, all the more so coming up to December with the gentle glow of Christmas lights. I sometimes wonder whether I may have reverse seasonal affective disorder, where I find summer makes me tired, lethargic, and not really wanting to do anything. Despite my love of winter, there is one thing which I look forward to when moving from winter to spring: hanami.

Hanami is the Japanese practice of looking at flowers. The Japanese for hanami, 花見, is translated literally as “flower see”. The practice of hanami is said to have started in the Naga period, from 710 to 794 when plum blossoms, ume (梅) in Japanese, were all the rage. It is suggested by some that the practice of hanami may be related to the Chinese practice of enjoying wine and poetry under plum trees. It was not until the Heian period, from 794 to 1158, that hanami became linked to cherry blossoms, or sakura (桜). The word for flower, hana (花), became synonymous in waka and haiku poetry with the cherry blossom from the Heian period.

Hanami can be very hard in practice though because, as beautiful as cherry blossoms are, they only last around two weeks after blooming, which leaves a very short window of viewing. This natural aspect of cherry blossoms is also quite symbolic in Japanese culture, and is a metaphoric reminder of the ephemeral nature of life itself – an awareness of the impermanence nature of things, or mono no aware (物の哀れ).

Although there is something quite magical about carrying out hanami in Japan due to the amount of cherry blossom trees there, filling a scene with a sea of pink, I find that cherry blossoms look beautiful whether in or outside of Japan. And the short life of the cherry blossoms regardless of where they bloom carry the same metaphoric reminder of the impermanence of life.