Sakura Season

Here in Japan we have four seasons!

I don't know how many times I have heard this said, but it must be approaching a flabjillion. For whatever reason Japanese people, and Koreans for that matter, don't believe like anywhere else in the world has 4 seasons. That they are the only ones with that exact latitude that is requires for the meteorologic system to grant them the all divining power of 4 seasons.
Well enough of that. Someone recently informed me (after hearing this little rant and telling them that in fact my home in America too has 4 seasons) that Japan has Sakura Season. Well I just had no response to that.

Sakura Season (note: not a real season) is a gorgeous time of year when trees turn white with flowers. Sakura trees do not leaf first; therefore the trees appear purely white with the flower. The appearance of sakura, also known as cherry blossoms, marks the beginning of spring for Japan. As you may have read in many of my other posts, this is also a new beginning for Japanese people. Sound familiar? It seems Japanese people have many chances 'new beginnings' in the first few months of the year. This one marks the start of a new school year, as well as a time for when most people will start a new job, or when the benefits of insurance/ vacation time for a job/ contract agreements typically renew. It has nothing to do with the sakura flowers, or mayhaps it does and was determines several hundred years ago, it mostly involves the coming of spring and new life.

In fact sakura were not so popular at one time. It was the pink blossoms of the plum trees that were the most significant tree-flower that people used to sit under and write their haikus. However people like Hideyoshi changed the favoritism and brought a must greater significance to the sakura flower after he himself declared his preference for it and had many installed for his personal viewing. Sakura then became preferred not only due to the favoritism of an important figure but also because the weather is much warmer when the sakura are blooming making it more desirable to sit under and have a picnic.
Today you can find many people sitting under them on a sunny Saturday when they are in bloom. Due to the nature of the season and the fact that a bunch of new employees just began their terms at their new companies, it is the new lackys' job to get up at 5 in the morning to reserve a good viewing spot for a company picnic. Many people do this in fact. With their blue picnic tarps in hand they get up quite early in the morning to find the best viewing location and set up camp. They might be there all day and well into the night too, as many places have lighting to display the cherry blossoms with a scenic night display.

Sakura Season is an important and well anticipated part of the Japanese culture. People from all over the world flock to Japan during this time. On the new channels they have announcements declaring the blooming percentage as if it was a rain forecast. 'Today there is a 30% chance of sakura' Just so that people know when the best time to set up their little camps is. Different areas of course have different blooming times; Kyoto would of course bloom before Tokyo due to the slightly warmer weather. And of course the placement and sunlight a tree receives also determines the blooming time and period. I saw one cherry blossom tree bloom and entire month before all the rest. But sadly the experience is fleeting. Sakura only last for approximately ten days or so before they begin their elegant little dance to the ground. Which is again beautiful. It is due to the nature of the sakura that haikus are made of their beautiful yet fleeting existence.

without you--

how vast

the cherry blossom grove

kimi nakute makoto ni tadai no kodachi kana (1817)