Sakura・・・・・

Sakura or cherry blossoms have been long loved by people in Japan. Sakura bloom and fall. And they love from the beginning (even before the beginning)  to the end, every phase of Sakura. They see beauty in those blooming Sakura, and admire scattering Sakura as 花吹雪‐flower blizzard. Fallen petals on the water are appreciated as 花筏‐flower raft.

A deer is quietly eating petals of Sakura.

Sakura has been synonymous with the word "flower". But at first for a few centuries around the 8th,  noble people loved Ume or Japanese plum blossoms, more than Sakura. While Sakura are native plants in Japan,  Ume were  introduced from China with the latest Chinese culture. So emperors or people of high rank loved Ume as part of the then modern culture. Ume represented  "flower" and were mentioned about in  poems of old more than Sakura.   

white Ume blossoms

In olden days Sakura were considered as the messengers sent by the deity of mountains to let farmers know the time of seeding rice. When the farmers saw Sakura start to bloom, they would prepare for seeding.

Sakura have mysterious power. They give people energy, spreading  merry and  happy spree.The spree is so contagious that the ripples of joy pervade from person to person. They enjoy cherry-blossom viewing.

A boy is dancing on a stump. Sakura are quiet audience.

The season of Sakura coincides with the period of new starts in Japan. School, companies, fiscal year and more start in April. Children with shinny school bags, students in new school uniforms and fresh recruits in brand-new suits are proudly smiling in the photos where Sakura are watching them warmly. Thus Sakura add one more unforgettable happy memory to them.

                                                junior high school students in black school uniform

The life span of cherry flowers is very short, so people feel the transience of life in them - there is nothing lasts forever. But diffferent varieties of Sakura are blooming one by one in one month. When strong winds blow, people worry about Sakura if the winds blow away petals of Sakura. When it rains, people care about Sakura and spend restless spring days.

The famous poet  in the 9th century, 在原業平, Ariwara-no-Narihira, mentioned this poem .

世の中に  たえて櫻の  なかりせば  春の心は  のどけからまし

If there were no Sakura in this world,

how peaceful and tranquil my heart would be in spring.

May this energy of Sakura reach the people in Tohoku.

  

                                                      Visit  My World site  and see more !