Sakura

Pink petals blanket the entire country and fade just as fast as they came. The country warms up as the cherry opens the gates of spring

Welcome to the Soul of the Nation
It's that time of year again. The sun has returned once again to keep us more company in our northern sphere causing the freezing cold that has plagued us for a small eternity to retreat back to it's Siberian domain. The call of the uguisu (Japanese bush warbler, Cettia diphone) cries out in the nearby parks and wilderness, and local students all over the country have promoted a grade up, or graduated and are facing their next step in education. The cherries are getting ready to bloom. And when they have, they will leave the warmth of spring in their wake, to cheer up the cold and somber spirit that lingers within the depths of the winter.

Sakura Basics
The cherry tree is hard to miss. It is a medium tree composed of dark brown, speckled, shiney bark, that matures crusty and rough. It has attractive ornamental, hard, blood-reddish brown wood used in every type of showy woodwork. The winter has left the cherry tree in a naked condition, exposing its deep black-brown limbs and sticks. As spring comes into being, the lonely cluttering network of trunks, poles and stick mesh, displays an awsome explosion of white, pink, and sometimes reddish blankets of blossoms, becoming the center of attention and the top topic of every conversation. Daily news broadcastings cut into the regularly scheduled weather report to bring eager hanami fans the 'cherry forcast,' and Saturday morning specials have gone on-location to the southern sub-tropic Japanese paradise, Okinawa, to bring the rest of Japan special coverage of Japan's first cherries of the year weeks before we will ever get to see them locally for ourselves.

Hanami Mania- The King Of All Pic-nics
For newcomers to Japan, hanami ('flower veiwing') is a fresh new experience, but to locals, the cherry blossom marks just another year. Around this time of year in Japan, many things meet the end of their terms and start anew, just like the cherry tree. Spring in Asia is about new beginnings- a time to start over and forget the past, while observing the joys of nature brought back to the environment by the returning of spring.
Blossoms of large cherry plantings brighten the dimmest of cloudy days. Underneath, during the days of hanami, is a sea of contrastedly dark-clothed, conservatively dressed people, some slowly flowing in a crowd like a river, others on the ground defending their flower veiwing territory, drinking, barbequeing and singing with their friends and family. The Japanese staple diet temporarily shifts from rice and fish to mochi, dango, sake, beer, and fried, dried, or pickled drinking food- celebration food. Often, hanami-goers come the day before and camp out just for a good viewing spot. Others will attempt to fence off their area the day before or early morning. Heated arguments arrise if territories are violated- especially later on in the day when cheeks and necks are turned a slightly darker shade of cherry pink with alcohol. The party never stops in large cities until the trains do their last runs. Although the congested crowd thins out, people are known to stay out late night. The cherry trees are all lit up, perfectly reflecting the light back out into the boisterous dark crowd. Later in the week, sometimes two, all the delicate paper petals rain down, littering the streets, ponds, and cities with blessed petal, lining walkways fit for royalty. The rain of petals pours until there is nothing left. In no time, the cherry has come and gone, but the natives never cease to proclaim that the sakura is part of their soul.

Cherry Worth a Second Taste
The fruits of the Japanese wild cherry, widely planted and viewed throughout Japan during hanami are not used in Japanese cooking as much as the ume, or Japanese plum. But with raw ume often claimed "poison until salted and cured," one would think that at least some Japanese wild cherries (of which now number around three or four hundred varieties) could be eaten if processed to a certain degree before consumtion. In fact, wild cherry fruits are not eaten at all in Japan (that is, they are not harvested and sold as produce), but there are still a number of traditional food creations that instead, surprizingly include the vegetable parts of the the cherry tree. Each spring the flowers are harvested, dried and pounded with rice to make cherry rice cakes or sakura mochi, ordinary mochi cake with a pleasant hint of rosey cherry blossom aroma. It is an addicting aroma, something that somehow seems familiar. The familiar scent can be found traditionally throughout temperate weather Eurasia. But upon trying the sakura mochi, is the realization it is not just sweet, but also quite salty. The leaves are pickled like an umeboshi, or pickled plum. While slightly salty, the leaf wrapping gives the sakura mochi an almost nutty, distinctly grassy flavor.

Named By A God Named Sa
The word sakura is beleived by etymologists to originally be composed of two parts: 'sa,' and 'kura.' In the ancient language of Japanese, 'sa' was used as a prefix or suffix, and even added to the middle of words. This word particle is used in many archaic Japanese words, and although the meaning it carries has lost meaning to all modern Japanese speakers, it is still present in so many modern words. The word particle 'sa' is short for the original 'sakami,' or 'sagami'- the 'kami' there means god. Sakami is the name for a mountain god in ancient Japanese Shinto mythology. In the story for the origin of the cherry tree, a goddess Princess Konohanasakuya, is said to have sprinkled from the heavens the first cherry seeds from atop Mt. Fuji. The cherry tree is therefore a tree of the mountains, and associated with Sakami. The next part of the word is kura. A kura in old Japanese was a seat that gods would rest on- a holy seat and resting place for gods. While sakura will only mean 'cherry (tree)' to modern Japanese speakers, in its original form, it meant "the seat of mountain god Sakami" (but there are other theories as well).

Where Can I See the Flowers?
Of the cherry varieties, there are popular ones: someiyoshino (a crossbreed, and the most numerous), yamazakura (mountain cherry), shidarezakura (weeping cherry), others include higananzakura, and kanzakura (an early bloomer). Come hanami season in the large cities, you will realize that there are few places that lack cherry trees. They line entire streets, and any park you go to should have some sort of cherry tree- at least one. Of course, people usually don't sit down on the curb to enjoy hanami. It must usually be in a park, temple, shrine, or down by a riverside. Parks with ponds or rivers have an added attraction, as you can usually row out and rest under the limbs. Tokyo has a number of parks: Ueno Park, Koishikawa Botanical Garden, Inokashira Park, Jingu Gaien Park, Shiba Park, Shinjuku Gyoen Park, and Sumida Park are a good start; in Kyoto, try Daigoji Temple, Heian Shrine, Ninnaji Temple, or Tetsugaku no Michi; in Nagoya check out Higashiyama Zoological and Botanical Gardens, Heiwa Park, Nagoya Castle, or Kaori-Ryu Kawa Midori no Michi; in Osaka walk through Keuma Sakuranomiya Park, Fumin no Mori Narukawa Park, and Osaka Castle Park. Better plan in advanced, before the short lived blossoms disappear.



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Cherry blossom

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"Sakura" redirects here. For other uses, see Sakura (disambiguation).
"Cherry Blossom" redirects here. For other uses, see Cherry Blossom (disambiguation).

Cherry blossoms at Fukushima



Cherry blossoms at the Tokyo Imperial Palace



Cherry blossoms within a field of Phlox subulata at Yachounomori Garden in Tatebayashi, Gunma



A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).^[1][2] Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit. Edible cherries generally come from cultivars of the related species Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus.



Natural history

Cherry blossoms are indigenous to many East Asian states including Japan, Korea, and China. Japan has a wide variety of cherry blossoms (sakura): well over 200 cultivars can be found there.^[3]

Flower viewing

Main article: Hanami

"Hanami" is the centuries-old practice of picnicking under a blooming sakura or ume tree. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710–794) when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning. But by the Heian Period (794–1185), cherry blossoms came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura.^[4] From then on, in tanka and haiku, "flowers" meant "sakura." The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.

Woodblock print of Mount Fuji and cherry blossom from 36 Views of Mount Fuji by Hiroshige.



Every year the Japanese Meteorological Agency and the public track the sakura zensen (cherry-blossom front) as it moves northward up the archipelago with the approach of warmer weather via nightly forecasts following the weather segment of news programs. The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. It proceeds into areas at the higher altitudes and northward, arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts and turn out in large numbers at parks, shrines, and temples with family and friends to hold flower-viewing parties. Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of the cherry blossom and for many are a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful view. The custom of hanami dates back many centuries in Japan: the eighth-century chronicle Nihon Shoki (日本書紀) records hanami festivals being held as early as the third century CE.

Most Japanese schools and public buildings have cherry blossom trees outside of them. Since the fiscal and school year both begin in April, in many parts of Honshū, the first day of work or school coincides with the cherry blossom season.

Symbolism
A 100 yen coin depicting Cherry Blossom



In Japan cherry blossoms also symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life,^[5] an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhistic influence,^[6] and which is embodied in the concept of mono no aware.^[7] The association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga.^[7] The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality;^[5] for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in Japanese art, manga, anime, and film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect. There is at least one popular folk song, originally meant for the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), titled "Sakura", and several pop songs. The flower is also represented on all manner of consumer goods in Japan, including kimono, stationery, and dishware.

At Himeji Castle Japan



The Sakurakai or Cherry Blossom Society was the name chosen by young officers within the Imperial Japanese Army in September 1930 for their secret society established with the goal of reorganizing the state along totalitarian militaristic lines, via a military coup d'état if necessary.^[8]

During World War II, the cherry blossom was used to motivate the Japanese people, to stoke nationalism and militarism among the populace.^[9] Even prior to the war, they were used in propaganda to inspire "Japanese spirit," as in the "Song of Young Japan," exulting in "warriors" who were "ready like the myriad cherry blossoms to scatter."^[10] In 1932, Akiko Yosano's poetry urged Japanese soldiers to endure sufferings in China and compared the dead soldiers to cherry blossoms.^[11] Arguments that the plans for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, involving all Japanese ships, would expose Japan to serious danger if they failed, were countered with the plea that the Navy be permitted to "bloom as flowers of death."^[12] The last message of the forces on Peleliu was "Sakura, Sakura" — cherry blossoms.^[13] Japanese pilots would paint them on the sides of their planes before embarking on a suicide mission, or even take branches of the trees with them on their missions.^[9] A cherry blossom painted on the side of the bomber symbolized the intensity and ephemerality of life;^[14] in this way, the aesthetic association was altered such that falling cherry petals came to represent the sacrifice of youth in suicide missions to honor the emperor.^[9][15] The first kamikaze unit had a subunit called Yamazakura or wild cherry blossom.^[15] The government even encouraged the people to believe that the souls of downed warriors were reincarnated in the blossoms.^[9]

In its colonial enterprises, imperial Japan often planted cherry trees as a means of "claiming occupied territory as Japanese space".^[9



Varieties and blooming

• Prunus serrulata
  
• Prunus speciosa
  
• Prunus × yedoensis
  
• Prunus sargentii
  

The most popular variety of cherry blossom in Japan is the Somei Yoshino. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and usually fall within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. The variety takes its name from the village of Somei (now part of Toshima in Tokyo). It was developed in the mid- to late-19th century at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The Somei Yoshino is so widely associated with cherry blossoms that jidaigeki and other works of fiction often depict the variety in the Edo period or earlier; such depictions are anachronisms.

Winter sakura (fuyuzakura/Prunus subhirtella autumnalis) begins to bloom in the fall and continues blooming sporadically throughout the winter. It is said to be a cross between Tokyo Higan cherry (edohiganzakura/P. incisa) and Mamezakura/P. pendula.^[16]

Other categories include yamazakura, yaezakura, and shidarezakura. The yaezakura have large flowers, thick with rich pink petals. The shidarezakura, or weeping cherry, has branches that fall like those of a weeping willow, bearing cascades of pink flowers.



πηγή απο http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom