Spring in the Land of the Rising Sun:

Sakura, the flower of beauty and hope

By Pramod De Silva after tour of Japan

Is there anything more exotic than a row of cherry blossom trees in full bloom? One of nature’s most beautiful sights, it is worth waiting a whole year for the flowers to burst forth in a riot of pink.

Cherry blossoms with Mount Fuji in the background

The cherry blossom, called Sakura in Japanese (and serendipitously, in Sinhala) is so deeply ingrained in the Japanese mind that it is hard for a foreigner to explain the sheer elation the Japanese feel when cherry blossoms spring everywhere, from Kagoshima in the south to Wakkanai in the north.

Spring is indeed what the Sakura heralds in, in the Land of the Rising Sun. They erupt either in mid-to-late March or the first week of April, marking the onset of spring, the finest of seasons when the weather is ideal – not too hot and not too cold. No wonder the Japanese wait one long year for the flowers to bloom.

I was lucky to see the Sakura in full bloom in cities and villages across Japan last month, despite dire predictions (before I left Colombo) by many Sri Lankans and even Japanese living in Colombo that I would not ‘catch’ the Sakura wave, because it generally happens in early April. So, I was somewhat surprised that the flowers obliged me just a day after I landed in Tokyo.

My interpreter Eiko Sato could not hide her happiness. “You are so lucky. You are at the right place at the right time. This is a very special event for the Japanese,” she gushed.

Indeed, thousands of foreigners and Japanese living overseas flock to various Japanese cities at this time of the year, especially to catch a glimpse of the simplest of flowers that makes an entire nation jubilant. And they don’t always get it right, even though the blooming dates vary by region.

Sato told me that some tour groups miss the blooming (depending on the city/area they select) and go away disappointed. The timing is vital – the show generally lasts only a week to 10 days, before the flowers wither away. The cherry blossom season is relatively short. Full bloom (mankai) is usually reached in about one week after the opening of the first blossoms (kaika). Another week later, the blooming peak is over. Strong wind and rain can make the blooming season even shorter. And then, you have to wait one more year to see the blooms.

Most important factor

A line of cherry blossom trees in Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Pic: Pramod de Silva

The most important factor in determining the blooming time of cherry blossom trees is the geographical location. Generally, the milder the climate, the earlier the blossoms open. This year’s cherry blossom season began on March 16 in Tokyo and will end on or around May 16 in Sapporo.

While the cherry blossom season is ending in Tokyo and many cities on Kyushu island, the full bloom can currently be enjoyed in many cities in the Kansai region, including historic Kyoto and bustling Osaka, the second biggest Japanese city after Tokyo.

On Japan’s southern subtropical islands of Okinawa, cherry blossoms open as early as January, while on the northern island of Hokkaido, they bloom as late as May. The blooming time of cherry trees differs from year to year, depending on the weather. If the weather during the months and weeks before the season is mild, blossoms will open early. If it is cold, blossoms open later.

Forecasting the cherry blossom season may belong to the realm of science, but in Japan it is also an artistic pursuit. Every year, weather services and the media closely follow the so called “cherry blossom front” as it slowly moves northward. The front generally indicates the opening of the first blossoms (kaika) rather than the arrival of the full bloom (mankai). Not every tree in a city opens on the same day, as trees in shadowy places, for example, can bloom several days later than trees in sunny places. For this reason, a representative sample tree is selected to define the date of kaika for a city. In Tokyo, this tree is at the famous and revered Yasukuni Shrine.

While predicting the Sakura season has become a work of art in itself, viewing the blossoms is also an artistic pursuit. The Japanese even have a word for it – hanami, which literally means “flower viewing”. A ‘hanami spot’ is a good place to view the Sakura in full bloom, perhaps even painting the scene on canvas or capturing the scene on a memory card. A park is the best place to watch people who in turn are watching the Sakura and of course, have a hanami picnic. Hanami parties have been held in Japan for many centuries; today, they are held in public and private gardens and parks across the country.

One can simply enjoy the intensity of the blossoms by looking at a single tree or a group of trees. From a distance, a cluster of trees appears as a beautiful pink cloud formation, while the beauty of single blossoms can be enjoyed close.

A close-up of cherry blossom

A surreal scene from rural Japan

I found that cherry blossoms are especially beautiful in combination with a castle, temple or a majestic landscape in the background. For the latter, one can hardly beat the sight of cherry blossoms against the backdrop of the incomparable Mount Fuji, a quintessential image of Japan itself. In some places, the blossoms are lit up in the evening, which makes an amazing sight.

There are over 100 cherry blossom tree varieties in Japan. A few are wild varieties native to Japan’s forests, such as the Yamazakura, but the majority have been cultivated by humans over the centuries for decorative purposes in gardens and parks. By far, the most popular cherry blossom variety today is the particularly pretty, cultivated Somei Yoshino. The number of petals is usually five, but there are blooms with as many as 100 petals. There are white and yellow flowers too, though pink is the predominant colour.

Cherry blossoms grow in other countries, but they cannot quite match the intensity of the Japanese original(s). To make up for the shortfall, a number of countries which has sizeable Japanese communities annually organise Cherry Blossom Festivals at this time of the year. One of the most well-known among them is the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC, USA, which will conclude this year on April 14. Vancouver, Canada also conducts a cherry blossom festival, which runs this year till April 30.

These festivals celebrate everything Japanese from Sake to Sakura. As the saying goes, “there is no stranger under the cherry tree”. Sakura flowers can bring an entire nation together, rejuvenate its very soul and give hope for a brighter future.

(The writer’s trip was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)