The Cherry Blossoms are here! Arguably the most famous, and most beautiful symbol, of Japan is the cherry blossom, or sakura. And every year, their moment of appearance is greatly anticipated by the Japanese. Weather forecasters stake their reputations on correctly predicting the start of the hanami season, with rivals' chances debated in broadsheet newspapers. Japan's Weather News predicted that the blossoms would appear right at the end of March, while the government-run meteorological agency plumped for March 20, just a day too soon.

The custom of viewing the flowers is called hanami. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710–784. At that time, however, it was ume (plum) blossoms that people admired at that time. By the Heian Period, it was the sakura that attracted more attention. From then on, in tanka and haiku, "flowers" meant "sakura."

Hanami was first used as a term analogous to cherry blossom viewing in the Heian era novel The Tale of Genji. A wisteria viewing party was also described, from this point on the terms "hanami" and "flower party" were only used to describe cherry blossom viewing.

Sakura were originally used to divine that year's harvest as well as an announcer of the rice-planting season. People believed in gods' existence inside the trees and made offerings at the root of sakura trees. Afterwards, they partook of the offering with sake.

Emperor Saga of the Heian Period adopted this and held flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the blossoming boughs of sakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Poems would be written praising the delicate flowers, which were seen as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful yet fleeting and ephemeral.

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, they had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.

This tradition continues today, in modern Japan, and picking the best spot to view the sakura is very important. The most junior members in the office are expected to arrive at the parks at the crack of dawn -- or even sleep there the night before -- in order to secure the most choice spots for their seniors.

A hanami party in Japan -- photo from Wikipedia and used under the Creative Commons Liscence.

Resources: www.wikipedia.org