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Today, the cherry blossom tree in the cemetery is flowering. The branches are clouded with fluffy white blooms, each one with five pristine white petals, and the buds cluster in delicate pink. Already they are falling, and the grass underneath the tree is littered with flowers.
Adam told me a few weeks ago about the Japanese reverence for sakura, the cherry blossom. The Japanese have flower-viewing festivals, hanami, where they sit and watch the sakura, and often drink a lot too. This flower-viewing custom came from the Japanese emulating the customs of the Chinese Tang dynasty in the 8th century. Sometimes, these hanami are at night, and they hang paper lanterns in the parks.
To the Japanese, the sakura symbolises the beauty and the transience of life. The blossoms fall within a week of blooming, before even the leaves unfurl. They can also symbolise warriors who have fallen in battle, samurai or kamikaze fighter pilots in the Second World War, so it seems right that this tree should be flowering in a graveyard. In Chinese culture, the sakura represent feminine beauty and love.
The wonder, fragility and shortness of life is a lovely aesthetic to muse upon on a bright spring day with a cool breeze blowing drifts of flowers from the trees, or during fragrant evenings when glowing paper lanterns and luminous white blossoms fill the darkness. I want to go to Japan to see the sakura soon... and their falling reminds me I shouldn't wait too long...
Adam told me a few weeks ago about the Japanese reverence for sakura, the cherry blossom. The Japanese have flower-viewing festivals, hanami, where they sit and watch the sakura, and often drink a lot too. This flower-viewing custom came from the Japanese emulating the customs of the Chinese Tang dynasty in the 8th century. Sometimes, these hanami are at night, and they hang paper lanterns in the parks.
To the Japanese, the sakura symbolises the beauty and the transience of life. The blossoms fall within a week of blooming, before even the leaves unfurl. They can also symbolise warriors who have fallen in battle, samurai or kamikaze fighter pilots in the Second World War, so it seems right that this tree should be flowering in a graveyard. In Chinese culture, the sakura represent feminine beauty and love.
The wonder, fragility and shortness of life is a lovely aesthetic to muse upon on a bright spring day with a cool breeze blowing drifts of flowers from the trees, or during fragrant evenings when glowing paper lanterns and luminous white blossoms fill the darkness. I want to go to Japan to see the sakura soon... and their falling reminds me I shouldn't wait too long...
