Hanami
A more ancient form of hanami also exists in Japan, which is enjoying the plum blossoms instead, which is narrowly referred to as umemi (梅見, plum-viewing).
Emperor Saga of the Heian period adopted this practice, 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.
In the Muromachi period, the Sato-zakura Group which was born from complex interspecific hybrids based on Oshima cherry, began to appear.
[15] On the other hand, various cultivars other than Yoshino cherry were cut down one after another due to the rapid modernization of cities, such as reclamation of waterways and demolition of daimyo gardens.
The Japanese people continue the tradition of hanami, gathering in great numbers wherever the flowering trees are found.
Thousands of people fill the parks to hold feasts under the flowering trees, and sometimes these parties go on until late at night.
In more than half of Japan, the cherry blossoming days come at the same time as the beginning of school and work after vacation, and so welcoming parties are often opened with hanami.
Usually, people go to the parks to keep the best places to celebrate hanami with friends, family, and company coworkers many hours or even days before.
In most large cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the cherry blossom season normally takes place around the end of March and the beginning of April.
Some special dishes are prepared and eaten at the occasion, like dango and bento, and sake is commonly drunk as part of the festivity.
[27] These sakura trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction, and every year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival takes place when they bloom in early spring.
Around 50 Yoshino Sakura trees have been donated to the city as symbols of international friendship and good will by the descendants of Japanese immigrants.
[citation needed] High Park, the home of the most extensive cherry tree collection in the city, closes its streets to auto traffic to better allow for sakura viewing during the week of peak bloom.
[citation needed] In Rome, in Italy, the hanami is celebrated, where are a lot of cherry trees were donated by Japan in 1959.
[37] Paris has several stunning displays of cherry blossom trees in the Trocadero Garden, Jardin des Plantes, Parc de Sceaux, and many other spots.
[38] During the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the National Trust initiated the #BlossomWatch campaign, which was inspired by Japanese cherry blossom festivals.
