Blossoming Hanami, Enjoying the Beauty, Reading Flowers and Text Gossiping

The art form in flower gossip has interesting scents for your senses.

Hanami, which literally means flower viewing, is an event that takes place in different parts of Japan any time from the end of March to the beginning of May. The people wait for the blossoming of cherry trees (sakura, in Japanese), and with the help of forecasts by the weather bureau about the flowering time, they plan to visit parks and gardens. Over these two months, the newspapers follow the progress of the blossoms from the south to the north of the islands.

Hanami mostly takes the form of picnics and gatherings under the sakura during the daytime, but the charm of these flowers is not lessened in the night, and Yozakura is the night-time version of Hanami. For the purpose of Yozakura, the gardens are decorated with beautiful, bright paper lanterns.

Another, more ancient version of Hanami involves the viewing of plum blossoms, though now the word Hanami has come to be synonymous with cherry blossoms, just as the word flower, when used in Japanese poems and writing refers to sakura.

Hanami festivities today are a lot about eating and drinking in the cheerful company of family and friends, and so a saying has emerged about how some people prefer the Hanami dumplings over the blooming cherry trees! However, the Japanese are generally an aesthetically receptive people and admire the bounty of nature in these delicate pink blossoms.

This festival is now celebrated in countries outside of Japan by people of other nations and Japanese people settled abroad.