Hanami

Hanami (Japanese花 见, " flower viewing " ) is the Japanese tradition, with so-called " cherry blossom festivals " to celebrate the beauty of the cherry trees in full bloom every spring.

The Japanese cherry blossom ( sakura ) flowers depending on the area in Japan from late March to early May. About the temporal and geographical history (cherry blossom front ) of the local ten -day flowering is reported in the media.

The Japanese cherry bears no edible fruit and has a particularly large flowers. February is the coldest month in Japan. Along with the cherry blossoms one enjoys more pleasant temperatures and feel the forces of nature awaken.

Before the cherry in april bloom in February, the plum trees ( Ume (梅, Latin prunus mume )) and the peach trees (桃momo ) in March. Yet Hanami mainly refers to the Japanese Cherry, which is planted in parks and gardens unequal in number.

History

The tradition of Hanami and the associated celebrations there is likely since the Nara period ( 710-794 ). Written records about it there from the Heian period ( 794-1185 ).

Symbolism

The aspects of beauty and transience speak Japanese here especially to:

• Without to bear fruit, the Japanese Cherry lives in a sense only for a few days in the year-long flowering in then outstanding beauty (see also the Japanese proverb " Hana yori dango ").

• After prolonged tire and only a short time of blossoming, the flower falls at the moment perfect beauty. The Sakura are so samurai and the literature is an example of a worthy, young death.

Festival

In about ten days, when the cherry blossoms are in their own area in bloom, celebrate almost all the inhabitants of Japan, a hanami with friends, colleagues or family in a park or another excellent place for it. O- bento, and often plenty of beer or sake and a pad to sit on the floor, among the utensils with which people gather in and cherry trees in the city and in the country. To the weekend to keep available the best places, some " placeholder" already issued hours earlier with a large tarpaulin fitted on site, because every year only one or two weekends are often suitable for this purpose, even in good weather.

Especially among colleagues and students is the evening after work Hanami popular: for the nightly cherry trees ( Yozakura ,夜 桜) are illuminated in some parks, the white and light pink flowers form a beautiful contrast to the blackness of the night.

Hanami in Germany

In many cities there are different sized Hanami festivals, usually organized by the local German -Japanese companies ( DJG ). The largest Hanami festival in Germany expected to be the Cherry Blossom Festival in Hamburg, to which every spring gathering since 1968, tens of thousands of people on the outer Alster lake shores and is completed with a magnificent fireworks to the planting of about 5,000 cherry trees in the urban area to recall by the Japanese companies based here this year - in 2011 accounted for the fireworks because of the disaster in Fukushima.

To print the special bond with Japan is in odd-numbered years for a two year term, the so-called " blossom princess' dies - as a Goodwill Ambassador of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg for Japan. In addition to Melbourne and Washington Hamburg is the world owns one of only three cities, which by the influential " Japan Cherry Blossom Association " ( JCBA, Tokyo ), comes right to be able to choose a cherry blossom princess.

More Hanami festivals there are, for example, in Hannover, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Passau, Wolfsburg and Berlin Teltow.

Feature

The director Doris Dorrie published 2008 for the movie Cherry Blossoms - Hanami in which just such a festival can be seen in some scenes.