Sunny skies of late and unseasonably warm weather have seen trees come into bloom earlier this year. Spring blossoms almost pass us by without a second thought. This would never happen in Japan. Over there, it is customary to celebrate trees coming into flower and the season is currently in full swing. It’s ‘Hanami’ time.
Sakura blossoms near my home
Hanami – Flower Viewing
Hanami literally means ‘flower viewing’ and between March and mid-May, millions of Sakura (cherry blossom) and Ume (plum blossom) can be seen all over the Japan.
It is also customary to party and celebrate under the beautiful blooms! There are ‘Sakura Zensen’ weather forecasts to help people to plan their Hanami parties far in advance. The parks are packed with revellers who picnic, drink, karaoke and dance. When I lived in Tokyo we would seek out the best parks and set out our picnic blankets as early as we could to enjoy the biggest blooms.
If you’ve been invited to a Hanami party, it’s customary to take a gift. These vary from delicate individually set cherries in jelly to bread buns with sweet cherry flavoured bean paste centres.
Lovely Hanami gift of ‘Sakura’ Jelly
This year there were no Hanami parties near me so as the weather was so sunny and lovely, we decided to have our own Hanami party on the local green. There is a lovely line of pink flowers in bloom. I baked these Sakura Cupcakes to take along.
Sakura Cupcake – click image for recipe
What do you think about celebrating the arrival of tree blossoms? Does it seem strange or is it something you’d like to embrace?
Related articles
- Picnic Perfect – It’s Hanami Season (japancentre.com)
- The sakura front sweeps across Japan (japantimes.co.jp)
We had a cherry tree in the garden when I was a child that my grandfather had grown from a stone when he was around 8 years old. I used to love the pink blossom every year (even if playing amongst the petals always inflicted a headache for unknown reasons) and seeing it every year reminds me of this. There are quite a few cherry trees around in Walthamstow!
What a lovely memory. Thanks so much for sharing that. My girls love playing in blossom snow so I hope they’ll have fond memories too
Happy Spring!:)Lovely picture by the way
Happy Spring to you too. 🙂
We have a favourite cherry blossom tree in the park near our school and the children love it as do I for it’s enormous pom pom flower heads. We all stop to marvel at it whenever we pass it!
Awesome! You must have a hanami picnic! Blue tarpaulin a must have! And sake of course 😉
Our neighbours have a lovely ornamental cherry tree with dark leaves and pink blossom. We get to enjoy the blossom over the fence… not sure how they’d feel about us turning up with a picnic blanket and some cupcakes! But blossom is definitely to be celebrated, especially when it promises fruit later in the year.
Oh lucky you! My mum used to have one but Dad chopped it down as it was close to the house. Such a shame.
What a beautiful idea! I like this kind of celebration. 🙂
Thank you Rosana. Me too. It’s a simple celebration of such a simple thing as a blossom. Makes you realise life doesn’t need to be too complicated
We have a cherry blossom cherry in our back garden. It is extra special to us because on my daughter’s birthday the tree seems always to time it so we get blossom clouds. When she was small she would run outside and whirl around in her party frock, her long blonde hair flashing through the pink storm. A very special tree. We have a few avenues nearby lined with blossom trees and lime trees, so what with the pretty pink and the vivid acid green we certainly have something to celebrate. We are food to Japan this year but not the right time for blossoms though
How wonderful for your daughter and such lovely memories for you. Am so envious of your Japan trip too!
So pretty. We have lots of cherry blossoms along our street and the children have cherry blossoms at school so it’s always a joy to do the school run at his time of year. The cupcakes are so delicate and pretty x
Thanks Ren. Sometimes I love a good cupcake! And you’re right the sight of blossoms just instantly makes me happy to be outside
There’s a giant cherry tree across the back from our garden, which looks majestic at this time of year. We managed to score bagfuls of the fruit last season which was unbelievably sweet and delicious – fingers crossed this year’s crop will follow suit 🙂 Thanks for the lovely post – feel all spring-like now.
Ooh I totally missed your comment Katie. Glad to make you feel all spring like. Wish it would go back to being all spring like in London. Miserable today!
what a lovely set of customs. Great pics too. I love cherry blossom too and your pictures make it look almost ethereal.
Thank you. I love the Japanese for all their customs and festivals.