花見Hanami (cherry-blossom viewing)

Hanami (花見; "flower viewing"; pronounced) is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers; flowers (花, hana) in this case almost always mean those of the cherry (桜, sakura) or, less frequently, plum (梅, ume) trees. From the end of March to early May, cherry trees bloom all over Japan, and around the second week of January on the island of Okinawa. The blossom forecast (桜前線, sakura-zensen) "cherry blossom front" is announced each year by the Japan Meteorological Agency and watched carefully by those planning hanami, as the blossoms only last a week or two.

In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night. In some contexts the Sino-Japanese term kan'ō (観桜; view-cherry) is used instead, particularly for festivals. Hanami at night is called yozakura (夜桜) "night cherry blossom". In many places such as Ueno Park temporary paper lanterns are hung for the purpose of yozakura. On the island of Okinawa, decorative electric lanterns are hung in the trees for evening enjoyment, such as on the trees ascending Mt. Yae, near Motobu Town, or at the Nakijin Castle.

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).

Text from Wikipedia: Hanami — CC BY-SA 4.0. Read more on Wikipedia →