Cherry Blossoms

Sakura   Hanami    Hanamatsuri

What do these all have in common?

Cherry Blossoms, lots and lots of Cherry Blossoms. 

Sakura is the Japanese name for the blossoms. There are Sakura flavored food items everywhere this time of year. Starbucks Sakura Latte, McDonalds Sakura burger, Sakura ice cream, cake, tea, and many more sweets. Clint and I both rired a few and neither one of us was wildly impresses though he liked it more than I did.

It makes sense to Have so many flavored Things, Sakura Flowers Are everywhere There IS a whole Festival dedicated to Them-Hanamatsuri. UNLIKE Other Festivals this One Seems to BE a time of year Rather than One day. As soon as the Blossoming Trees start it is all anyone talks about. The trees are everywhere. They have tiny flowers that range white to fuchsia and are beautiful.

hey are used as decorations on store fronts in window displays and even the theme of our kindergarden graduation decorations.

 

People gather in large parks to look at the flowers this is called hanami. They bring big blue tarps (yes always blue) and sit down with food and drinks to enjoy the view. Families often prepare of purchase bento meals and bring sake and spend a few hours admiring the blooming trees. We went to Tokushima Castle Park and it was fun seeing all the people out on their tarps enjoying the day.

Kyoto I supposed to be the best place in Japan to Sakura. I was lucky enough to go when Jessica and David were visiting. We went to the philosopher walk way which is lined with Sakura. Everyone and their mother was also there, making the experience less than amazing but I'm still glad we went.  

While Jess and David were visiting we also headed up into the mountains for some good Inaka (rural) fun. There were far fewer people and we enjoyed the cherry blossoms immensely. 

Hina Matsuri

Hina Matsuri or girls day is a day to celebrate girls growth and happiness. It is held on March 3^rd which is not a national holiday unlike Children’s Day (Boy’s Day) in May.

Families with girls, and plenty of space, display Hina dolls in tribute. They are usually arranged on a five or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet. At the top are the Emperor and Empress. The next step contains three court ladies, followed by five musicians, two ministers, and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display. There are also small pieces of furniture, small meal dishes, and other things placed on the lowest tier.

The dolls wear beautiful ancient court costumes of the Heian period (794-1185). The costume of the Empress is called the "juuni-hitoe” and is a twelve-layered ceremonial robe. It takes great skill to create these tiny doll costumes and a traditional set of dolls can be very expensive. There are various grades for the sets, and some full sets cost more than a million yen. Unless there is a set handed down from generation to generation, grandparents or parents buy them for a girl by her first Hinamatsuri.

Those without room or money for a full set opt for a version where only the Emperor and the Empress dolls are displayed. Some which take on a more abstract shape or are a loose interpretation of the original dolls.

 There is a superstition that if you don't put away the Hina dolls soon after March 3rd, the daughter will get married late. This comes from a tradition more than a thousand years old. The dolls were believed to pull evil spirits from the home and were disposed of quickly after Girl’s Day. They were purified with water – washed, sent down river and out to sea, or sometimes burned.

 These beautiful dolls are still viewed with suspicion, and many are donated by the public because they are thought to bring bad luck if disposed of when the owners no longer have room for them. Katsuura, a town near us has one of the largest displays of Hina Matsuri dolls in Japan. All of the 30,000 dolls displayed have been donated by people all over Japan for this very reason.

The display was incredible and included traditional Hina dolls as well as larger representations of the emperor and empress. There was also an interesting collection of other dolls and figures.

The show room was huge and we couldn't believe how many dolls they had on display. It really was incredible.