日本人日本樱花英文介绍

SAKU RA

Sakura is the flower of the cherry trees. "Sakura" refers to the Japanese flowering cherry.Named‘’Cherry Blossom’’ in Engl ish. サク ラ 桜、櫻は、バラ科サク ラ属サク ラ亜属Prunussu bg. Cerasus またはサク ラ属Cerasus の総称である。 日本で最も知られている花の一つである

Cherry blossoms are indigenous to many East Asian states includingJapan, Korea, and China.Japan hasa widevarietyof cherry blossoms:wel l over200cultivarscan befoundthere.

night iscal led yozakura (夜桜, l iteral ly nightsakura). In many placessuch as Ueno Parktemporarypaper lanterns are hungforthe purpose of yozakura.

A more ancient form of hanami also exists inJapan,which is enjoyingthe plum blossoms (梅ume) instead.This kind of hanami is popular among older people, becausethey are more calmthan the sakura parties,which usual ly involve younger people and can sometimes be verycrowded and noisy.

History

The practice of hanami is many centuries old.The custom is said to have started during theNara Period(710–794)whenitwasume(梅: うめ)blossomsthatpeopleadmired inthebeginning.But by the Heian Period (794–1185), sakura came to attract more attention and hanami wassynonymouswith sakura. From then on, in tanka and haiku, "flowers"meant "sakura."

Hanami was first used as a term analogous to cherry blossom viewing in the Heian era novelTale of Genji .Whi lst a wisteria viewing party was also described, from this point on the terms"hanami"and"flower party"were only usedto describe cherry blossom viewing.

Sakura original lywas used to divine that year's harvest as wel l as announce the rice-plantingseason. People bel ieved in kami insidethetrees and made offerings.Afterwards, they partookoftheofferingwith sake.

EmperorSaga of the Heian Period adopted this practice,and held flower-viewing partieswithsake and feasts underneaththe blossoming boughsof sakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto.Poems would be written praising the del icate flowers,which were seen as a metaphor for l ifeitself, luminousand beautifulyetfleetingandephemeral .Thiswassaidtobetheoriginof hanamiinJapan.

Thecustomwasoriginal lyl imitedtotheel iteof the Imperial Court,butsoonspreadtosamurai

society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as wel l .Tokugawa Yoshimune plantedareas of cherry blossom trees to encouragethis.Under the sakura trees, people had lunch anddrank sake in cheerful feasts.

most cherry blossom viewers,meaning that people are more interested in the food and drinksaccompanying a hanami partythan actual lyviewingtheflowersthemselves. (A punningvariation,BoysOverFlowers (花よ り男子,HanaYori Dango), isthetitleof a manga andanimeseries.)Dead bodies are buried under the cherrytrees! is a popular saying about hanami, after theopeningsentence of the 1925 shortstory"Underthe CherryTrees"by MotojirōKaji i .

EmperorSaga (嵯峨天皇Saga-tennō) (786-842)of the Heian Period adopted thiscustom,andcelebrated parties to view the flowers with sake and feasts under the blossoming branches ofsakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto.This was said to be the origin of hanami in Japan.Poems were written praising the del icate flowers,which were seen as a metaphor for l ife itself;beautiful, but lasting for a very short time. This "temporary" view of l ife is very popular inJapanesecultureand is usual lyconsidered asan admirableform of existence; forexample, inthesamurai 's principle of l ife endingwhen it's sti l l beautiful and strong, instead of slowlygettingoldand weak.The Heian era poets used towrite poems about how much easier thingswould be inspringwithoutthesakura blossoms,becausetheirexistence reminded usthat l ife isveryshort:

’’If therewere nocherryblossoms inthisworld

Howmuchmoretranqui lourheartswould beinspring.’’

Ariwara no Narihira(825-880)

Hanami was used as a term that meant "cherry blossom viewing" for the first time in theHeianera novelTaleof Genji (花宴Hana no En, "UndertheCherryBlossoms"). Fromthenon, intanka (短歌) and in haiku (俳句) poetry, "flowers"meant "sakura", and the terms "hanami" and"flower party"were only used to mean sakura blossom viewing.At the beginning, the customwasfol lowed only bythe Imperial Court,but thesamurai nobi l ityalso begancelebrating itduringthe Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568–1600). In those years, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave greathanami parties in Yoshino and Daigo, and the festivity became very popular through al l theJapanese society. Shortly after that, farmers began their own custom of cl imbing nearbymountains in the springtime and having lunch under the blooming cherry trees.This practice,cal led then as the "spring mountain trip", combined itself with that of the nobles' to form the

urbancultureof hanami .Bythe Edo Period(1600–1867), al l thecommonpeopletookpart inthecelebrations, in part because Tokugawa Yoshimune(徳川吉宗, November 27, 1684 - July 12,1751, the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, rul ing from 1716 unti l hisabdication in 1745.) planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this.Under the sakuratrees,people had lunchand dranksakein cheerful feasts.

The blossom forecast is announced each year by the Japan Meteorological Agency, and iswatched with attention by those who plan to celebrate hanami because the blossoms last forvery l ittle time, usual ly no more than two weeks. The first cherry blossoms happen in thesubtropical southern islands of Okinawa,whi le on the northern island of Hokkaido, they bloommuch later. In most large cities l ike Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the cherry blossom season normal lytakes place around the end of March and the beginningof Apri l .Thetelevision and newspapersclosely fol low this "cherry blossom front", as it slowly moves from South to North.The hanamicelebrations usual ly involve eating and drinking, and playing and l istening music. Some specialdishesarepreparedand eatenattheoccasion, l ikedangoand bento,and it'scommonforsaketobe drunk as part of the festivity. "Dead bodies are buried under the cherrytrees!" (桜の樹の下には屍体が埋ま っている Sakura noki noshita niwashitaiga umatteiru!) isa popularsayingabout hanami, after the first l ine of the 1925 short story"Under the Cherry Trees" by MotojirōKaji i .

Symbolism日本人の精神の象徴

In Japan cherry blossoms also symbol ize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse,besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of l ife, an aspect of Japanesecultural traditionthat isoftenassociatedwith Buddhisticinfluence, andwhich isembodied intheconcept of mono no aware.The association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware datesback to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga.The transience of the blossoms, the extremebeauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortal ity; for this reason, cherryblossoms are richly symbol ic, and have been uti l ized often in Japanese art,manga, anime, andfi lm,aswel lasatmusical performancesforambienteffect.Thereisat leastonepopularfolksong,original ly meant for the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), titled "Sakura", and several pop songs.Theflower is also represented on al l manner of consumer goods in Japan, including kimono,stationery,and dishware.

Cherry blossom is an omen of good fortune and is also an emblem of love, affection andrepresents spring.Cherry blossoms are an enduring metaphor for the fleeting nature of l ife, andassuch arefrequentlydepicted in art.

During World War I I, the cherry blossom was used to motivate the Japanese people, to stokenational ism and mi l itarism amongthe populace. Japanese pi lotswould paint them onthesidesof their planes before embarking on a suicide mission,or even take branches of the trees withthem on their missions.A cherry blossom painted on the side of the bomber symbol ized theintensity and ephemeral ity of l ife; in this way, the aesthetic association was altered such thatfal l ing cherry petals came to represent the sacrifice of youth in suicide missions to honor theemperor. The government even encouraged the people to bel ieve that the souls of downedwarriorswere reincarnated inthe blossoms.

In its colonial enterprises, imperial Japan often planted cherrytrees as a means of "claiming

occupiedterritoryasJapanesespace".

ぱっ と花を咲かせた後、散ってゆく桜の儚さや潔さが非常に好まれている。古くから桜は諸行無常といった感覚にたとえ られており 、ぱっ と咲き、さ っ と散る姿ははかない人生を投影する対象となった。江戸時代の国学者、本居宣長は 「敷島の大和心を人問はば朝日に匂ふ山桜花」 と詠み、桜が 「もののあはれ」 などと基調とする日本人の精神具体的な例え とみな した。 また、潔よさ を人の模範と見て、江戸時代以降しばしば武士道のたと えにされてきた。 ただし、 そのよ う にすぐに花が散ってし ま う様は、家が長続き しないとい う想像を抱かせたため、意外と桜を家紋と した武家は少ない。 明治時代に新渡戸稲造が著した 『武士道』 では 「武士道シヴゔ リー とは日本の象徴たる桜の花のよ う な もの」 と冒頭に記している。武士道的な美徳を重視した旧日本軍では、潔く散る桜が自己犠牲のシンボルと して多用された 特攻機桜花など。 たと えば 「花華 と散る」 とい う言葉は戦死や殉職の暗喩である。同期の桜の歌も戦中非常に良く歌われた。現在でも、桜は日本人の精神を象徴するものして良く取り上げられる。ウェザーニュースの調査では日本人のおよそ 8割が桜をとても好き と答えた。咲いている様の美しさはも ちろん、花を咲かすためのみに持てる全ての力を使う生命力の強さ に惹かれるこ と、咲いてから散るまでの移ろい行く様に人生や一期一会、幸福、恋愛などを投影するこ と、咲き終えた後には潔く散る姿を美しい と考える こ と、 そ してこれらを自らに当てはめる こ とは日本人にと って稀ではない。春が日本では年度の変わり目であり 、 出会いと別れの時期である こ と も これらの要因を引き立てている。 また近年では、散るこ とをただ惜しむだけではな く 、 ひらひら と散る桜を精一杯さ いた勲章のよ う にい う こ とも多い。現代の歌や文学にも これらの象徴と して多く取り上げられている。 また、警察官および自衛官の階級章は、他国なら星形を使うべき所を桜花で表している。 これらの職種は国民の生命と財産を守るために命を投げ打つと宣誓しているためである。 自衛隊の旗でも、陸海空を問わず、旭日と並んで桜の花を使用した旗は数多い。