Thoughts turn to Japan at cherry blossom time
REALCUISINE | Julianne Glatz
I got an email from the Missouri Botanical Garden last week: “The weeping Higan cherry is now in bloom in the Japanese Garden.
If current weather patterns persist, we expect Yoshino Cherries to begin peak bloom by this weekend.”
My husband, Peter, and I are longtime members of MoBot, as the Missouri Botanical Garden is known. MoBot’s Japanese garden, Seiwa-en, is the largest traditional Japanese garden in North America.
It’s always lovely, but never more so than when the cherry trees are blooming. We always try to visit during blossom season. But this year our anticipation of a pleasant outing is suffused with sadness about the Japanese peoples’ suffering in the wake of the horrific earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
It’s hard to overstate the significance of cherry blossoms to the Japanese – they’re an integral part of their culture and history. In the eighth century, wealthy and aristocratic Japanese began the tradition of Hanami. Hanami – literally “flower viewing” – are parties organized to visit blossoming cherry trees. Originally Hanami were moralistic about the shortness of human existence, especially relating to Buddhist philosophy: Blooming cherry trees are overwhelmingly beautiful, but their season is brief; the flowers inevitably fall to the earth. Artists of every stripe – poets, musicians, visual artists – celebrated cherry blossoms and their meaning.
These days, Hanami are not just for a privileged few: all Japanese take time to enjoy blossoming cherry trees which, according to Sue Schaeffer, are everywhere in every park in Japan as well as every public space. Picnicking is de rigueur. It’s no longer just about philosophic reflection.
“I arrived during cherry blossom season,” she told me. “The next weekend, friends took me to a picnic under the blossoms. Everyone took pictures. There was even karaoke! But even though there are crowds of people, you feel like you’re in a private space with friends.”
Schaeffer, a good friend, is a retired University of Evansville (Indiana) professor. In 2005 she taught English as a Second Language in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, where her gracious, self-effacing personality made her a natural fit. Shizuoka only suffered slight damage from the earthquake/tsunami, but she’s been in contact with friends since. They’re OK, but traumatized by the events and their effects locally and nationwide.
A couple days later, I got another email from MoBot: freeze warnings for the weekend. Too bad, but I hoped any cherry trees that survived Japan’s devastation were blooming. Not only to remind them that life is transient. But also that, in its short time, life can be beautiful.
Contact Julianne Glatz at realcuisine.jg@gmail.com.
