The not-so-fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms: An alternate perspective
If the cherries bloom all the year and the petals won't fall off, people would not appreciate them as much as they do now.
That is only one side of the coin.
That's shallow cultural understanding of what people are feeling. There are often two sides of the things--Front and back, inside and outside, and what people say and what people mean. Perhaps some Americans have hard times in understanding it.
True. But that does not deny the fact it is out of eternal darkness of the universe, beautiful light come and stay-- just for some time---and will go soon.
That's exactly like our life, which sakura symbolizes.
Note it is also the vulnerability that makes sakura attractive to the Japanese people. Imperfection, vulnerability, fleetingness are the vital elements that constitute the Japanese sense of beauty, being cute one of them.
Many flowers are temporal, but sakura's falling and dancing petals are not just aesthetically beautiful but they also symbolize well the vulnerability, unstability and fleetingness that are embodied in each of us.
Note also it is not uncommon theme.
It’s weird to think that in just a few days, all those achingly captivating pink petals would fall from their branches and be blown away by the wind. But hey, that’s what makes the sakura so special, right? Their beauty is that much greater because it’s so fleeting, right?
Would people seriously say “Eh, that’s not so pretty anymore” after more than 14 days of this?
If the cherries bloom all the year and the petals won't fall off, people would not appreciate them as much as they do now.
The typical Japanese cherry blossom viewing party, or hanami as they’re known in their native Japanese, isn’t anywhere near as wistfully pensive as the somber image poems and love songs are so fond of ascribing to sakura. Most of them are more like slightly rowdy picnics, with plenty of munchies and enough alcohol to run a small bar.
That is only one side of the coin.
At the sakura gatherings I’ve been to, I don’t recall anyone sighing and waxing nostalgic about days gone by, regardless of the age of the participants, but I do recall a lot of laughter, plus one of my fellow revelers once good-naturedly tossing me into a cherry tree.
That's shallow cultural understanding of what people are feeling. There are often two sides of the things--Front and back, inside and outside, and what people say and what people mean. Perhaps some Americans have hard times in understanding it.
None of this is to say the claim that Japanese people like cherry blossoms because of their ephemeral, somewhat tragic nature is out-and-out wrong. At the same time, it’s not the only way people in Japan enjoy them. When you stop and think about it, that makes a lot of sense, because obsessing over the fact that the sakura you’re looking at right now are going to soon be gone ignores the equally certain truth that they’ll blossom again in 12 months’ time.
Even under less than optimum conditions, cherry blossoms are still a sight to see. Sure, you could focus on how the flowers are only temporary, but the trees themselves can live for centuries, producing a new batch of blossoms for each of those hundreds of springs.
True. But that does not deny the fact it is out of eternal darkness of the universe, beautiful light come and stay-- just for some time---and will go soon.
That's exactly like our life, which sakura symbolizes.
Note it is also the vulnerability that makes sakura attractive to the Japanese people. Imperfection, vulnerability, fleetingness are the vital elements that constitute the Japanese sense of beauty, being cute one of them.
Many flowers are temporal, but sakura's falling and dancing petals are not just aesthetically beautiful but they also symbolize well the vulnerability, unstability and fleetingness that are embodied in each of us.
Note also it is not uncommon theme.
