【初めての「集中豪雨」型観桜 弘前城のサクラ】

　さて昨日は初めて来て見た「弘前城のサクラ見物」でした。
　弘前城はごく普通にビジネス旅で弘前を訪れる際には、早朝散歩などでよく見知ってはいる歴史感公スポットなので、何回かは訪れております。しかしそれは常に仕事上のスケジュールでの探訪だったので、個人的な「歴史好き」からの興味探訪。観桜スポットとしていまや全世界に知られたこの時期に来て見たのは、まったく初めての経験でありました。
　感想は、まことに人出の多さ、クルマの大渋滞・・・。すごい。
　日本人の季節感文化の中で観桜は、その中核に位置している。いかにも、な「もののあはれ」が体感できる最高の舞台装置なのでしょう。わたし個人としての妄想としては、古事記におけるその命名の精妙さにおどろかされている「コノハナサクヤ」姫とニニギノミコトの出会いのシーンの背景として想像される浜辺で、開花目前のサクラに対して、この姫が樹木に問うた言の葉ではと。
　そういう姫御子のサクラへの日本人的な心情は、縄文あるいはそれ以前からのこの列島の自然環境の中で、多くの人びとが共有できる季節感情の極限なのでしょう。
　クルマであちこち青森県内を移動している間、夫婦での会話では「いや〜、あちこち、サクラ並木が多いよね〜」でありました。北海道は、サクラの生育に適していないという明治以来の「植物環境意識」のなかで欧米的な「ポプラ」「アカシア」みたいな並木道を作ってきたけれど、そしてそれが北海道的な「エキゾチズム」を日本社会に沈殿させてきたけれど、本州以南地域では、ひたすらこの「コノハナサクヤ」的な心情のエコーチェンバー社会の中、サクラを植え続けてきたように思う。それもDNA的に１個体であるとされるソメイヨシノを一択のように植樹し続けてきた民族社会性。結局、北海道のサクラのメインはいまだに「ヤマザクラ」であることも象徴的だと思える。
　そういうサクラの集合美感を「愛でたい」という、しずかなしかし、熱い民衆的心情熱狂。
　ながく列島最北端と意識してきた弘前の武家大名家として、その場内にサクラを植樹し続けてきた士族にとってサクラの景観は民衆支配の大きな舞台装置でもあったのかと思われる。
　・・・ということですが、カミさんが少女の時に義父が家族旅行で弘前の観桜旅をした、ということでその夢のような光景が彼女のこころに焼き付いてしまったとのこと。そのセンチメンタルジャーニーが今回の旅の出発動機。まだ、満開まではすこし時間があるようですが、しかし、ニッポンの春を実感させられております。さて、明後日には北海道にてサクラ前線をお迎えします。


English version⬇

First ‘torrential rain’ type cherry blossom viewing at Hirosaki Castle.
The unique naming of the beautiful woman Konohanasakuya in the Kojiki. The delusion that the tree was a cherry tree. A quiet national enthusiasm for the beauty of the collective landscape. ...

　Yesterday was the first time I visited Hirosaki Castle to see the sakura (cherry blossoms).
　I have visited Hirosaki Castle several times when I visit Hirosaki on business trips, as it is a public spot with a sense of history that I am familiar with from early morning walks and the like. However, these visits were always on a business schedule, so I was interested in the castle out of a personal ‘love of history’. It was the first time for me to come and see the cherry blossoms at this time of the year, which is now known all over the world as a cherry blossom viewing spot.
　My impression was that there were really a lot of people and a huge traffic jam of cars... It was amazing.
　Cherry blossom viewing is at the heart of Japanese seasonal culture. It is probably the best stage setting in which to experience the very real ‘mono no ahare’. My own personal fantasy is that this could be the words of the Princess Konohanasakuya and Niniginomikoto, whose exquisite naming in the Kojiki is astonishing, asking the trees about the sakura just before they blossomed on the beach, which is imagined as the background to the encounter scene between the Princess Konohanasakuya and Niniginomikoto.
　The Japanese sentiment of the Princess and Child towards the sakura is probably the extreme limit of seasonal feelings shared by many people in the natural environment of the archipelago since the Jomon period or even before.
　While travelling by car from place to place in Aomori Prefecture, the couple's conversation was ‘Oh no, there are so many sakura trees here and there’. Since the Meiji era (1868-1912), Hokkaido has created tree-lined avenues lined with Western-style poplar and acacia trees in the context of a ‘plant environment consciousness’ that cherry trees are not suitable for growing in Hokkaido, and this has precipitated a Hokkaido-style ‘exoticism’ in Japanese society, but in the areas south of Honshu, there is no end to this ‘konohanasakuya’ (cherry tree) sentiment. In the south of Honshu, cherry trees have been planted in a society of echo chambers of this ‘Konohana sakuya’ mentality. The ethnic social nature of this society is such that the Someiyoshino, which is considered to be a single individual in terms of DNA, has been planted continuously as if it were the only choice. It is also symbolic that the main type of cherry tree in Hokkaido is still the yamazakura.
　The quiet but passionate emotional fervour of the people who want to ‘love’ the collective beauty of these cherry trees.
　The samurai feudal lords of Hirosaki, who have long been aware of the northernmost point of the archipelago, have continued to plant sakura trees in the area, and it seems that the sakura landscape was also a major stage device for the domination of the people.
　When Kami was a girl, her father-in-law took her on a family trip to Hirosaki to see the cherry blossoms, and the dream-like scene was burned into her mind. That sentimental journey was the starting point for this trip. There is still some time to go before the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, but I can really feel the spring in Japan. The day after tomorrow, we will welcome the sakura front in Hokkaido.