In Japan, the tradition of viewing cherry blossoms, or sakura (桜), is a very popular one. Every year, we take the kids to the University of Washington for cherry blossom viewing, called o-hanami (お花見) in Japanese.
It was a very lovely time with the family. Centuries ago, the brilliant, and yet failed Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (also mentioned here), once composed a poetic verse:1
| Japanese | Romanization | Translation |
| 咲き満ちて | Sakimichite | Flowers in full bloom — |
| 花よりほかの | Hana yori hoka no | But apart from the blossoms, |
| 色もなし | Iro mo nashi | No color anywhere. |
Centuries earlier, in the Hyakunin Isshu collection another poet composed some verses on cherry blossoms too:2
| Japanese | Romanization | Translation |
| もろともに | Morotomo ni | Let us think of each |
| 哀れと思へ | Aware to omoe | other fondly, |
| 山桜 | Yama-zakura | O mountain cherries! |
| 花より外に | Hana yori hoka ni | For, outside of your blossoms, |
| 知る人もなし | Shiru hito mo nashi | there’s no one who knows my feelings. |
We toured the cherry blossoms, took photos amidst other people, and then we headed to the library at the University of Washington, something I that brought back a lot fo memories for me:
… and finally we stopped nearby for some good ramen:3
It was a somewhat unplanned event, since we usually don’t go on a weekday, but we decided to chance it due to the weather, and like any unplanned event, we were pleasantly surprised.
As an o-hanami event, the kids had a wonderful time, and hopefully some good memories for the future.
1 According to Donald Keene, this was the hokku (発句), or opening verse, of a renga poem.
2 Poem 66, see here for more details.
3 I enjoy miso-flavored ramen in particular. Ramen courtesy of Hokkaido Ramen Santouka.
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 