Sakura Legends

Sakura is the national flower of Japan, where it originated. The main characteristic of the sakura is that when it falls, it does so at once. It symbolizes the militarism and Samurai spirit of the Japanese. There is no scent in sakuras grown in Korea and the US. But, in Japan, people praise the scent of the sakura and it is often spoken of in poems.

To honor its beauty, and short life span, the Japanese celebrate its arrival with a yearly festival. Friends gather under the trees to enjoy ~sake~ (rice wine), sing songs, and celebrate the coming of spring. It is used in wedding ceremonies because the Japanese love to enjoy the sakura scent during happy occasions. Most events, such as an entrance ceremony or the starting of a company which relates with ~the start of life~ are held during ~the month of blooming sakura~ in April.

There is an expression that, ~A flower is a Sakura, a person is a Samurai.~ It means that when the Samurai faces danger, he is not afraid of death, because, like a sakura, he will shrivel and fall at once, without hesitation. To the Japanese, this tree represents not only ascetic beauty, but also transience melancholy, and the honor of graceful resignation. Many references to the sakura are found in Japanese poetry and literature. These trees have been offered by Japan as symbols of peace to the countries of the world. sakura now adorn the banks of the Potomac river, in Washington DC, and the remains of the Berlin wall.

Sakura season is thus a highly visible sign of spring, the beauty of nature, renewal of life, and first love...but can also represent the transiency and fragility of beauty, life, and love. Since the meanings are highly romantic, the sakura motif is especially common in media aimed to the shoujo audience.

Japanese mythology often also connects sakura with death; a legend goes that originally, the flowers of the tree were white; after a body was buried beneath it, the petals turned pink. Anime will sometimes take this further, putting a body beneath a cherry blossom and turning the petals a deep red. (The fact that they last, at most, two weeks is a more mundane contribution to the symbolism.)