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Every spring, two neighbouring international locations develop into wreathed in cherry blossom. Whereas the flowers could look related, the meanings they carry – and the methods they’re skilled – inform very totally different tales.
Japan: The quiet weight of custom
In Japan, cherry blossom (sakura) isn’t just a seasonal celebration – it’s philosophy in bloom. For over a thousand years, these petals have symbolised impermanence, fragility, and the fantastic thing about life’s fleeting moments.
The Heian-era the Aristocracy turned blossom-viewing into poetry. Samurai noticed in its fall a metaphor for the best loss of life: swish, sudden, unresentful. In trendy Japan, sakura nonetheless carries emotional heft – showing in literature, commencement ceremonies, and even state messaging throughout instances of nationwide loss.
However there’s nothing heavy-handed about how Japan marks the season. Hanami (flower-viewing) picnics are cheerful, however not often chaotic. Folks lay out their tarpaulins early, collect with buddies or colleagues, drink, eat, and quietly marvel. The blossom forecast is anticipated with near-meteorological depth. After which – simply as out of the blue because it arrived – it’s gone.
Korea: A louder form of spring
In Korea, cherry blossom (beotkkot) comes with a special vitality. This can be a nation that celebrates spring out loud.
Main festivals – like Jinhae’s Gunhangje – draw enormous crowds, meals stalls, Okay-pop performances, and drone-lit skies. The temper is an element commencement celebration, half nationwide vacation. {Couples} take selfies, faculty leavers pose in uniform beneath the bushes, and crowds spill by means of blossom-lined streets in Seoul and Busan lengthy into the night.
However the blossoms’ journey in Korean tradition has been extra difficult. Lots of the most typical varieties have been launched through the Japanese colonial interval. For years, this gave cherry blossom uncomfortable associations. Extra not too long ago, nonetheless, Korea has reclaimed the flower by itself phrases – championing the native King Cherry from Jeju Island and utilizing blossom season as a stage for contemporary Korean identification. Much less symbolism, extra celebration. Much less inward gaze, extra outward pleasure.
Identical bloom, totally different which means
To the untrained eye, blossom season may look a lot the identical in each international locations – crowds, cameras, flowers on the wind. However pay nearer consideration, and the contrasts are telling.
In Japan, it’s about temper. Aesthetics. The bittersweet class of one thing that doesn’t final. In Korea, it’s about ambiance. Participation. The collective carry of a rustic entering into spring.
Even the timing tells a narrative. Japan’s sakura zensen (blossom entrance) is charted with near-clinical precision because it strikes north by means of the archipelago. Korea’s blossom season hits quicker and more durable – a fast burst of celebration earlier than summer time warmth rolls in.
Why it issues if you journey
Seeing the cherry blossom in a single nation is a seasonal deal with. Seeing it in each – in the identical yr – is one thing else. It’s an opportunity to step inside two very alternative ways of being, formed by historical past, identification and worldview.
The geography provides one other layer. Japan stretches over 3,000 kilometres from Okinawa to Hokkaido, permitting the blossom season to unfold progressively from south to north over the course of a number of weeks. In distinction, Korea’s smaller landmass means its cherry blossom season is extra condensed – blooming throughout the nation in a a lot shorter span.
You’ll nonetheless get the images, the picnics, the road meals. However you’ll additionally stroll away with one thing much less anticipated – a sense for a way place and tradition form even the best of moments. A deeper understanding of what spring means right here. Not simply the place the bushes bloom finest, however why it issues.
And that’s the fantastic thing about journey at its richest. One flower. Two nations. Two very alternative ways to really feel it.
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