In Japanese, it's called "mono no aware." This mindset can be found in the smallest things of Japanese daily life.Īnother common theme of Japanese cultural trappings, is their inextricable links with food. Their fleeting beauty illustrates all too perfectly that nothing in this world is permanent, everything passes away at some point.Ī sad but beautiful admiration for this impermanence has been an important part of the Japanese mindset since ancient times. Especially dessert creations and sweets are plentifully available during March and April when Japan actually experiences the beautiful cherry blossom.īut as we have already alluded to, the routes of the cherry blossom in Japan runs yet much deeper than mere convenience store crazes. This is way before the first flowers open, mind you, but the mood is set well in advance.Įvery year, this cherry blossom market grows larger and the range of products and food centered on the flowers increase. Will there be sunny skies for this year’s cherry blossom viewing party? Exactly when will the cherry blossoms begin their bloom? Will spring showers put a premature end to cherry blossom festivities? The following are some of the other big questions asked about cherry blossoms in Japan!Īround February each year, shops all around Japan stock their shelves with sakura-themed items, snacks, and dishes. It’s no exaggeration to say that all of Japan is glued to their TV screen anxiously awaiting updates on the weather forecast. After the ornamental dolls of Hina Matsuri are put away, it’s only a matter of time until the cherry blossoms are in bloom.Īs spring’s premier event, it’s no surprise that talk of cherry blossoms dominates the conversation in Japan. This is followed by the early spring celebration of Hina Matsuri on March 3 that wishes health and happiness for girls. Kicking off spring in Japan is the February bloom of Japanese plum blossoms. Tsukuyomi does not have such significance in the Kojiki, in which there is a similar tale about Susanoo-no-Mikoto killing a similar food goddess named Ōgetsuhime, who is often conflated with Ukemochi.Our first of several facts about cherry blossom trees is that according to the traditional Japanese calendar, spring officially starts on February 4, the day known as risshun. This is according to one of the accounts in the Nihon Shoki. This is the reason that day and night are never together. Īmaterasu learned what happened and she was so angry that she refused to ever look at Tsukuyomi again, forever moving to another part of the sky. Tsukuyomi was utterly disgusted by the fact that, although it looked exquisite, the meal was made in a disgusting manner, and so he killed her. The goddess created the food by turning to the ocean and spitting out a fish, then facing a forest and spitting out game, and finally turning to a rice paddy and coughing up a bowl of rice. Amaterasu once sent Tsukuyomi to represent her at a feast presented by Ukemochi. Tsukuyomi angered Amaterasu when he killed Ukemochi, the goddess of food. However, in an alternative story, Tsukuyomi was born from a mirror made of white copper in Izanagi's right hand. Tsukuyomi was born when he washed out of Izanagi's right eye. Tsukuyomi was the second of the "three noble children" ( 三貴子, Mihashira-no-Uzu-no-Miko) born when Izanagi-no-Mikoto, the god who created the first land of Onogoroshima, was cleansing himself of his sins while bathing after escaping the underworld and the clutches of his enraged dead sister, Izanami-no-Mikoto. Still, in Man'yōshū, Tsukuyomi's name is sometimes rendered as Tsukuyomi Otoko ( 月讀壮士, "moon-reading man"), implying that they are male. There is so little known about Tsukuyomi that even their sex is unknown. An alternative interpretation is that his name is a combination of tsukiyo ( 月夜, "moonlit night") and mi ( 見, "looking, watching"). The Nihon Shoki mentions this name spelled as Tsukuyumi ( 月弓, "moon bow"), but this yumi is likely a variation in pronunciation of yomi. The name "Tsukuyomi" is a compound of the Old Japanese words tsuku ( 月, "moon, month", becoming modern Japanese tsuki) and yomi ( 読み, "reading, counting"). Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto ( ツクヨミノミコト, 月読命), or simply Tsukuyomi ( ツクヨミ, 月読) or Tsukiyomi ( ツキヨミ), is the moon god in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion.
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