When is cherry blossom season?

It sweeps north from late March in Kyoto and Tokyo to early May in Hokkaidō, with each place at full bloom for roughly a week. Forecasts (sakura zensen) track the front daily each spring.

Can I picnic on temple or shrine grounds?

Only where it is explicitly allowed. Many temples welcome strolling but not eating; castle parks and riversides are the classic picnic venues. Look for signs or ask at the office.

Why is hanami linked to impermanence?

Sakura fall at the height of their beauty after only days, a living image of mono no aware, the tender awareness of transience, which Buddhism and Japanese poetry both cherish.

Hanami

Practices

花見・ Reading: hanami

Definition

Cherry blossom viewing: strolling and picnicking beneath the blooming sakura in spring. A pleasure with courtly roots, it fills temple and shrine grounds, castle parks, and riversides for a few fleeting weeks between March and April.

A thousand-year picnic

Flower viewing began at the Nara-period court with plum blossoms admired in the Chinese style, but by the Heian period the native cherry had won every heart, and hanami has meant sakura ever since. History's most famous party was thrown by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at Daigo-ji in 1598, with seven hundred guests beneath the blossoms. The flower's brief perfection, scattering at its peak, became Japan's favorite image of beautiful impermanence, tuned exactly to the Buddhist feeling for transience.

Hanami at temples and shrines

Many of the best blossom spots are sacred ground: weeping cherries beside pagodas, tunnel paths of trees along shrine approaches, and evening illuminations at Kyoto temples. Spring is also high season for sakura-themed limited goshuin. Etiquette is simple: never shake branches or pick blossoms, keep off roped areas and moss, take every scrap of trash home, and at temples keep picnics to the areas set aside for them, since some precincts welcome viewing but not eating. Then do as everyone does: look up, and linger.

Common questions

When is cherry blossom season?: It sweeps north from late March in Kyoto and Tokyo to early May in Hokkaidō, with each place at full bloom for roughly a week. Forecasts (sakura zensen) track the front daily each spring.
Can I picnic on temple or shrine grounds?: Only where it is explicitly allowed. Many temples welcome strolling but not eating; castle parks and riversides are the classic picnic venues. Look for signs or ask at the office.
Why is hanami linked to impermanence?: Sakura fall at the height of their beauty after only days, a living image of mono no aware, the tender awareness of transience, which Buddhism and Japanese poetry both cherish.