Ask John: What’s the Deal with Cherry Blossoms in Anime?

Question:
Ok, what’s the deal with cherry blossoms in anime? For example in X, there were cherry blossoms left and right. And why are some characters called Sakura, which is cherry blossom? What is the significance of this?

Answer:
To explain the common image of cherry blossoms in anime, it’s first necessary to explain the significance to the cherry blossom to Japanese culture. It may have been the samurai class of the middle ages that first recognized and associated itself with the cherry blossom. Poems of the Nara period (710-794) seem to focus on “ume” (plum flower) more so than “sakura” (cherry flower), but the Heian period (794-1185) cultivated the aesthetic theory of “mono no aware.” The Kodansha Bilingual Encyclopedia of Japan (1998) defines “mono no aware,” in part, as “a deep, empathetic appreciation of the ephemeral
beauty manifest in nature and human life, and it is therefore usually tinged with a hint of sadness; under certain circumstances it can be accompanied by admiration, awe, or even joy.”

As defined by the writings of Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), explained by the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, “mono no aware” represents “a purified and exalted feeling.” In common usage, “the beauty of impermanence,” and “the sensitive heart capable of appreciating that beauty.” Sakura are thus the natural representation of “mono no aware.” During the Heian period, the age of nobles, Japanese poetry, aesthetic and literary theory often represented these concerns with natural purity and beauty. It’s uncertain when sakura became associated with the samurai, but most likely sometime during the medieval era of the samurai, which stretched from 1147 until 1568, “mono no aware” and the sakura, in certain usages, evolved into a natural representation of the ultimate purity of an honorable life lived well and a death without regret, in essence the very heart of Japanese chivalry.

Because cherry trees bloom for only a very few days, the life of the cherry blossom is fleeting. Moreover, cherry blossoms fall to the ground quickly rather than gently floating, as though they had no hesitation or lingering attachment to life. The samurai class, raised to always be prepared to die at a moment’s notice, found, in the transient nature of cherry blossoms, “isagiyoi,” or “appare.” In this context, “isagiyoi” may be best translated as “brave” or “pure” while “appare” may mean “glorious” or “excellent.” The stoic, honorable samurai found, in the sakura and the theory of “mono no aware,” the perfect poetic summation of their lives and character. Undoubtedly this relation of the sakura and the samurai account for the modern archetype of the alienated, perpetually solemn samurai, part warrior, part monk and part poet.

It may be that the image of sakura, so commonplace in anime, is intended to suggest this traditional value. Almost certainly the floating sakura in the X movie that Kamui catches in his hand foreshadow his desperate attempt to capture and hold onto life, and the fleeting lives of those that surround him. In Card Captor Sakura episode 10, the flower card spreads cherry blossoms. Is it coincidence that Sakura quickly seals the flower card, symbolically ending its life? Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) also makes heavy use of the image of sakura petals floating in the wind. This may be attributed to an attempt to subtly characterize Sakura Shinguji and her hanagumi as pure, ephemeral beauty while, at the same time, eliciting a comparison of Sakura to the honorable samurai warrior class.

A second possible explanation for the placement of sakura in anime may be a Japanese nostalgia for its own forgotten traditions. During the Japanese economic boom of the 1980s and early 1990s, the image of cherry blossoms began to appear in anime including Yoriden Samurai Troopers and Urusei Yatsura. At the time, the image of sakura in anime was something of a revelation. The image of the natural world, and the symbolism of traditional Japan during the “golden period of anime” and the giant robot anime boom was a fresh, new idea. It could be said that with the modernization and westernization of Japan, Japan had forgotten (or denied) its own traditions. The image of sakura in anime may have begun as a subtle attempt to remind viewers of Japanese tradition, and their own Japaneseness. Hayao Miyazaki, for example, has numerous times stated that his films are intended to remind viewers of the lost innocence of Japanese children, and the wonderment at nature that has been lost in contemporary Japanese society.

As discussed in the AnimeNation forum, as a name, “Sakura” appears in anime commonly mainly because it’s simply a common Japanese given name. In Urusei Yatsura, though, “Cherry” is actually a pun. The monk Sakuranbou prefers to be called “Cherry,” one translation of the word “sakuranbou.” Another translation of “sakuranbou” is “deranged monk,” a Japanese pun describing Cherry’s character.

I’d like to acknowledge the invaluable help provided by Michiko Ito in composing this answer, which is actually more of her doing than my own.