Frenzied Flower-Filia

 

Photo Credit Motoko Rich/The New York Times

New York Times  writer Motoko Rich, in "Flowers, and Solace, in Urban Japan," writes a beautiful paean to her new-found love of flowers.  I love all of it, starting with the simple opening.

Not long after we moved to Japan, I came to appreciate the public obsession with flowers.

I love the allusion to the "middle season," "hanami," "the season of cherry blossom viewing."

During our first season of cherry blossom viewing, known as hanami, our family traipsed along avenues near our Tokyo apartment, tilting our heads back to marvel at the throngs of pastel blooms above us. I was agog, and like many of those walking around me, snapped dozens of pictures on my cellphone, trying to capture the essence of their perfect beauty.

 I love the sentences that Rich uses to demonstrate her new joy in flowers in these two paragraphs: the catalog, the rhythm of the sentences starting with clauses.

It’s in the unassuming flora that I find the most pleasure: the weeds sprouting behind a rusted guard rail, or an unkempt shrub of scarlet berries climbing up a drain pipe on a dilapidated house.

During long waits between games at my son’s soccer tournaments, I would find myself exploring the sidelines, crouching down for a close-up of a bright petunia or a clump of clover dotted with spiky lavender blossoms. Along the trail where my daughter ran cross-country meets, I would look up to admire the sun-dappled trees.

And I loved the specifics of Japanese flower-philic culture (reverence, "frenzied viewing expeditions," and travel vacations for the flowers). 

Reverence for flowers is deeply embedded in Japanese culture. While the cherry blossom, or sakura, is the most celebrated floral icon of Japan, frenzied viewing expeditions to witness the seasonal blooming of multiple varieties are common across the country.

People travel to Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki Prefecture to see the hills carpeted in blue nemophila in the spring. Flowing purple wisteria attracts hordes to Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi in May. The Furano fields of lavender in Hokkaido are a famed destination in July and August.

So, in general, I love the writing; I love the sentiment. I look forward to making more flower collages like I have for years as well as making plans for my own frenzied viewing expeditions in the future.