What is a hanami bento?
Hanami Bento Bento are packed lunch boxes, which can be prepared at home or bought before the picnic. Hanami bento are especially customized and sold at supermarkets during the cherry blossom season.
What foods are eaten during Hanami?
Those eaten at hanami parties are called hanami bento, and feature items like makizushi (sushi rolls), inarizushi (sushi rice stuffed in fried tofu pouches), tamagoyaki (Japanese-style omelet), or kamaboko (pink and white fish cakes).
What should I bring to a hanami party?
Party favorites include karaage (boneless, bite-sized Japanese fried chicken), takoyaki (grilled octopus balls), and ebi-fry (breaded fried shrimp). To accompany meat dishes, you can buy or prepare a variety of vegetable dishes like salads and pickled vegetables, called tsukemono.
Is Hanami religious?
Originally a religious rite, it was held on a particular day and the coming harvest was forecasted from the condition of the cherry blossoms. The full blooms were symbolic of a full and bountiful harvest of rice, which the upper classes would celebrate by drinking and eating under the trees.
What do you do at a hanami?
Hanami is a long-standing Japanese tradition of welcoming spring. Also known as the “cherry blossom festival,” this annual celebration is about appreciating the temporal beauty of nature. People gather under blooming cherry blossoms for food, drink, songs, companionship and the beauty of sakura (cherry blossoms).
What do you do during Hanami?
Hanami literally translates to “flower watching” and is an annual celebration of Sakura and springtime. People gather around cherry blossom trees with family and friends to enjoy delicious drinks and food under the beautiful pink trees, often with the petals gently snowing from the branches when in full bloom.
Is hanami religious?
Where did hanami originate?
The practice of hanami is many centuries old. The custom is said to have started during the Nara period (710–794) when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning. But by the Heian period (794–1185), sakura came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura.
Is hanami a ritual?
From Shrine Rituals to Modern Hanami The feast under the tree was similar to a religious ceremony, and it slowly changed into a festival for enjoying cherry blossoms in the Nara period (710~794). Nowadays, Hanami is held as an annual event everybody longs for.
How do Japanese people celebrate hanami?
People celebrate the flowering of cherry blossoms by moving outdoors – holding hanami picnics under the trees. These gatherings can be outings with family members, friends, or colleagues. At nighttime, people bring along beer, sake, and even karaoke sets with them to hold cheerful, often rowdy parties.
What does hanami mean in Japanese?
flower viewing
In Japan, the ancient tradition of enjoying the beautiful but ephemeral blossoms of cherry trees is called hanami, which literally means “flower viewing.” Generally, this term refers to the flowers of several species or cultivars of ornamental cherries (sakura), in the Prunus genus.