Spring is here and in Japan that means cherry blossoms or Sakura in Japanese. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization:

“For many Japanese, the blooming of the cherry blossom trees symbolizes human life, transience and nobleness. The Japanese love to celebrate and cherish the cherry blossoms trees during the limited flowering period and many people hold ‘flower watching’ parties known as hanami. You cannot travel to Japan in spring without appreciating the beauty of the sakura and experiencing a hanami party for yourself!”

 

To celebrate this joyous time of year, National Geographic has put together an amazing 24-picture gallery of Cherry Blossoms, with most of the photos submitted to Your Shot, National Geographic’s storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more.

Our friends at Nat Geo were kind enough to let us share some of the amazing Cherry Blossom photos submitted by their community but be sure to check out the full gallery here.

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura River – Inokashira park where some Japanese celebrate their hanami party under the tree of cherry blossom.

 

 

Mt. Yoshino is well known from old times for the best cherry blossom site in Japan. It covers all over the mountain paths around 8 kms, from the north end to the south of Omine Renzan mountains. It is also a base of Omine spiritual mountain walk for decipliants. A path between Yoshino-Omine and Yuya is called Omine Okukudou and is still used for religeous training. The spiritual site and path in Kii, including Mt. Yoshino, was approved as one of UNESCO World Heritage.

 

 

An old couple was enjoying the most beautiful moment of a year.

 

 

Sakura Blizzard – At Shinjuku Gyoen, Japan.

 

 

The color of the cultivation in spring with Cherry Blossoms and White Birches.

 

 

Chidorigafuchi is one of the popular spots for cherry blossoms (sakura) viewing. It is just a couple of stations away from our office. Seven springs had already passed since joining our company but I never had the chance to do a hanami there. That changes last Saturday…

 

 

Sakura Reverie – Magical scenery is seen in spring Kyoto.