Mono no Aware

(Joe and Nick--please send me photos to add to this blog! Thanks)

Listening to NPR this morning I heard an insightful description for the background and symbolism of the cultural/spiritual gift of cherry trees and cherry blossoms to both Japan and DC. The point taken today is to pause and honor the blossoms and their meaning with the current events unfolding in Japan as a form of solidarity (and prayer). I looked a little farther this morning:

"In Japan cherry blossoms also symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhistic influence, and which is embodied in the concept of mono no aware (Meaning literally "a sensitivity to things," mono no aware is a concept describing the essence of Japanese culture, invented by the Japanese literary and linguistic scholar scholar Motoori Norinaga in the eighteenth century, and remains the central artistic imperative in Japan to this day. The phrase is derived from the word *aware*, which in Heian Japan meant sensitivity or sadness, and the word mono, meaning things, and describes beauty as an awareness of the transience of all things, and a gentle sadness at their passing. It can also be translated as the "ah-ness" of things, of life, and love). The association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga.The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic"