VOX POPULI: This year's spring goddess is a merciless flirt

In romantic relationships, it is said that when you are kept waiting by another person, you develop stronger feelings for that person. Apparently, this year's spring goddess is playing with our emotions. Just as the Japan Meteorological Agency announced that the cherry blossoms were blooming in Tokyo, a wintry chill set in. Soon after the buds began to open, they tightened once more. Spring has yet to arrive in earnest.

Tuesday was Feb. 15 in the lunar calendar. It was also the anniversary of the death of Saigyo (1118-1190), a poet of the late Heian Period (794-1185) who loved cherry blossoms. "I pray that I would die/ Under the cherry blossoms in spring/ In February when the moon is full" is one of his famous poems. Under the modern calendar, it seems strange to think of cherry blossoms blooming in February, but, according to the lunar calendar, we are under February's full moon.

Just as he had prayed, Saigyo met his death in February in the lunar calendar. Although he died on the 16th, one day after the full moon, the great poet is remembered on the 15th. "When flowers are blooming/ Remember Saigyo" is a haiku by Genyoshi Kadokawa (1917-1975), the founder of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.

I once interviewed the publisher's son, Haruki Kadokawa, who is also a haiku poet. He told me how he was fascinated by Mount Yoshinoyama in Nara Prefecture, which is famous for its cherry blossoms and where Saigyo once lived. Kadokawa described the mountain where 30,000 cherry trees bloom as "a mystical place where majesty, glamour and awe blend together." He also said, "Cherry blossoms connote the universe."

Cherry blossoms bloom and fall. The Japanese language is rich in phrases that describe the transition: matsu hana (waiting flowers), hatsu-hana (first flowers) and hana no kumo (clouds of flowers), to name a few. Hana-fubuki (flower blizzard) likens the scattering of petals in the wind to a blizzard. Hana ikada (flower raft) describes the petals floating in water. The sight of nagori no hana (vestigial flowers) and osozakura (late-blooming cherry blossoms) makes us feel melancholic at the passing of spring. There must be many more. I doubt there is another plant whose transition is expressed in so many ways.

According to the weather forecasts, the spring warmth will likely return Wednesday and will be followed by days of pitiless rain. "I had a dream/ Of spring wind scattering flowers/ When I awoke/ I had an uneasy feeling" is another poem by Saigyo. Even after nearly a millennium, our longing for spring's cherry blossoms has not left us.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 30

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.