''Hana wa sakuragi, hito wa bushi'' ( ja, 花は桜木人は武士, literally "the estblossom is the cherry blossom; the estman is the warrior") is a Japanese proverb that originated in the

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. It is also rendered as "among blossoms the cherry blossom, among men, the warrior" or likewise. The proverb means that as the cherry blossom ('' sakura'') is considered foremost among flowers, so the warrior (''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

'', usually referred to in Japanese as ''bushi'') was foremost among men. The samurai was also likened to cherry blossom as his life, while glorious, was prone to a sudden end during military service, similar to petals shed by cherry blossoms or

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...

. The association of cherry blossoms with the samurai class was established by the ''

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is though ...

'' theater which also popularized the proverb. Such an association began during the mid-

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

. The proverb's theme is echoed in a poem attributed to the priest

Ikkyū was an eccentric, iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet. He had a great impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals,Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, entry "Ikkyū" by James H. Sanford as well ...

in ''Mottomo no sōshi'' (1634): "Among men the samurai s best among pillars, cypress wood; among fish, the sea bream; among robes, magenta; and among cherry blossoms, those of

Yoshino Yoshino may refer to: * Yoshino cherry, another name for ''Prunus × yedoensis'', a flowering cherry tree * Japanese cruiser Yoshino, Japanese cruiser ''Yoshino'', a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy Places * Yoshino, Nara, a town ...

". The proverb also appears in '' Kanadehon Chushingura'' from 1748. Later the proverb was evoked in the Japanese military as a motivation following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

References

{{reflist Japanese proverbs Samurai

See also

References