歳時記の言葉 vol.1　"花" / The season words in Japanese haiku. Vol.1 "hana"

"花"は英語では"flower"を意味します。
一般的に言って、"花"と"flower"はほぼ同じ意味とイメージを持ちます。しかしながら、花は俳句の歳時記の言葉として、特に桜の花を意味し、春を表現します。

 桜の花は今日の日本で最も人気があり愛されている花ですが、最も広く栽培されている桜の木、ソメイヨシノは、十九世紀後半に別々の木を交配することで出来た新品種です。それ以前の、昔の日本人は別な桜の花を愛で、俳句(発句)を詠んでいました。もちろん、芭蕉もです。

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 "Hana" means "flower" in English. 
Generally speaking, "hana" and "flower" have almost the same meaning or image. However, "hana" as a seasonal word in haiku specifically means cherry blossoms, and expresses  spring. 

Cherry blossoms are the most popular and affected flowers in Japan today, but the cherry tree "somei yoshino", the most widely-spread kind, is a new kind made by crossing other cherry trees in the second half of the 19th century. Before then, old Japanese had viewed other kinds of cherry blossoms, and wrote haikus. Of course, Basho too.

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