How to Read “The cherry blossoms are the enemy of the heart that thinks there is tomorrow”
Asu ari to omou kokoro no ada zakura
Meaning of “The cherry blossoms are the enemy of the heart that thinks there is tomorrow”
This proverb means that if you let your guard down thinking tomorrow will be just like today, life can vanish as quickly as cherry blossoms scatter.
Just as beautifully blooming cherry blossoms can fall in a single night’s storm, human life is equally uncertain. No one knows what tomorrow will bring.
If you keep saying “there’s always tomorrow” and put things off, that tomorrow might never come. If you want to do something, you should do it now.
If you have something important to tell someone, you should say it today. This urgent lesson is at the heart of the proverb.
Rather than lamenting life’s impermanence, this proverb carries a positive message. It tells us to treasure the present moment precisely because life is fleeting.
Even today, people use this expression to warn others who procrastinate. They also use it to remind themselves not to delay what matters.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb comes from a verse in a wasan by Saint Shinran. The full verse reads: “The cherry blossoms are the enemy of the heart that thinks there is tomorrow—who can say a storm won’t blow at midnight?”
Saint Shinran was a Buddhist monk in the Kamakura period. He founded the Jodo Shinshu sect and taught Buddhist principles to many people.
In this wasan, cherry blossoms symbolize the fragility of human life. Today the blossoms bloom magnificently, but if a storm blows at night, they might scatter completely by morning.
Similarly, we think we’ll naturally be alive tomorrow. But in reality, only this present moment is guaranteed. This profound teaching lies at the core of the verse.
The word “ada” today usually means “enemy.” But in classical Japanese, it meant “fleeting,” “empty,” or “unreliable.”
So “ada zakura” means cherry blossoms that look beautiful but scatter quickly. They’re blossoms you can’t depend on.
Buddhism teaches the concept of impermanence. Everything constantly changes and nothing lasts forever. This wasan expresses that philosophy through cherry blossoms, something deeply familiar to Japanese people.
Interesting Facts
Cherry blossoms symbolize “transience” in Japanese culture because of their beautiful way of falling. They scatter just one week after reaching full bloom.
Since the Heian period, poets and storytellers have used cherry blossoms to express the fragility of human life and glory. They appear repeatedly in waka poetry and classical tales.
Many people later quoted Saint Shinran’s wasan. It was included in moral instruction books during the Edo period.
The samurai class especially took these words to heart. They never knew when they might lose their lives, so this teaching resonated deeply with them.
Usage Examples
- I kept putting off my health checkup, but my friend reminded me: “The cherry blossoms are the enemy of the heart that thinks there is tomorrow”
- If you want to do something, start right now—doesn’t the saying go “The cherry blossoms are the enemy of the heart that thinks there is tomorrow”?
Universal Wisdom
Humans have a psychological need to believe “tomorrow will be just like today.” This belief is both hope and escape from reality.
We fear change and seek stability. Without realizing it, we live as if “forever” is guaranteed.
This proverb has been passed down for hundreds of years because it sees through this fundamental human trait. We understand intellectually that life is finite.
But deep in our hearts, we want to believe we’re the exception. Behind phrases like “there’s still time” or “I’ll do it someday” hides our refusal to accept our own mortality as real.
Our ancestors understood that this escape makes life empty. People who take tomorrow for granted treat today carelessly.
They postpone important things. They never start what they truly want to do. They swallow words that should be spoken. By the time they realize this, it’s too late.
Choosing cherry blossoms shows deep insight. Cherry blossoms are beautiful precisely because they fall. The moment shines because it’s limited.
Isn’t human life the same? Because it’s not eternal, this present moment has meaning. This proverb isn’t meant to make us fear death. It’s wisdom for making life shine brighter.
When AI Hears This
The human brain makes a strange calculation error. Which is worth more: 100 yen today or 100 yen in one year?
Rationally they should be equal. But the brain values today’s 100 yen overwhelmingly higher. This phenomenon is called hyperbolic discounting.
What’s interesting is that this discount rate isn’t constant over time. For example, 100 yen received tomorrow feels like about 90 yen today.
But 100 yen in one year feels like only 50 yen. In ten years, it feels like just 10 yen. When you graph this, it forms a hyperbolic curve.
The near future drops in value sharply. But the distant future drops more gradually. Because of this calculation method, humans evaluate one week from now and one week a year from now with completely different weights.
The “tomorrow” in this proverb is exactly this trap. Cherry blossoms only bloom this week. Yet the brain miscalculates, thinking “seeing them tomorrow is almost the same as seeing them today.”
Tomorrow’s value feels like about 90%, so there’s no urgency to act today. But in reality, by tomorrow the blossoms will start falling. The weather might turn bad.
Probabilistically, seeing them today is worth more than twice tomorrow’s value. But the brain’s calculation formula can’t recognize this.
Behavioral economist Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize for turning this irrationality into mathematical formulas. Japanese people 400 years ago saw through this human flaw without any equations.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people “the courage to live in the present.” You probably have something you’ve always wanted to do.
Someone you want to see. Words you want to say. Dreams you want to chase. But aren’t you putting them off, thinking “there’s still time” or “I’ll do it when I’m more ready”?
Modern society treats “living according to plan” as a virtue. Career plans, life plans, retirement planning. Of course planning is important.
But we need to sometimes stop and ask: are we too bound by plans? Are we sacrificing this present moment?
This proverb isn’t telling you to live recklessly. Rather, it urges you to identify what truly matters and decide to start it today.
Express gratitude to people you care about. Contact someone you’ve wanted to see. Try something new. You could do these things tomorrow.
But there’s no guarantee you will do them tomorrow. There’s no guarantee tomorrow will come at all.
Cherry blossoms are beautiful because they know they will fall. Your life can shine precisely because it’s limited.
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