花より団子 (Hana yori dango)

Literally: Dumplings over flowers

Example: “花見に行っても、子どもたちは花より団子で屋台ばかり見ている。” — Even at the cherry blossom viewing, the kids only care about the food stalls, not the flowers.

Origin: Hanami, the tradition of viewing cherry blossoms, began as a religious observance tied to praying for a good harvest before evolving, especially from the Azuchi-Momoyama period (late 1500s) onward, into an occasion for shared food and drink alongside the flower-viewing itself, eventually becoming a common seasonal pastime for ordinary people across the Edo period. The specific phrasing is documented as early as 1532, in the haikai poetry collection Shinsen Inu Tsukubashū, already teasing the idea that dumplings might outrank blossoms in the priorities of many hanami attendees. The saying was later folded into the traditional iroha karuta card game, keeping it in wide circulation among ordinary households well into the Edo period and beyond.