Tribute to cherry blossom
Taken at the Yamato Bunka-kan museum, Nara, April 10th, 2012. Click any image to see a larger version. The day was overcast. My friend Cosmos went the day before and had sunshine. See her photos on Cosmos English Writing blog.
My friend Narastoryteller took some lovely photos of cherry trees in the rain. See Sakura, Sakura.
weeping cherry or "shidare zakura" 枝垂れ桜
Many Japanese will tell you, until you are sick of hearing it, that Japanese love the cherry blossom because it represents the short life of the samurai; the brief span of the blossom gives it a poignant beauty. But when I stood in front of this weeping cherry, I felt the cherry trees will be here for ever. Only I will not be.
Miharu Takizakura
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see.
Blogger Green Tomato posted photos of cherry trees she saw Here and There.
For still there are so many things that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring there is a different green.(“I Sit and Think” by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Sarah took photos of Spring in Full Swing in Nara and Osaka.
Stardust took photos of Sagi-ike Pond reflections with sakura.
Chambered Nautilus took photos of flowers in her garden before venturing out on a fine day in spring and taking photos in Kyoto and Osaka, including photos of the cherry trees along the Kamogawa river. She writes tanka (Japanese poetry) and even translates them into English for you, so there’s no excuse not to visit!
To be continued…
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Marc,
We appreciate Sakura because of their short life. But, it is only one of the reasons.
When it comes to a short span, lotus flowers have shorter life than Sakura. Blossoms of Ume, Japanese plum are as beautiful as Sakura. So why are Sakura so special and we are particular about Sakura. I see big differences between Sakura and other flowers when they fall. When time comes, Sakura fall petals without any hesitation. There are no faded petals sticking to the branches. Petals seem to start dropping at the same time. So Sakura at any stages or phases are beautiful. In a way we see more tasteful and ephemeral beauty in falling. People admire scattering Sakura as 花吹雪‐flower blizzard. Fallen petals on the water are appreciated as 花筏‐flower raft. Pastel pink carpets of fallen Sakura are subtle and profound.
Your photos convey me their beauty very well. I think I must go to meet this Sakura and admire the pale pink cascades next year. Thanks a lot for posting this.
Tolkien’s words “in every wood in every spring there is a different green” are the most beautiful tribute and praise to the green in spring I have ever heard.