Cherry blossom time is the season of the year when the whole country becomes imbued with the spirit of life and hope that is beyond the comprehension of Occidental minds - for here the cherry tree is regarded as a principle of life whose snowy wand transforms the earth and gives new powers to the heart which may be shared by all classes from the humblest to the exalted.
– Cherry Blossom Time in Japan
Shining spring day
Falling cherry blossoms with my calm mind
- Kino Tomonari
Silent cherry blooms
Your simple eloquence is
Speaking to my soul
- Onitsura
With us, a plum or cherry tree in flower is not an astonishing sight; but here it is a miracle of beauty so bewildering that, however much you may have previously read about it, the real spectacle strikes you dumb. You see no leaves - only one filmy mist of pearls.
-Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, 1894
No comments:
Post a Comment