Sakura, cherry blossom, start burst into bloom in Kyoto.
Compare to last year, they start blooming early this year.
One reason why people in Japan love Sakura so much is the elegant, subtle shades of pink color of the petals, and how they fall. I love to get sakura shower when I bike Kamo river.
But big reason why we love Sakura so much is we see transience of life in them.
We’re wait Sakura bloom for a year, and then finally they bloom, then fall in two weeks or ten days.
In 10th century, one of the aristocrats made the poem:
散ればこそ いとど桜はめでたけれ
うき世になにか 久しかるべき
（散るからこそ桜は美しいのである。この世に永遠であるものなんて何もない）
“It’s because the cherry blossom fall
That they’re beautiful in the eyes of all.
Nothing is eternal in the world we live in.”
The aristocrats saw their own mortal lives reflected in Sakura that bloom and fall too quickly.
*Reference: “Trad Japan” NHK publisher, theme-sakura
Here’s some Sakura pictures I took this week, March 25th to 31st.
Enjoy!
Akari Talks Japan 