Another cherry blossom season is upon us in Japan – the most beautiful time of year when winter is finally gone and the pink flowers come out for just a brief period before falling. The Japanese see the cherry blossom as a symbol for life – beautiful and brief.
To prepare for a presentation, I was looking for Japanese poems about cherry blossoms and found two lovely ones by Basho and Bason, two famous Japanese poets.
In this one by Buson, he is talking about Yoshino Mountain, pictured below.
Drinking up the clouds
it spews out cherry blossoms –
Yoshino Mountain.
Wind blows
they scatter and it dies
fallen petals
Petals falling
unable to resist
the moonlight
Sakura, sakura
they fall in the dreams
of sleeping beauty
Buson
Basho is probably the best-known Japanese poet.
A cloud of cherry blossoms;
The temple bell,－
Is it Ueno, is it Asakusa?
How many, many things
They call to mind
These cherry-blossoms!
Very brief –
Gleam of blossoms in the treetops
On a moonlit night.
A lovely spring night
suddenly vanished while we
viewed cherry blossoms
Basho Matsuo
The older I get, the more I agree that the cherry blossom is a fine symbol for life itself. It truly is a beautiful thing that buds, comes to manpai (full blossom) and then falls away in the wind.
