Picture: Japanese cherry blossom
"If I were asked to explain the Japanese spirit, I would say it is wild cherry blossoms glowing in the morning sun!"
— Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), nativist thinker and poet
¨It was courtiers of the .....Heian Period (794-1185) who began making of ethereal sakura (cherry blossoms) what they later became in all their glory — living poems, living symbols of beauty, life, evanescence, death, "Japanese spirit."
Source: Sakura: Soul of Japan
Through the ages, cherry trees in blossom have inspired parties and poetry
By MICHAEL HOFFMAN
Sunday, March 25, 2012