Untitled
Shomei Tomatsu Japanese
Cherry trees bloom across Japan as the days turn warm in every spring, bringing people to celebrated their fleeting beauty in storied locales like Mount Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, known since ancient times both for its proliferation of cherry trees and as a site for religious pilgrimage. Cherry blossoms were a complicated subject for Tōmatsu Shōmei, who grew up during World War II. Writing in 1978, Tōmatsu described the cherry blossom, sakura, as the “national flower of Japan, its representative flower. This fact has remained unchanged since ancient times. Yet, a long time ago, that is, in my childhood, the cherry blossoms came to be embodied with the ultra-nationalism of a militaristic Japan, leaving a suggestive fragrance of sweet death.”
On view for rotation 4.
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