Blossoming Cherry Trees

Paintings of cherry trees in isolation are surprisingly rare. In both the visual and literary arts, the motif of the lone cherry tree is associated with the arrival of spring. This small screen illustrates Sakai Hōitsu’s unerring sense of space—achieved here by an expanse of gold leaf, which in the original composition was likely uninterrupted by the silver band that now appears across the bottom.

The people of Kyoto and Edo delighted in flower viewing (hanami). In medieval times, enjoying the blossoms at famous sites (meisho) such as Yoshino, near Nara, was an event reserved for the aristocracy and the samurai class. By the early modern period, however, daimyos and townspeople alike ventured out for such excursions, carrying boxed lunches (hanami bentō) and sake sets. In the meisho with countless trees, people of all social classes gathered in groups to admire the blossoms and enjoy music and song while dancing, eating, and drinking. .