Sakura at Yasukuni

Hi guys,

One last sakura post, hope you all aren't tired of these yet ;)

It may seem slightly incongruous that cherry blossoms are so associated with the samurai, a warrior class.  Flowers are seen as effeminate in Western culture (and, for the most part, Eastern), after all.  In actuality, the metaphor of cherry blossoms is very martial indeed.  See, anyone that had their mom send them out to deadhead the garden knows that most flowers wither and die on the plant.  Sakura, however, do not--they fall off the tree while fully in bloom, and the blossoms blowing in the wind are just as beautiful as those crowding the tree.  Thus, the sakura are seen as a metaphor for a warrior's death, a beautiful death in the prime of life

So it's fitting that Yasukuni Shrine should be one of the marquee cherry-blossom viewing areas of the city ("Are the sakura blooming in Yasukuni yet?").  The shrine honors Japan's war dead, millions of names inscribed there.  Thus, the shrine has particularly poignant meaning during the blooming of the sakura

There are many things I could say about Yasukuni shrine as the cherry blossoms fall.  I have tried to write about the shrine, but have yet to find the right words.  Maybe someday I will write up a post about Japan in specific and its complicated history during WWII, or about the all countries of the world in general and the old lie: Dulce et decorum est . . . but those subjects and controversies don't seem fit conversation for a day like this.  On a day like this, suffice it to say that there were once a number of brave young men and that they fell, just as cherry blossoms must fall, and that they should be remembered

As I said, this will be my final sakura post for the year.  The sakura season is beautiful, but short.  Which is, of course, also part of the metaphor . . .

Noah out