In ancient times, the people of Japan would predict the autumn harvest by observing the blooming conditions of the white cherry blossoms that decorated the mountain and village borderlands seen from their villages.

When the cherry blooms began to fall, they would begin rice planting, and at the same time pray for a fertile harvest.

The cherry blossoms are not so much flowers as they are omens, playing the role of harbingers of the gods of agriculture who have come down from the mountains.

The "sa" in sakura means "early seedling" or "young female rice planter," which in turn means "grain spirit," or "the god of rice fields".

"kura" means "the place where there the rice god resides", and sincerely shows how pervasive the concept of sakura is in the lives of the Japanese people.  I feel even as if sakura embodies a symbol of "breath", of life.

The purpose of "Chinka-sai", festivals still held today in some regions when cherry blossoms are falling, is to appease gods of plague and illness due to the outbreak of various illnesses that often occur during this period.

 

I tried to express the wishes and feelings that Japanese people have had for cherry blossoms since ancient times.  At the same time, given that we are suffering in the midst of a pandemic, I tried to embody the meaning of the "Chinka sai" festivals in my works.

 

It is my wish that you will be able to appreciate the elegant and serene nature of cherry blossoms and the presence of the ancient Japanese grain spirit that resides in them.