Sakura Banquet

1995, 48" x 30"
Aya Collection

Sakura season… it’s party time!   The air is warm, and the long winter is over at last.   Everyone wants to enjoy life.   Banquets are prepared in the buildings overlooking cherry groves; picnic blankets are spread under the cherry trees. It is a centuries-old tradition to gather with friends to admire Sakura.  Haiku Master Basho once observed:

“Under the tree,

soup and salad

on the picnic spread,

covered with pale pink petals.”

What a joyful feast!   I wanted to capture the excitement, perhaps by including the presence of children:

touch football

pink petals

on children’s hair