The Travelling Goldfish: 2014

There is a strange sense of duality to life in Japan where small shrines of flowers and rice sit on the road between high-rise buildings and offices. This feeling surrounds you like a mist - whether you stand amongst the flowing crowds of Shibuya crossing, between the jizo statues that hide amongst the forest paths, at the foot of the monolithic gates to the temples, under the falling snow of sakura blossoms or on top of the modern skyscrapers - it as if old Japan in constantly calling you from silent stone mouths.

One of the most anticipated celebrations in Japan is that of the hanami during the time of the cherry blossom season. For Japan the cherry blossom is a symbol of beauty, but also a symbol of regeneration and the cycle of life. For many Japanese people the cherry trees are seen as sacred with ties to the ways of the ancient world, to beliefs that have been held dear from generation to generation across time. In ancient times the falling cherry blossoms were believed to transport the souls of the mountain gods down to the rice fields where they became the rice god and created a bountiful harvest. Standing amongst these blossoms as they fall tenderly to the ground, one can easily imagine them as carriage for the gods.

In 2012, during a visit to Japan, The Travelling Goldfish visited the most famous sakura tree in Kyoto, the weeping cherry tree or Shidare Sakura in Maruyama Park.

Maruyama Park is the oldest public park in Kyoto and is found at the base of the Higashiyama eastern mountains. You can spend an entire afternoon here simply walking through the large garden area, which offers a lush stream and pond, as well as the cherry orchards, restaurants and a music hall as well as cultural attractions like the grand Chion-in Temple, Choraku-ji Temple and Yasaka Shrine.

The splendid tree itself (officially called the Hitoe (single petal) Shiro (white) Higan (Higan variety) Shidare (weeping) Sakura (cherry) is definitely situated as a centrepiece inside the grounds. This tree was grown from a seed from the first tree to be planted in this site which lived for nearly 200 years. When the then Sakuramori (cherry tree doctor) noticed that the original tree seemed to be weakening (it died in 1947) he planted some seeds in his garden, of which only three survived, one being the tree which still stands in the grounds today. The tree is currently cared for by Toemon Sano (16^th generation, the grandson of the doctor who planted the seedlings) who monitors various aspects of the tree to maintain its health. Beautifully, the tree and the Sakuramori were both “born” in the same year (1928), their lives intertwined.

The cherry blossom can teach us all lessons : that beauty must be like the sakura blossom – simple and unassuming yet where it falls it should make the world a more beautiful place; that nature and its endless supply of beauty can be on-going inspiration and comfort for our hearts and minds, and that life is a cycle –things change and move constantly towards the next stage.

There is an amazing Oscar-nominated documentary film, The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom, created by Lucy Walker that shares some of the heartbreak of Japan during the tsunami that caused such devastation to this nation in 2011. While it shows footage and stories from those who experience the events that occurred it also highlights the amazing human ability to find the courage to start again and the strength of spirit to find some way to celebrate beauty in the world using the cherry blossom to highlight this.

During the film one man sums it all up as follows : “This was all killed by the tsunami. But now, a month later, there are new shoots. The plants are hanging in there, so us humans had better do it too.”

As people began to rebuild their lives after this disaster another astounding story came to light. The Skilled Veterans Corps, at the time made up of 250 volunteer retirees was created as those age 60 and up pushed themselves forward in an attempt to not only assist the government in managing the nuclear meltdown at Fukoshima Daiichi nuclear plant, which occurred as a result of the tsunami, but also to limit the impact on current and future generations.

Their motivation was that they felt less susceptible to the radiation-contaminated plant due to their more advanced age and that cancer was not such a great risk for them at that stage as they believed the cells of an older person’s body divide more slowly than those in someone younger. Kazuko Sasaki, 69, co-founder stated : “ My generation, the older generation, promoted the nuclear plants. If we don’t take responsibility, who will?”

Initially dubbed the “suicide corps” by their own government, one man Masaaki Takahashi, 65, said “I want them to stop calling us the ‘suicide corps’ or kamikazes. We’re doing nothing special. I simply think I have to do something and I can’t allow young people to do this.”

Michio Ito, who in the past worked as a schoolteacher, expressed a similar sentiment. “I don’t think that I’m particularly special. Most Japanese have this feeling in their heart.”

Japan, whether modern or ancient, whether in crisis or at peace carries a special type of beauty.

“Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain / The spring breeze wearing Cherry Blossom petals.” Saigyo