[Saginuma] The Honor of Cherry Blossoms

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• 日本語

One day in March, the cold returned to Tokyo here on Earth. Many people probably pulled their heavy coats and down jackets back out, even though they had been planning to put them away. Snow even fell this March, so we still cannot let our guard down.

I had to go to Saginuma for work, and without expecting anything in particular, I walked from the station toward my destination. To my surprise, I came upon a beautiful row of cherry trees in bloom. I stopped in my tracks and snapped photo after photo. Among the rows of white blossoms, one pink cherry tree stood out—delicate and eye-catching.

These photos were taken on my way back. Cherry blossoms in full bloom beneath the night sky have a beauty all their own.

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When it comes to cherry blossoms, so many things come to mind. Memories of hanami outings with friends and family. Ango Sakaguchi’s In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom. The former prime minister who spoke of making Japan a beautiful country. Starbucks’ sakura Frappuccino. Salt-pickled cherry blossoms that turn rice a lovely shade when cooked together. Tora-san’s sister Sakura, played by Mitsuko Baishō. And in Ikimonogakari’s famous song SAKURA, they sing, “This year again, the cherry blossoms reflect in the windows of the Odakyu Line”—a lyric that feels especially close to my heart, since I spent my youth along the Odakyu Line. Ah, how nostalgic! …and so on.

Among all these cherry blossom memories, today I would like to share a passage on jin-gi—honor and human decency—from one of the books I keep close at hand, 366 Messages: Reiwa Edition — One Word a Day by Hitori Saito. Consider it a small cheer from me to you.。

Hitori-san’s Jingi

To live only once,
yet spend that life watching the faces of others,
never doing what you truly wish to do—
how bitter it must be to die that way.
If this life has been given to me anyway,
then before I fall,
I will let at least one flower bloom.
The graceful resolve of the cherry blossom—
even if it scatters once,
the following year
it blooms again in magnificent fullness.
How wonderful the life of a flower is.
Not just one bloom, but a hundred—
blooming and blooming and blooming in abundance.
O God who watches from above,
behold my splendid way of living—
every corner of it, from beginning to end.

—from 366 Messages: Reiwa Edition — One Word a Day by Hitori Saito

　“Not just one bloom, but a hundred—
blooming and blooming in abundance.”

I love the powerful energy in Hitori-san’s words.

Human beings, too, should not wither after blooming only once. We should bloom again and again—blooming and blooming as many times as we wish—without ever thinking that our best days are already behind us.

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　Thank you for your hard work today.
May something good happen tomorrow as well.