SAKURA – a greater sense
used and reused in every possible way, cherry blossoms tattoos will never lose their charm
but apart from being cool, why choosing a cherry blossom tattoo?
what’s its meaning?
there are at least two meanings, the most important ones, but also thousands of minor meanings
in the eastern world, more precisely in China and Japan, cherry blossoms are called sakura
and the blooming of cherry trees is an important momentous event for eastern people
in ancient times, and nowadays too, it was customary to watch the blooming of cherry trees while sitting under the trees, sipping sake and writing poems about the transience of life
an Emperor and his Empress started all this around 400 A.D. , each one in their little boat, floating in the small lake of the imperial palace. This symbolism was born when the emperor, sharing such a romantic moment of with his lover, contemplating life, fell in love with the cherry petals falling in his sake cup
and the Cherry tree became symbol of the Emperor and his power and prosperity
and since then, every emperor started planting cherry trees everywhere, creating bigger and bigger cherry gardens to show that these were stronger and more prosperous than the previous emperor’s gardens
and since then, the East started giving Cherry trees to the West as a symbol of fraternity and prosperity
and so….on and on, here we are today
to admire spring and cherry blossoms blooming happily for their moment of glory, aware that the first breath of wind will make them fall on the ground gently as snow
the symbolism of SAKURA teaches us to live glorious as a samurai, intensely, because we don’t know when, today or tomorrow, a breath of wind or – a stroke of a sword – could come and put an end to all this
what’s then the eastern meaning of a sakura flower tattoo?
live
live truly
live today
here and now, deeply
live as you would like to live
don’t put off till tomorrow
who knows
but there is also a different symbolism…
from a western point of view
in fact, in the west, this momentous event is not so important as it is in the east and the cherry blossom is seen as one of any other blossom of a FRUIT TREE
these blossoms arise and shine for a greater cause, to make way to the fruit, the real king of the situation
the real reason it’s worth living
cherry blossoms, as any other blossom of a fruit tree, can look like a parent life
that lives and shines intensively, but actually works for a greater cause
a life dedicated to something bigger than himself
it could not be the relationship of a parent and a child, but any great cause that makes heaven and heart move, that will make us small compared to the project of the best future we’re creating
why getting a cherry blossoms tattoo?
because we are dreamers
we beat misanthropy
we try to create a better future, cause the one we’re living in….
leaves much to be desired
with love, but always irriverent
