Book Review: The Sakura Obsession & Art Therapy

 I remember the first time I saw cherry blossoms. It was nothing short of magical, being surrounded by beautiful clouds of pink everywhere that my eyes could see. Like a drizzle of fairy dust, petals of pink flutters around you, caressing your face as they fall. It was my first spring at university in the UK and I was mesmerized. I was never to forget it. I had never expected to see such magnificent blossoms outside Japan, especially not in the British midlands. The blossoms seem to shout at me a brand new beginning. 

For the Japanese, the Sakura indeed heralds spring and is a significant cultural symbol of new beginnings. However this week I realized, the Sakura also has an insidious story – intimately linked to the Second World War. As all things in life, there is none all good. Shadows exist even in the most perfect worlds, waiting to be acknowledged and integrated into a balanced whole.

The fleeting beauty of the blossoms, and its hypnotizing falling petals were used as an imagery of self-sacrifice for the Japanese imperial kingdom. “Falling” was in the 1930/40s aggressively used to inculcate the higher value of death and fragility, a parallel to Sakura petals falling at its most venerable moment. That the honorable self-sacrifice for the Emperor would ensure rebirth as Sakura enshrined in sacred temples. The manipulation of a cultural symbol of life into the glorification of death for young Japanese soldiers was deceptive and deplorable, in order to feed the voracious appetite of war-mongering players that time.

The book, The Sakura Obsession: The Incredible Story of the Plant Hunter who saved Japan’s Cherry Blossoms is an incredibly honest narrative written by a Japanese journalist, first in Japanese, then later written in English. From the perspective of a Japanese, the tale increases in poignancy. Japan seems to still reel in the lingering unforgiveness and pain of the war period half a century ago.

What struck me about this tale, being an Art Therapist, was the power of visual, cultural imagery and metaphorical meaning in driving spiritual beliefs, stirring affection and influencing human behavior at a subconscious level. Even in a direction that contradicts human instincts – of self-annihilation, of kamikaze. If only Sakura imageries were tapped for positive development and peace in Asia!

The human sensory-visual-affective realm can be far reaching and more penetrative into the human psyche than is acknowledged. If used within therapeutic practice, the power of artistic, aesthetic and cultural realms hold tremendous potential to catalyze human transformation from inside out. The recollection of my first cherry blossom encounter still calls out in me a strong emotion of hope in reminiscence, imparting strength in a time of challenge so many years ago. The buried memory of that imagery drew me to the Sakura book, I believe. My work with clients as a Therapist shows the same power of clients’ associative imageries from their unconscious to heal and restore, more than words alone can accomplish or enable. Humanity’s ability to use sensory association and metaphors to find new insights to surmount pain and suffering cannot be underestimated.

My association to the book was the incredible Sakura story but the ensuing tale of how a British plant hunter, Ingram, ended up becoming the advocate for cherry blossoms to be planted across Britain, astounded me. My unconscious had a way of finding resolution for a matter of memory from long before. I finally found the reason for those magnificent blooms of cherry where I was, so many years ago studying in the UK. A lone man’s quiet and enduring love for cherry trees would lead him to travel the world and be the savior of the best varieties of cherry, ensuring their preservation when Japan had assigned it as a spiritual death symbol. The physical destruction of the beloved trees during the war did not mark the end of the cherry in a twist of fate, but instead brought rebirth to Japan as original preserved and hybridized new cherry species returned from abroad.

This book has reinforced my passion in exploring the healing virtues of nature, arts and cultural heritage in Art Therapy – powerful symbolism of our collective experiences that can move people and community as we evolve a Singaporean soul post industrialization. Do we have a similar affective story like the Sakura? What are the imageries that bring us comfort? Not through words and thoughts alone, but through the power of aesthetics, cultural metaphors and collective emotions which we all carry. The historical legacy of the almost forgotten British plant hunter, Ingram, who devoted himself to cherry trees, unveiled only by a Japanese journalist half a century later, simply inspires me to stay the course no matter how obscure my stubborn interest could be. So long as it adds a touch of fleeting beauty to humanity and life!

Han Li June