Petals of Sakura. Flowers in Japanese Painting and Poetry

The aesthetic concept of "setsugekka" (lit.: snow, moon, flowers) is one of the key ideas in the entire Japanese culture. There is a special term for the process of admiring the beauty of flowers - "hanami", which has no analogs... in the languages of other nations.
Perhaps it is flowers that hold the key to the whole of Japanese culture...
This collection includes the best examples of classical Japanese poetry, numbering 150 poems by eighty-two poets from the 2nd to the 20th centuries, united by a common theme - flowers and the harmony of nature. For centuries, Japanese poets and painters have competed with each other, celebrating the beauty of blooming sakura, orange trees, chrysanthemums, carnations, irises, lotus flowers, and the extraordinary "Fuji flower" - wisteria... Together, they created a unique "language of flowers", the symbolism of which is distinct from that of Europe.
Our anthology blends Japanese poetry, painting, and the beauty of nature. We have collected the best poems by Japanese poets related to the theme of flowers - in translations by Alexander Brandt, Konstantin Balmont, Nikolai Pozdnyakov, Nikolai Azbelev, Nikolai Novich, Vasily Mendrin, Arkady Press, Pavel Sukhotin, Sergey Alymov, Benedikt Mart, and others. They are complemented by engravings and masterpieces of Japanese "flower" painting.
Compiler S.Z. Kozova.