# Blooming Cherry Blossoms, Falling Cherry Blossoms: Symbolism of the Flower in Japanese Culture and History

Just as cherry-blossom time comes to Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress presented a lecture on the symbolism of this cherished flower in Japanese culture and history. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, holder of the John W. Kluge Center Chair of Modern Culture at the Library, discussed "Blooming Cherry Blossoms, Falling Cherry Blossoms: Symbolism of the Flower in Japanese Culture and History." The cherry blossom, Japan's national flower, has been cherished by the Japanese people from ancient times to the present. In her illustrated lecture, Ohnuki-Tierney discussed the flower in some if its various symbolic manifestations, from the procreative power of young women to the militaristic representation of men as warriors, who were in times past commanded to "fall like beautiful cherry petals after a short life," as exemplified by the kamikaze suicide aviators of World War II.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2009
- By: John W. Kluge Center (library Of Congress)
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688217/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021688217?play=1)