Japanese cherry blossoms and poetry

Those who have been lucky enough to visit Japan, one of the most developed nations in the world, claim that this country shares a bond with Ukraine through their mutual love of nature, particularly trees. But while the Japanese plant flowering cherry trees, called sakura, outside their homes, Ukrainians plant vyshni , or sour cherry trees.

The Ukrainian photographer Pavlo Korsun recently visited Japan at the height of the sakura’s flowering period, which he captured in 800 photographs. The best of them are displayed at the exhibition “A Touch of Japan,” on display at the Ukrainian-Japanese Center in Kyiv until June 29.

Most of the 33 photos on display feature cherry blossoms, the traditional floral symbol of Japan. Korsun chose various angles and backdrops for his photos to re-create the country’s atmosphere: clouds over rooftops, a married couple dressed in their wedding finery. Next to photographs featuring sakura the photographer hung a portrait of a Japanese woman wearing a kimono, a photo of a fisherman who has just caught a tuna fish, and pictures of a commuter train and a Japanese railway. According to Korsun, in Japan everything looks as though it has been designed and planned down to the smallest detail. “I had been dreaming about going to Japan for years,” Korsun told The Day . “When I found out that the best times to visit are the New Year and the sakura flowering period, I decided to go there in the springtime.”

Judging by his photos, Korsun is impressed not only by the beauty of the Japanese cherry blossoms but also by the paper-tree and other kinds of flowering vegetation, traditional Japanese architecture, and modern skyscrapers. He shares his impressions of Japanese culture and traditions to which he pays homage in his photographs of people who work in unusual professions, temples, national parks and traditional Japanese landscape design — everything of which the Japanese are justly proud.

The Ukrainian photographer has become so fond of Japanese culture that his photography show also includes samples of Japanese poetry. Each captioned photo is accompanied by a haiku by Matsuo Basho, the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan (17th century). Korsun has long been an admirer of Basho’s haikus, short poems that express a certain idea or emotion in just three lines.

Korsun now plans to visit Portugal and Spain. He got the idea for a trip to the Iberian Peninsula after reading some books about the first voyages around the world, which originated in these two countries. Connoisseurs of travel photography can now look forward to another Korsun show. But it’s better to make a trip to your dream country and see everything with your own eyes.