Miharu Takizakura (2)

The Miharu Takizakura is a thousand-year-old weeping cherry tree (shidarezakura) in Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture — one of Japan's three great cherry trees and a designated National Natural Monument. The tree's name translates as 'waterfall cherry,' describing how its cascading branches fall in dense pink curtains during peak bloom. This second print in Ohtsu's treatment of the subject likely captures the tree from a different angle or at a different moment than the original — perhaps at dusk, against a darker sky, or with figures of viewers (hanami participants) at its base for scale. Mokuhanga is well suited to depicting such a subject: the layered woodblock impressions can build the dense cloud of blossoms through repeated applications of pale pink pigment, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations softening the edges where blossoms meet sky. The dark gnarled trunk anchors the composition. Within Ohtsu's body of work, such named-place subjects sit alongside his anonymous village scenes, both expressing an attachment to specific Japanese landscapes — whether nationally famous or quietly local.