Blossom Awakening

Pause, breathe, and savor the quiet beauty of Saigyō, one of Japan's most quintessential poets, in this celebration of nature and Buddhist insight. Born in the twelfth century during a time of great political upheaval and warfare, Saigyō made the unusual decision in his youth to resign from his respectable post as a guard to the emperor’s family and pursue a life of Buddhist renunciation, wilderness wandering, and poetry. Over the course of his lifetime, he became one of Japan’s most celebr