Cherry Blossoms at Daigo-ji Temple

This weeping cherry tree is in the Sanpô-in subtemple of Kyoto's Daigo-ji temple. Around 1963, around ten years before this painting was created, Togyû traveled to Yakushi-ji temple in Nara for the 7th anniversary memorial services being held for his teacher Kobayashi Kokei. On his way home from Nara, he stopped by Daigo-ji for a visit during which he experienced the "sublime beauty" of the weeping cherry against an earthen wall. He spent several days at the site, sketching the cherry tree in full blossom before the wall, from morning until far into the evening. For a while he was captivated by the thought, "at some point I want to paint this work." Then in 1972, when the cherry tree was in bloom, he visited the temple again and was finally able to complete this work. The pale reddish pink of the cherry blossoms created from the unique Nihonga pigments made of wataenji (the secretion of Laccifer lacca) and gofun (shell white), envelope the entire composition in a lyrical evocation of spring. Togyû was 83 years old when he painted this work.