is a Noh play by Zeami about the famous poet Saigyō, regarding his well-known love for cherry blossoms.
Background Saigyō was renowned for his love of the flowering cherry - what he himself once called "my lifelong habit of having my mind immersed in blossoms".W LaFleur, Awesome Nightfall (Boston 2003) p. 54 and p. 142
As a recluse however, he sometimes found himself in conflict with the Japanese habit of collective blossom viewing: as he wrote in his Sankashū, "Leave me in solitude/O Cherry flowers./Draw not people,/for they come in crowds".H H Honda trans, The Sanka Shu: The Mountain Hermitage (Hokuseido Press 1971) p. 16
Plot Wishing to be alone with his cherry-blossoms,Saigyo-zakura Saigyō is annoyed by the arrival of a party of (potential) viewers; and, on admitting them, composes a waka blaming the cherry tree for their intrusive presence.
That night he is visited by the spirit of the cherry-tree, who rebukes him by pointing out the separateness and independence of all living creatures from human concerns.S Leiter, Japanese Theatre and the International Stage (2021) p. 153 The two then converse, before the play ends with an extensive dance celebrating cherry flowers, exceptional sakura sites like Kiyomizu-dera, and the transient beauty of Spring.S Leiter, Japanese Theatre and the International Stage (2021) p. 153-4
See also Eguchi (play) The Priest and the Willow
Further reading Twelve Plays of the Noh and Kyôgen Theatres, Karen Brazell (ed.) 1988
References
External links Saigyo in three Japanese No plays