Yoshino 吉野

An area in Mt. Ōmine 大峰, Nara, most famous for cherry blossoms. Important not only as a place of great scenic beauty, but for historical and literary associations as well. Yoshino served as the capital of the Southern Court Nanchō 南朝 of Emperor Godaigo 後醍醐 (r. 1318-39), during the tumultuous *Nanbokuchō jidai 南北朝時代. Kinpusenji 金峯山寺, head temple of Kinpusen Buddhism shugendō 修験道 where aesthetics and pilgrims have visited since ancient times, is located in Yoshino. Legend has it that the cherry trees were planted in the 7th century by *En no Gyōja 役行者 and dedicated to the god of the mountains *Zaō Gongen 蔵王権現. The beautiful cherry blossoms of Yoshino were a favorite subject of poets, especially since the time of the compilation of the anthology Kokinshū 古今集 in 905. Several of the poems of Saigyō 西行 (1118-90 : see *Saigyō monogatari-e 西行物語絵) refer to Yoshino, and a famous scene in a version of his illustrated biography show him under a blossoming cherry.
Cherry blossom viewing at Yoshino became a frequently depicted genre scene in *yamato-e やまと絵, and such depictions immediately served to represent the spring. Documentary evidence suggests that themes taken from poems about Yoshino's cherries, which were often paired with the autumn leaves of Tatsuta River *Tatsutagawa 竜田川, assumed visual form in painting and design motifs by the 13th century. By the 17th century, the theme was often painted on large format screens. A pair of screens by Watanabe Shikō 渡辺始興 (1683-1755 ) is one example.