11
who looked to be in his late 40’s, opened the door.
“H-Hello… I’m Hiroshi, I came here to see Mr. Yama. He’s the new uh… owner of the house.”
“Oh! Yes! I’m Mr. Yama. Ah, I remember! We talked on the phone a week ago, right? Please come in, come in.”
Hiroshi entered the sunken-foyer entrance and took off his shoes; placing the shoes in shelves that stood by the entrance of the house. He followed Mr. Yama into the back of the house where they reached the stone garden. The garden contained a small koi pond and a magnificent solitary Cherry Blossom tree that had reached full bloom.
“One moment,” Mr. Yama tells Hiroshi as he slides the *shoji shut, leaving him alone.
With his eyes brimming with tears, Hiroshi takes the Polaroid picture of the young boy out of his pocket and stares off in the direction of the Cherry Blossoms. Unbidden, the scent of burning leaves entered his nostrils followed by the flavor of his grandma’s rice cakes filling his taste buds. Closing his eyes, he could see the bright -colored red and white kimonos of his grandparents. The proud smiles still on their faces as he bid them goodbye before leaving for college in Tokyo. He could hear the low, distant voice of his grandfather.
“Now remember it is important to take care of the people that surround us, much like the importance of taking care of nature. Look at the Sakura tree where you spent many happy hours as a child playing beneath the scented bloom. Do you remember?”
“I’ll never forget.” Hiroshi whispered to himself.
“Your grandmother planted this tree as a sapling, just as I was about to go overseas to fight for the Imperial Emperor. I promised her that her love would see me through this terrible conflict, and every day she would pray to the Gods above to keep me safe.”
Hiroshi remembered the old stories about Amaterasu, the sun goddess that his grandfather would read to him beneath the Cherry Blossom tree. Hiroshi’s snaps out of his trance when the shoji door slides open, revealing Mr. Yama holding a package delicately in his hands.
“When we talked on the phone about the house, I didn’t realize how much this place meant to you. But as I look at you gaze upon the Cherry Blossoms, it reminds me of your grandfather and the look on his face when staring at the tree in full bloom. “So, I wanted to give you this.” Mr. Yama bows and extends his right hand, which contained a package tied in string.
Hiroshi opened the package to reveal a cutting from the Cherry Blossom tree that stood in the garden of the house. He paused.
“You didn’t have to do this Mr. Yama. Please, it’s too much.”
“Nonsense my boy, it was easy. I work as a logger during the day, so cutting down a few branches is not a hassle. But might I ask, why did you want it so badly?”
Hiroshi shows Mr. Yama the photograph of the young boy.
“When I become older, much older than I am now, I want my son to remember the family stories and to keep our tradition alive.”
*Shoji – A sliding panel that is made of translucent paper in a wooden frame