The Library of Congress celebrates the 2021 National Cherry Blossom Festival by debuting a new video series that highlights both historic and contemporary traditions of springtime flower viewing. Cherry Blossom Viewing over the Centuries features three short films that showcase a stunning variety of artifacts from Library collections, including watercolor drawings, colorful woodblock prints, vintage photos, and beautifully designed posters from Japanese and American artists. Dev
eloped to support the Festival’s 2021 efforts to “blossom safely,” the four-to-five-minutes videos can be enjoyed by viewers everywhere during the Festival and beyond via the Library's KZread site and on the Library of Congress website.
There are three videos in the series:
• Cherry Blossoms in Japanese Culture explores Japan’s centuries-old blossom viewing traditions.
• Tokyo’s Gift of Friendship recounts the origins and events surrounding the 1912 gift of 3,020 cherry trees to the city of Washington.
• Fleeting Beauty, Enduring Traditions highlights the Library’s National Cherry Blossom Festival collection, which include posters from 1987 to the present and Princess programs from 1949 to the present.
For transcript and more information, visit www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9724