桜の下に

sakura no shita ni
Under the cherry blossoms

Matsuo Bashō, a Japanese poet during the country’s Edo period, wrote the following haiku:

木のもとに　汁も膾も　桜かな

Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

ki no moto ni
shiru mo namasu mo
sakura ka na

Under a tree
Both soup and vegetables
Cherry blossoms everywhere

This haiku—along with the beauty of the Spring season around us—inspired me to create this piece: a bowl of ramen noodles with cherry blossoms everywhere.

Note: Should anyone notice that the above “haiku” does not follow a “5-7-5 syllable” structure, please note that this haiku is originally in Japanese rather than English. True Japanese haiku are structured using mora as a unit rather than syllables, and it is difficult to translate it to match syllables in English.