下條ユリさんのインスタグラム写真 - (下條ユリInstagram)「🌸 story 3 ママと宇野千代さんの淡墨桜 My mother, Femme Fatale, 1,500 years old Sakura Circa 1991, A few years before my mother was diagnosed with cancer, we made a special pilgrimage to a village in a valley deep in the mountains to meet #UsuzumiZakura a solitary, isolated, 1,500 years old wild cherry tree that she was always obsessed with. Usuzumi means “pale Sumi ink” which describes this unique distinct appearance as they fall. Tree initially sprout pale pink when they begin to bud, pure white in full bloom, and turn pale inky black as they wither before falling to the ground. The tree’s life was in danger on numerous occasions due to natural disasters like heavy snowfall, massive typhoons, and termite infestation. Although the tree survived each crisis and was revived by the efforts of experts to replace the soil by grafting hundreds of young cherry blossoms. My mother loved a sensual novel about this tree by #ChiyoUno (1897-1996), who also dedicated her efforts to save this once decaying old tree rejuvenated blossoming. Uno was a kimono designer, magazine editor, and prize-winning writer. Beautiful, passionate, and ever-ready to shock, notoriety as a femme fatale. She married four times in an age when divorce was rare, and adultery for women was a criminal offense, but it was as a writer that she won lasting recognition. ''I never forced myself to do anything I didn't want to do,'' she said in a 1987 interview, and lived her life just the way she wanted to till she died 98 years old. No children. My mother handed me her childhood Sakura pattern kimono that was designed by Uno. People often mentioned my mother had a similar atmosphere. It's sad that somehow I forgot how the whole trip was, but I remember the bewitching, almost haunted energy of the tree, which was barely standing by herself, but numerous poles held her to exist gracefully, solemnly and seductively. And I have never forgotten my mother’s teary eyes when she saw the tree in person for the first time and whispered to me, “She is old, like a ghost, but she's fully alive. She is like me.” #YuriShimojo_MementoMori #下條ユリメメントモリ #ちいさならくがき　 #宇野千代 #淡墨桜 #Sumiink #UsuzumiSakura #FemmeFatale」3月26日 12時02分