The cherry blossom season in Kyoto, photographed in monochrome. Masakazu Sugiura portrays the sublime nature of the blossoms, in both their wild and their tended beauty. Kyoto's sakura bloom all at once during the seven days of cherry blossoms between the end of March and early April, and the petals scatter after only about seven days; this fleeting beauty of falling petals becomes, in the Japanese mind, a metaphor for both life and death, concepts that are not mutually antagonistic. The photographs were mainly taken when few people were about, between sunrise and early morning and on rainy days.