Musing on cherry blossoms

No, not the chocolate candy! I am talking about the cherry blossom, the real thing. A Japanese colleague told me today via messenger that it was the end of sakura season, meaning cherry blossom season. From what I understood it is the name they have for April and springtime. Which I thought was very sweet. Then I quickly read about the symbolism of the cherry tree in Japan. And I learn that it has violent meaning, that it was the name of a society of young men in the Imperial Japanese Army and it can have a very militaristic significance. Cherry blossoms. I just couldn't believe it, but yet this something very Japanese, a culture that looks very delicate in their art and environment, yet gave birth to seppuku, kamikazes and yakuzas. So the delicate cherry blossoms represent also the relentless waves of armies marching. A fitting image for spring and April, in a way, a season and a month both prone to elemental anger as much as it represents fertility.