Ksenija Premur – A CHERRY BLOSSOM. A JAPANESE STORY

After years of academic career in the research of oriental philosophies, an area in which the author published several philosophical studies and books, in this novel titled “A Cherry Blossom. A Japanese Story” the author decided to transform her knowledge of Japanese culture into a Romanesque creation in a form of a novel. The story is situated in a Zen monastery near Kyoto in 12 century, with main characters who are historical individuals, recorded throughout the development of Zen Buddhism. The author attempted to bring them to life in a Romanesque manner as to transform fundamental categories of Zen Buddhism such as “koan”, “impassable passage” and “enlightenment” into a vivid story through a story of Japanese culture and a love story that was imbedded into it. A story of three historical characters – Enrika, a Buddhist disciple, Hakuinen, a Zen teacher, and Emsho, a Buddhist disciple – carries a vivacity and dynamics in the very story and all aspects of Japanese culture, from the tea ceremony to interpreting and studying in a Zen monastery rendering thus a firm structure of culture and particularly valued personal experience of reality.