Martin Parr catches the cherry blossom season in Kyoto – in pictures

Way back in 2000, I travelled to Japan to shoot the cherry blossom, but that particular year it was late, so I missed it. What I did instead was shoot the artificial blossom adorning food and consumables, and produce an artist book called Cherry Blossom Time in Tokyo.

This year, however, I was invited by Kyotographie to shoot tourism in Kyoto. I knew I would be there for the cherry blossom season.

My luck was in, as last weekend was the peak of the season and the weather was beautiful.

Everyone goes cherry blossom mad.

They just cannot get enough photographs of themselves, their kids, their pets and babies, getting as close as possible.

This often means literally standing in the blossom.

There is a magic in the air. The excitement of seeing these glorious trees with huge blossoms takes over the whole city.

In the evening people sit under the blossom and have picnics.

After the weekend, it started raining and slowly but surely the blossom started to peel off.

And the long wait for next April’s blossom began.