This is a re-visited version of the previous painting I had done (The Blue Kimono) portraying a young Japanese woman holding a Katana sword on a beautiful background of spring cherry blossoms, symbolizing the way Japan can sometimes be perceived in the West: an enigmatic mix of refined artistic elegance and deeply meaningful poetry, cohabiting with a history rooted in the deep acceptance that violence and death, as inescapable parts of Life, are necessary components of Creation and Rebirth.