Jefferson not only studied the book in detail, but also advised his family to read it, according to Massumeh Farhad, Freer and Sackler's chief curator.
In Japanese art and poetry, cherry blossoms have also served as metaphors for "the ephemerality of life", said James Ulak, the senior curator of Japanese art at Washington's Freer and Sackler art galleries, in an interview with NPR.