It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs promise  at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks.

But as the ripple of war spread to their quite neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold- and forge their own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughter of a renowned sumo find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi.

The Street of a thousand blossoms is a powerful moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers