“The cherry blossom represents the fragility and beauty of life. It’s a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short.”—Homaro Cantu
The Japanese tradition of cherry blossom viewing, Hanami, celebrates the ephemeral beauty of the flowers and of our human existence.
Washington, D.C., is the home of thousands of Japanese cherry trees, Prunus serrulate, and the site (since 1935) of a cherry blossom festival that attracts over 1.5 million visitors each year.
“We are indebted for this magnificent spectacle to the energy and vision of one American, Miss Eliza Scidmore.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
In 1885 Eliza Scidmore, writer, photographer, adventurer, and first female board member of the National Geographic Society, returned to Washington after a trip to Japan. She had fallen in love with Japanese ornamental cherry trees and decided to convince government officials to plant them in the barren areas around the capitol. This mission would last for decades and finally result in a continued planting of trees in our nation’s capital.
By 1909, while trying to raise funds to buy trees, Eliza Scidmore found an ally in First Lady Helen Taft. They were joined by Dr. David Fairchild, plant explorer and U.S. Department of Agriculture official, and Dr. Jokichi Takamine, a Japanese chemist who offered a donation of 2,000 trees as a gift from the mayor of Tokyo.
The trees arrived in Washington in early January 1910, but an inspection by a team from the Department of Agriculture found them infested with insects and nematodes, and they were burned. The mayor of Tokyo suggested a second donation of 3,020 trees in twelve varieties, which arrived in March 1912.
First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two ‘Yoshino’ cherry trees on the north bank of the Potomac River Tidal Basin on March 27, 1912. These two original trees still stand not far from the Washington Monument and the Martin Luther King Memorial.
With many complicated turn of events, more and more cherry trees were added over the decades. In 1938, there was a small Cherry Tree Rebellion when trees were slated to be destroyed to make room for the Jefferson Memorial. About 150 women occupied the worksite and some chained themselves to the trees until a promise was made to replace them elsewhere. Four trees were cut down by vandals after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The trees were rebranded as “Oriental” cherries rather than “Japanese.” In 1965, the Japanese government sent another gift of 3,800 ‘Yoshino’ cherry trees, which were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
The Cherry Blossom Festival or the Hanami (hana, flowers; mi, to look) is a celebration of the ephemeral essence of life. The timing of the Festival is elusive, since peak bloom depends on weather conditions. With the warming climate, flowering often occurs in in late March instead of April.
“No other flower in all the world is so beloved, so exalted, as sakura-no-hana, the cherry blossom of Japan.”—Eliza Scidmore
The Japanese tradition of Hanami invites us to meditate on the fleeting condition of life. The garden itself teaches this lesson continually. When a strong wind blows and strips the petals from a flowering tree, when too much or too little rain causes plant death, or when that hard frost falls and blackens the garden, we face the transitory. Sometimes the mundane tasks of planting, weeding, or harvesting fill our consciousness, but there are moments in the natural world when the fragility and evanescence of existence are evident and unavoidable. It is sobering to stop and feel a part of it.
To be among thousands of people, surrounded by clouds of fragile cherry blossoms in the tainted city of Washington, D.C., is a profound experience. A celebration of beauty, a continuation of the tradition of Hanami, and an early peek at spring give inspiration. Returning north and home, life is stirring again in the garden, and soon my own Japanese cherry, ‘Hally Jolivette,’ will bloom.
“Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.”—Eugene Ionesco
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