Flowering Cherries have been appreciated in Japan from the very ancient times, and their records might;be traced back as early as to 402 A.D. Since the Capital was fixed in “Kyoto” in later years, the interest of the Japanese in the flowering cherries has deepened and grown stronger. They have been adopted as the favorite theme of the “Waka”, the only poetic form purely Japanese in those days, and at last the term “Hana” or flowers has come to imply the “cherry flowers”.
The horticultural varieties of the flowering cherries, especially the so-called “Sato-zakura” (Horticultural Varieties), with its great many varieties, were mestly produced chiefly in “Yedo”, now Tokyo, in the glory of the Yedo culture, together with other horticultural flowering plants. It was in this age, too, that there were produced many masterpieces of literature which compared the thick and simultaneous fall of cherry flowers to the pure spirit of feudal knights who were ready to lay down their lives for the cause of loyalty on the battlefield.
Since the introduction of the modern Western botanical science together with other branches of the Western culture, into this country after the Restoration of “Meiji”, several species of wild Japanese flowering cherries have been recorded and announced as new species according to its standards.
The flowering cherries have been originally produced and developed in the islands of Japan. Fond of the warm and damp climate, they have most prospered in the main island(“Honshu”). As they are suited to the soil where drainage is good and subterranean water lies deep, their superior species are produced near Tokyo, which consists of volcanic ash soil. The above-mentioned character is especially marked in the horticultural varieties and the species valuable in appreciation. The flowering cherries have what are called the Winter Flowering. Varieties, which bear their flowers on their branches for Over two months in autumn and winter, besides blooming in spring like the common varieties. Morphologically, they may be roughly classed into two types, but neither of them bears flowers worthy of much admiration. There is a tendency of using them as material for improving the prospect, for the winter season is very scarce in flowers, and they have been attracting much attention of the experts of late.
The “Shiro Yama-zakura” is a flowering tree most renowned in Japan since the old days. The young leaves of each of these trees have the colours of either green, yellow, brown, or russet. Its flowers and leaves unfold themselves at the same time, brilliantly reflecting the spring sun, and presenting a specially beautiful sight.
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