Cherry blossom#Symbolism in Japan

Classifying cherry trees is often confusing, since they are relatively prone to mutation and have diverse flowers and characteristics, and many varieties (a sub-classification of species), hybrids between species, and cultivars exist. Researchers have assigned different scientific names to the same type of cherry tree throughout different periods.{{Rp|pages=32–37}}

In Europe and North America, ornamental cherry trees are classified under the subgenus Cerasus ("true cherries"), within the genus Prunus. Cerasus consists of about 100 species of cherry tree, but does not include bush cherries, bird cherries, or cherry laurels (other non-Cerasus species in Prunus are plums, peaches, apricots, and almonds). Cerasus was originally named as a genus in 1700 by de Tournefort. In 1753, Linnaeus combined it with several other groupings to form a larger Prunus genus. Cerasus was later converted into a section and then a subgenus, this system becoming widely accepted, but some botanists resurrected it as a genus instead.{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Sangtae |last2=Wen |first2=Jun |title=A phylogenetic analysis of Prunus and the Amygdaloideae (Rosaceae) using ITS sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA |journal=American Journal of Botany |date=2001 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=150–160 |doi=10.2307/2657135 |jstor=2657135 |pmid=11159135 |url=https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/2657135}} In China and Russia, where there are many more wild cherry species than in Europe, Cerasus continues to be used as a genus.{{Rp|pages=14–18}}

In Japan, ornamental cherry trees were traditionally classified in the genus Prunus, as in Europe and North America, but after a 1992 paper by Hideaki Ohba of the University of Tokyo, classification in the genus Cerasus became more common.{{Rp|pages=14–18}} This means that (for example) the scientific name Cerasus incisa is now used in Japan instead of Prunus incisa.{{Cite journal |last=Ohba |first=Hideaki |title=Japanese Cherry Trees under the Genus Cerasus (Rosaceae) |journal=The Journal of Japanese Botany |date=1992 |volume=67 |pages=276–281 |url=https://archive.org/details/journal-japanese-botany-67-276-281}}

File:Prunus speciosa in the Jardin des Plantes 002.jpg, a species of cherry tree that has given rise to many cultivars{{Cite journal |last1=Kato |first1=Shuri |last2=Matsumoto |first2=Asako |last3=Yoshimura |first3=Kensuke |last4=Katsuki |first4=Toshio |last5=Iwamoto |first5=Kojiro |last6=Kawahara |first6=Takayuki |last7=Mukai |first7=Yuzuru |last8=Tsuda |first8=Yoshiaki |last9=Ishio |first9=Shogo |last10=Nakamura |first10=Kentaro |last11=Moriwaki |first11=Kazuo |last12=Shiroishi |first12=Toshihiko |last13=Gojobori |first13=Takashi |last14=Yoshimaru |first14=Hiroshi |date=30 January 2014 |title=Origins of Japanese flowering cherry (Prunus subgenus Cerasus) cultivars revealed using nuclear SSR markers |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11295-014-0697-1 |journal=Tree Genetics & Genomes |language=en |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=477–487 |doi=10.1007/s11295-014-0697-1 |s2cid=255127026 |issn=1614-2942}}{{cite web |date=June 16, 2014 |script-title=ja:DNAからわかったサクラ品種の真実 ―そのほとんどは雑種が起源― |language=ja |trans-title=Origins of Japanese flowering cherry (Prunus subgenus Cerasus) cultivars revealed using nuclear SSR markers |url=https://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/research/saizensen/2014/20140616-01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190309150440/https://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/research/saizensen/2014/20140616-01.html |archive-date=9 March 2019 |access-date=February 27, 2021 |work=Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute}}]]

A culture of plum blossom viewing has existed in mainland China since ancient times, and although cherry trees have many wild species, most of them had small flowers, and the distribution of wild cherry trees with large flowers suitable for cherry blossom viewing was limited.{{Rp|160–161}} In Europe and North America, there were few cherry species with characteristics suitable for cherry blossom viewing.{{Rp|122}} In Japan, on the other hand, the Prunus speciosa (Oshima cherry) and {{ill|lt=Prunus jamasakura (Yamazakura)|Prunus jamasakura|ja|ヤマザクラ|vertical-align=sup}}, which have large flowers suitable for cherry blossom viewing and tend to grow into large trees, were distributed over a fairly large area of the country and were close to people's living areas. The development of cherry blossom viewing, and the production of cultivars, is therefore considered to have taken place primarily in Japan.{{Rp|160–161}}

File:カンザン全体.jpg, one of the most popular cherry tree cultivars in Europe and North America, selected for the British Award of Garden Merit{{Cite book|first=Toshio |last=Katsuki |date=2018 |title=Sakura no Kagaku |trans-title=Science of Cherry Blossoms| publisher=SB Creative |isbn=978-4797389319 |language=ja }}{{Rp|pages=40–42}}]]

Because cherry trees have mutable traits, many cultivars have been created for cherry blossom viewing, especially in Japan. Since the Heian period, the Japanese have produced cultivars by selecting superior or mutant trees from among the natural crossings of wild cherry trees. They were also produced by crossing trees artificially and then breeding them by grafting and cutting. Oshima, Yamazakura, Prunus pendula f. ascendens (syn, Prunus itosakura, Edo higan), and other varieties which grow naturally in Japan, mutate easily. The Oshima cherry, which is an endemic species in Japan, tends to mutate into a double-flowered tree, grows quickly, has many large flowers, and has a strong fragrance. Due to these favorable characteristics, the Oshima cherry has been used as a base for many Sakura cultivars (called the Sato-zakura Group). Two such cultivars are the Yoshino cherry and Kanzan; Yoshino cherries are actively planted in Asian countries, and Kanzan is actively planted in Western countries.{{Rp|pages=86–95, 106, 166–168}}{{Rp|pages=40–42}}

{{Main|Hanami}}

File:Cherry-Blossom-Utagawa-Hiroshige-36-Views-of-Mount Fuji-Series-7.jpg and cherry blossom from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Hiroshige. 1858.]]

{{transliteration|ja|"Hanami"}} is the many centuries-old practice of holding feasts or parties under blooming {{transliteration|ja|sakura}} ({{lang|ja|桜}} or {{lang|ja|櫻}}; {{lang|ja|さくら}} or {{lang|ja|サクラ}}) or {{transliteration|ja|ume}} ({{lang|ja|梅}}; {{lang|ja|うめ}}) trees. During the Nara period (710–794), when the custom is said to have begun, it was {{transliteration|ja|ume}} blossoms that people admired. By the Heian period (794–1185), however, cherry blossoms were attracting more attention, and {{transliteration|ja|'hanami'}} was synonymous with {{transliteration|ja|'sakura'}}.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHf8lxLOYsUC&q=Hanami+nara&pg=PA12|page=12|title=Mizue Sawano: The Art of the Cherry Tree |author= Brooklyn Botanic Garden |publisher= Brooklyn Botanic Garden|year= 2006 |isbn= 978-1-889538-25-9}} From then on, in both {{transliteration|ja|waka}} and haiku, {{nihongo|"flowers"|花|hana}} meant "cherry blossoms," as implied by one of Izumi Shikibu's poems.{{Cite web |last=Citko-DuPlantis |first=Małgorzata (Gosia) K. |date=2024-03-07 |title=Cherry blossoms – celebrated in Japan for centuries and gifted to Americans – are an appreciation of impermanence and spring |url=http://theconversation.com/cherry-blossoms-celebrated-in-japan-for-centuries-and-gifted-to-americans-are-an-appreciation-of-impermanence-and-spring-224610 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}} The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the {{transliteration|ja|sakura}} trees, people held cheerful feasts where they ate, and drank {{transliteration|ja|sake}}.{{Rp|pages=2–7, 156–160}}

Since a book written in the Heian period mentions {{nihongo|"weeping cherry"|しだり櫻; 糸櫻}}, one of the cultivars with pendulous branches, Prunus itosakura 'Pendula' (Sidare-zakura) is considered the oldest cultivar in Japan. In the Kamakura period, when the population increased in the southern Kantō region, the Oshima cherry, which originated in Izu Oshima Island, was brought to Honshu and cultivated there; it then made its way to the capital, Kyoto. The Sato-zakura Group first appeared during the Muromachi period.

File:Hokuto Yamanashi Yamatakajindaizakura 1.JPG{{Rp|178–182}}]]

Prunus itosakura (syn. Prunus subhirtella, Edo higan) is a wild species that grows slowly. However, it has the longest life span among cherry trees and is easy to grow into large trees. For this reason, there are many large, old specimens of this species in Japan. They are often regarded as sacred and have become landmarks that symbolize Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, and local areas. For example, {{ill|Jindai-zakura|ja|神代桜|vertical-align=sup}}, which is around 2,000 years old, {{ill|Usuzumi-zakura|ja|淡墨桜|vertical-align=sup}}, which is around 1,500 years old, and {{ill|Daigo-zakura|ja|醍醐桜|vertical-align=sup}}, which is around 1,000 years old, are famous for their age.{{Rp|178–182}}

File:2014-05-10 12 34 11 Flowering Cherry along New Jersey Route 29 in Hopewell Township, New Jersey.JPG is a double-flowered cultivar developed in the Edo period. It has 20 to 50 petals in a flower.{{Rp|pages=93, 103–104}}]]

In the Edo period, various double-flowered cultivars were produced and planted on the banks of rivers, in Buddhist temples, in Shinto shrines, and in daimyo gardens in urban areas such as Edo; the common people living in urban areas could enjoy them. Books from the period record more than 200 varieties of cherry blossoms and mention many varieties that are currently known, such as 'Kanzan'. However, this situation was limited to urban areas, and the main objects of hanami across the country were still wild species such as {{ill|lt=Prunus jamasakura (Yamazakura)|Prunus jamasakura (Yamazakura)|ja|ヤマザクラ|vertical-align=sup}} and Oshima cherry.

Since Japan was modernized in the Meiji period, the Yoshino cherry has spread throughout Japan, and it has become the main object of hanami.{{Rp|pages=2–7, 156–160}} Various other cultivars were cut down one after another during changes related to the rapid modernization of cities, such as the reclamation of waterways and the demolition of daimyo gardens. The gardener Takagi Magoemon and the village mayor of Kohoku Village, Shimizu Kengo, were concerned about this situation and preserved a few by planting a row of cherry trees, of various cultivars, along the Arakawa River bank. In Kyoto, Sano Toemon XIV, a gardener, collected various cultivars and propagated them. After World War II, these cultivars were inherited by the National Institute of Genetics, Tama Forest Science Garden and the Flower Association of Japan, and from the 1960s onwards were again used for hanami.{{Rp|pages=115–119}}

Every year, the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the public track the {{nihongo3|"cherry blossom front"||sakura zensen}} as it moves northward up the archipelago with the approach of warmer weather, via nightly forecasts following the weather segment of news programs.{{cite web |script-title=ja:新しいサクラの開花予想 |trans-title=Forecast of new cherry blossom blooms |date=December 1996 |url=http://www.data.jma.go.jp/sakura/data/cb/kaisetu24sakura.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106160101/http://www.data.jma.go.jp/sakura/data/cb/kaisetu24sakura.pdf |archivedate=6 January 2013 |language=ja |accessdate=1 March 2012 |publisher=Japan Meteorological Agency}}{{cite book |last=Akasegawa |first=Genpei |url=http://www.ktv.co.jp/hanami/2005/daily/050420.html |title=Sennin no sakura, zokujin no sakura: Nippon kaibo kiko |publisher=JTB Nihon Kotsu Kosha Shuppan Jigyokyoku |year=2000 |isbn=978-4-533-01983-8 |location=Osaka Seikei University, Kyoto, Japan |language=ja |quote=As cherry blossom front comes up, the whole Japan goes into a war; we just can't sit home and let it go. |author-link=Genpei Akasegawa |access-date=2010-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428002853/http://www.ktv.co.jp/hanami/2005/daily/050420.html |archive-date=2007-04-28 |url-status=dead}} Since 2009, tracking of the sakura zensen has been largely taken over by private forecasting companies, with the JMA switching to focus only on data collection that than forecasting.{{Cite web |last=Ha |first=Thu-huong |date=March 23, 2023 |title=In Japan, cherry blossom forecasting is a big deal. Warming is making it harder. |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/23/national/cherry-blossom-forecasting/ |website=The Japan Times}} The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the beginning of April, though recent years have trended towards earlier flowerings near the end of March.{{Cite web |date=30 March 2021 |title=Japan's cherry blossom 'earliest peak since 812' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56574142 |website=BBC}} It proceeds northward and into areas of higher altitude, arriving in Hokkaido a few weeks later. Japanese locals, in addition to overseas tourists, pay close attention to these forecasts.

Most Japanese schools and public buildings have cherry blossom trees planted outside of them. Since the fiscal and school years both begin in April, in many parts of Honshu the first day of work or school coincides with the cherry blossom season. However, while most cherry blossom trees bloom in the spring, there are also lesser-known winter cherry blossoms (fuyuzakura in Japanese) that bloom between October and December.{{cite web |title=5 Places to See Japan's (Very Real) Winter Cherry Blossoms |url=https://travel.gaijinpot.com/japan-sightseeing-essentials/cherry-blossoms-japan/winter-cherry-blossoms-in-japan/ |website=GaijinPot Travel |date=12 December 2018 |publisher=Gaijin Pot |access-date=28 July 2022 |language=en}}

The Japan Cherry Blossom Association has published a list of Japan's Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots ({{lang|ja|{{ill|日本さくら名所100選|ja|vertical-align=sup}}}}),{{cite web|title=Japan's Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots – GoJapanGo (English language version of list)|url=http://www.gojapango.com/travel/japans_top_100_cherry_blossom_spots.htm|work=Japan's Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots – GoJapanGo|publisher=Mi Marketing Pty Ltd|access-date=9 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515132206/http://www.gojapango.com/travel/japans_top_100_cherry_blossom_spots.htm|archive-date=15 May 2018|url-status=dead}} with at least one location in every prefecture.

File:Yoshino cherry ソメイヨシノ 3.jpg, a cultivar propagated through grafting, consistently reaches full bloom simultaneously between individuals if under the same environmental conditions.]]

Many cherry species and cultivars bloom between March and April in the Northern Hemisphere. Wild cherry trees, even if they are the same species, differ genetically from one individual to another. Even if they are planted in the same area, there is some variation in the time when they reach full bloom. In contrast, cultivars are clones propagated by grafting or cutting, so each tree of the same cultivar planted in the same area will come into full bloom all at once due to their genetic similarity.{{cite book |first=Stanley J. |last=Kays |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1pBMcf6wyj0C&pg=PA15 |title=Cultivated vegetables of the world: a multilingual onomasticon |date=3 October 2011 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-90-8686-720-2 |pages=15–}}

Some wild species, such as Edo higan and the cultivars developed from them, are in full bloom before the leaves open. Yoshino cherry became popular for cherry-blossom viewing because of these characteristics of simultaneous flowering and blooming before the leaves open; it also bears many flowers and grows into a large tree. Many cultivars of the Sato-zakura group, which were developed from complex interspecific hybrids based on Oshima cherry, are often used for ornamental purposes. They generally reach full bloom a few days to two weeks after Yoshino cherry does.{{Rp|40–56}}

The flowering time of cherry trees is thought to be affected by global warming and the heat island effect of urbanization. According to the record of full bloom dates of {{ill|lt=Prunus jamasakura (Yamazakura)|Prunus jamasakura|ja|ヤマザクラ|vertical-align=sup}} in Kyoto, Japan, which has been recorded for about 1200 years, the time of full bloom was relatively stable from 812 to the 1800s. After that, the time of full color rapidly became earlier, and in 2021, the earliest full bloom date in 1200 years was recorded. The average peak bloom day in the 1850s was around April 17, but by the 2020s, it was April 5; the average temperature rose by about {{cvt|3.4|C-change}} during this time. According to the record of full bloom dates of the Yoshino cherry in the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., the bloom date was April 5 in 1921, but it was March 31 in 2021. These records are consistent with the history of rapid increases in global mean temperature since the mid-1800s.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/03/29/japan-kyoto-cherry-blossoms-record/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403174521if_/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/03/29/japan-kyoto-cherry-blossoms-record/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2021-04-03 |title=Japan's Kyoto cherry blossoms peak on the earliest date in 1,200 years, a sign of climate change |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 30, 2021 }}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403110917/http://atmenv.envi.osakafu-u.ac.jp/aono/kyophenotemp4/ |archive-date=April 3, 2021 |url=http://atmenv.envi.osakafu-u.ac.jp/aono/kyophenotemp4/ |language=en |date=October 1, 2015 |title= Cherry blossom phenology and temperature reconstructions at Kyoto |first=Yasuyuki |last=Aono |publisher=Osaka Prefecture University}}

Japanese cherry trees grown in the Southern Hemisphere will bloom at a different time of the year. For example, in Australia, while the trees in the Cowra Japanese Garden bloom in late September to mid-October, the Sydney cherry blossom festival is in late August.{{cite web |title=Sakura Matsuri - Cherry Blossom Festival|url=https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/cowra-area/cowra/events/sakura-matsuri-cherry-blossom-festival |access-date=2024-01-14|website=www.visitnsw.com|language=en-AU}}{{cite web |first=Maya |last=Skidmore |date=14 July 2023 |title=Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival|url=https://www.timeout.com/sydney/things-to-do/sydney-cherry-blossom-festival|access-date=2024-01-14 |website=Time Out|language=en}}

There's an escalating concern of climate change as it poses a threat to sakura cultivars, given that they are highly susceptible to shifts in temperature and weather fluctuations. The changes, driven by climate change including warmer temperatures and earlier starts to springtime, may disrupt the timing of their blooms and potentially lead to reduced flowering and cultural significance.{{Cite magazine |date=2024-03-18 |title=Cherry Blossoms Are Coming Earlier Because of Climate Change |url=https://time.com/6957844/cherry-blossoms-climate-change-peak-bloom-shift/ |access-date=2024-04-05 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}

In 2023, it has been observed in China that cherry blossoms have reached their peak bloom weeks earlier than they previously had a few decades ago. Similarly, data from Kyoto, Japan, and Washington, D.C., United States, also indicated that blooming periods are occurring earlier in those locations as well.{{Cite web |date=March 22, 2023 |title=In China, Climate Change Disrupts a Beloved Tradition: Cherry Blossom Season |url=https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1012557 |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=#SixthTone}}

Although precise forecasting is generally challenging, AI predictions from Japan Meteorological Agency, have suggested that without substantial efforts to rein in climate change, the Somei-Yoshino cherry tree variety could face significant challenges and even the risk of disappearing entirely from certain parts of Japan, including Miyazaki, Nagasaki, and Kagoshima prefectures in the Kyushu region by 2100.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-25 |title=Japan's most famous cherry blossom trees could disappear due to climate change |url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/japans-most-famous-cherry-blossom-170908475.html |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-AU}}

File:100JPY.JPG depicting cherry blossoms]]

Cherry blossoms are a frequent topic in waka composition, where they commonly symbolize impermanence.{{Cite web |last=Citko-DuPlantis |first=Małgorzata (Gosia) K. |date=2024-03-07 |title=Cherry blossoms – celebrated in Japan for centuries and gifted to Americans – are an appreciation of impermanence and spring |url=http://theconversation.com/cherry-blossoms-celebrated-in-japan-for-centuries-and-gifted-to-americans-are-an-appreciation-of-impermanence-and-spring-224610 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}} Due to their characteristic of blooming {{lang|Fr|en masse}}, cherry blossoms and are considered an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77ZqNbU_Y74C |last=Choy Lee |first=Khoon |date=1995 |title=Japan—between Myth and Reality |page= 142 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9789810218652}} Cherry blossoms frequently appear in Japanese art, manga, anime, and film, as well as stage set designs for musical performances. There is at least one popular folk song, originally meant for the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), titled "Sakura", in addition to several later pop songs bearing the name. The flower is also used on all manner of historical and contemporary consumer goods, including kimonos,{{Citation |title=Court Lady's Garment (Kosode) with Swallows and Bells on Blossoming Cherry Tree |date=1868–1912 |work=Asian Art at The Met |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/648202?pkgids=761}} stationery,{{Cite web |title=Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/cherry-blossoms/cherry-blossoms-in-japanese-cultural-history |access-date=17 January 2024 |website=Library of Congress}} and dishware.{{Citation |title=Large Dish with Cherry Blossoms |date=1690–1720s |work=Asian Art at The Met |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/52281}}

The traditional symbolism of cherry blossoms as a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life is associated with the influence of Shinto,{{cite book|last1=Young |first1=John |last2=Nakajima-Okano |first2=Kimiko |date=1985 |title=Learn Japanese: New College Text |page= 268 |isbn=978-0824809515 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press}} embodied in the concept of {{nihongo||物の哀れ|mono no aware}}{{efn|Historical kana orthography: {{lang|ja|もののあはれ}}, modern kana: {{lang|ja|もののあわれ}}. The old kana form remains preferred in modern usage.}} (the pathos of things).{{cite book|last=Slaymaker |first=Douglas |date=2004 |title=The Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction |page= 122 |isbn=9781134354030 |publisher=Routledge}} The connection between cherry blossoms and mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga. The transience of the blossoms, their beauty, and their volatility have often been associated with mortality and the graceful and ready acceptance of destiny and karma.

The Sakurakai, or Cherry Blossom Society, was the name chosen by young officers within the Imperial Japanese Army in September 1930 for their secret society established to reorganize the state along totalitarian militaristic lines, via a military coup d'état if necessary.{{Cite book|last=McClain |first=James L. |title=Japan: A Modern History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obYhbzN-dY0C |date=2002 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page= 414 |isbn=0-393-04156-5}}

During World War II, cherry blossoms were used as a symbol to motivate the Japanese people and stoke nationalism and militarism.{{Cite book|author-link=Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney |first=Emiko |last=Ohnuki-Tierney |title=Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms |date=2002 |pages= 9–10 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo3656741.html}} The Japanese proverb hana wa sakuragi, hito wa bushi ("the best blossom is the cherry blossom, the best man is a warrior") was evoked in the Imperial Japanese Army as a motivation during the war.{{cite book | author= Bruce Gamble| title =Invasion Rabaul: The Epic Story of Lark Force, the Forgotten Garrison, January - July 1942| publisher =Zenith Press| year =2014| pages =73–74| isbn =978-0760345917}} Even before the war, cherry blossoms were used in propaganda to inspire the "Japanese spirit", as in the "Song of Young Japan", exulting in "warriors" who were "ready like the myriad cherry blossoms to scatter".{{Cite book|author-link=Piers Brendon |first=Piers |last=Brendon |title=The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s |date=2000 |page= 441 |isbn=0-375-40881-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dBmAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Johnathan Cape}} In 1894, Sasaki Nobutsuna composed a poem, [https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/873478/1/10 Shina seibatsu no uta] (The Song of the Conquest of the Chinese) to coincide with the First Sino-Japanese War. The poem compares falling cherry blossoms to the sacrifice of Japanese soldiers who fall in battles for their country and emperor.{{Cite web |last=Citko-DuPlantis |first=Małgorzata (Gosia) K. |date=2024-03-07 |title=Cherry blossoms – celebrated in Japan for centuries and gifted to Americans – are an appreciation of impermanence and spring |url=http://theconversation.com/cherry-blossoms-celebrated-in-japan-for-centuries-and-gifted-to-americans-are-an-appreciation-of-impermanence-and-spring-224610 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Ohnuki-Tierney |first=Emiko |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo3656741.html |title=Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, IL |language=en}} In 1932, Akiko Yosano's poetry urged Japanese soldiers to endure suffering in China and compared the dead soldiers to cherry blossoms.{{sfn|McClain|2002|p=427}} Arguments that the plans for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, involving all Japanese ships, would expose Japan to danger if they failed were countered with the plea that the Navy be permitted to "bloom as flowers of death".{{Cite book|author-link=John Toland (author) |first=John |last=Toland |title=The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945 |page= 539 |publisher=Random House New York |date=1970}} The last message of the forces on Peleliu was "Sakura, Sakura".{{cite book|first1=Meirion |last1=Harries |first2=Susie |last2=Harries |title=Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army |date=1991 |page= 424 |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-394-56935-0}} Japanese pilots would paint sakura flowers on the sides of their planes before embarking on a suicide mission, or even take branches of the trees with them on their missions. A cherry blossom painted on the side of a bomber symbolized the intensity and ephemerality of life;{{cite book|author-link=Kerri Sakamoto |last=Sakamoto |first=Kerri |title=One Hundred Million Hearts |publisher=Vintage Book |date=2004 |isbn=0-676-97512-7}}. in this way, falling cherry petals came to represent the sacrifice of youth in suicide missions to honor the emperor.{{cite book| first=Ivan |last=Morris |author-link=Ivan Morris |title=The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan |page=290 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |date= 1975}} The first kamikaze unit had a subunit called Yamazakura, or wild cherry blossom. The Japanese government encouraged the people to believe that the souls of downed warriors were reincarnated in the blossoms.

File:Summer Nations Series '23- Italia vs Giappone-45 (53148622315).jpg is nicknamed the "Brave Blossoms", and have sakura embroidered on their chests.|360x360px]]

Cherry blossoms have been used symbolically in Japanese sports; the Japan national rugby union team has used the flower as an emblem on its uniforms since the team's first international matches in the 1930s, depicted as a "bud, half-open and full-bloomed".{{cite web |script-title=ja:ラグビー日本代表 初代ジャージー発見、京都で展示へ |trans-title=Japan Rugby National Team's first jersey discovered, to be exhibited in Kyoto |url=https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2019/08/17/kiji/20190817s00044000058000c.html |website=スポニチ Sponichi Annex |language=ja |date=August 17, 2019}} The team is known as the "Brave Blossoms" ({{lang|ja|ブレイブ・ブロッサムズ}}), and has had their current logo since 1952.{{Cite web |last=Shimbun |first=Kyoto |title="Rugby Grandma": Designer behind Japan team's cherry blossom emblem |url=https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/09/bc34ccc8fff4-rugby-grandma-designer-behind-japan-teams-cherry-blossom-emblem.html |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=Kyodo News+}} The cherry blossom is also seen in the logo of the Japan Cricket Association{{cite web|url=https://enewspolar.com/womens-t20-cricket-nepal-ends-in-third-position/ |website=Newspolar |language=en |title=Women's T20 Cricket : Nepal ends in third position |date=19 November 2023}} and the Japan national American football team.{{cite web|url=https://americanfootball.jp/japan/ |language=ja |script-title=ja:アメリカンフットボール日本代表オフィシャルサイト |trans-title=Official site of the Japanese American Football National Team |access-date=22 February 2024}}{{Cite web |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sf20110227a1.html |title=Japan trounces South Korea, qualifies for IFAF World Championship | the Japan Times Online |access-date=2011-03-25 |archive-date=2011-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302083904/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sf20110227a1.html |url-status=dead |website=The Japan Times |date=27 February 2011}}

Cherry blossoms are a prevalent symbol in irezumi, the traditional art of Japanese tattoos. In this art form, cherry blossoms are often combined with other classic Japanese symbols like koi fish, dragons, or tigers.{{cite web |url=http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/cherry-blossom-tattoo.html#sakura |title=Cherry Blossom Tattoo Designs |publisher=Freetattoodesigns.org |access-date=2013-06-14 |archive-date=22 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622220241/http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/cherry-blossom-tattoo.html#sakura |url-status=dead }}

The cherry blossom remains symbolic today. It was used for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics mascot, Someity.{{cite news |date=22 July 2018 |title=Olympic mascots Miraitowa and Someity invoke the future and cherry trees for 2020 Games |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/22/national/tokyo-games-organizers-introduce-mascots-miraitowa-someity-world/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722073052/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/22/national/tokyo-games-organizers-introduce-mascots-miraitowa-someity-world/ |archive-date=22 July 2018 |access-date=22 July 2018 |work=The Japan Times |agency=AFP-JIJI}} It is also a common way to indicate the start of spring, such as in the Animal Crossing series of video games, where many of the game's trees are flowering cherries.{{Cite web |last=Diller |first=Nathan |date=6 April 2020 |title=Locals Are Getting Their Cherry Blossom Fix In Animal Crossing |url=https://dcist.com/story/20/04/06/locals-are-getting-their-cherry-blossom-fix-in-animal-crossing/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=DCist |language=en |archive-date=15 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115180039/https://dcist.com/story/20/04/06/locals-are-getting-their-cherry-blossom-fix-in-animal-crossing/ |url-status=live }}

File:Miharu Miharu-Takizakura Front 1.jpg", a tree of species Prunus itosakura that is over 1,000 years old{{Cite web |date=April 26, 2012 |title=Visitors return to renowned cherry tree in Fukushima |url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201204260009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426175204/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201204260009 |archive-date=April 26, 2012 |access-date=February 21, 2024 |website=Asahi Shimbun}}]]

File:Omoigawa, Hakuoh University.jpg in 1954{{Cite web |url=https://www.city.oyama.tochigi.jp/soshiki/3/1559.html |script-title=ja:小山市の花、木、鳥 |trans-title=Flowers, trees, and birds of Oyama City |publisher=Oyama City |access-date=7 March 2021 |language=ja}}]]

Japan has a wide diversity of cherry trees, including hundreds of cultivars.{{Cite book|last1=Brandow Samuels |first1=Gayle |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WovVBjvQG1wC |title=Enduring Roots: Encounters with Trees, History, and the American Landscape |publisher=Rutgers University Press |date=January 3, 2005|isbn=978-0-8135-3539-5 }} By one classification method, there are more than 600 cultivars in Japan,{{Cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926115307/https://sakura.hibiyakadan.com/page.jsp?id=14549347 |url=https://sakura.hibiyakadan.com/page.jsp?id=14549347 |archive-date=September 26, 2020 |trans-title=Introduction! Varieties of cherry blossom |script-title=ja:紹介！桜の品種 |language=ja |website= Hibiya-Kadan }}{{cite web|script-title=ja:花のコーナー |trans-title=Flower Corner |language=ja |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212031148/http://www.kita-ryokka.or.jp/index.php?%E8%8A%B1%E3%81%AE%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8A%E3%83%BC%E3%80%802016%E5%B9%B404%E6%9C%88 |url=http://www.kita-ryokka.or.jp/index.php?%E8%8A%B1%E3%81%AE%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8A%E3%83%BC%E3%80%802016%E5%B9%B404%E6%9C%88 |archive-date=February 12, 2019 |website=General Incorporated Association Kitakyushu Ryokka Kyokai|date=April 2016}} while the Tokyo Shimbun claims that there are 800.{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/168395|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328231414/https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/168395|script-title=ja:白の輝き 新種のしだれ桜 茨城の「博士」が上野で発見|language=ja|publisher=Tokyo Shimbun|date=29 March 2022|archive-date=28 March 2022|access-date=12 January 2023}} According to the results of DNA analysis of 215 cultivars carried out by Japan's Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute in 2014, many of the cultivars that have spread around the world are hybrids produced by crossing Oshima cherry and {{ill|Prunus jamasakura|lt=Prunus jamasakura (Yamazakura)|ja|ヤマザクラ|vertical-align=sup}} with various wild species. Among these cultivars, the Sato-zakura Group and many other cultivars have a large number of petals, and the representative cultivar is Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan'.{{Rp|137}}

The following species, hybrids, and varieties are used for Sakura cultivars:{{cite web |script-title=ja:サクラ栽培品種の分類体系の再編とデータベース化 |trans-title=Reorganization and database creation of classification system for cherry blossom cultivars |date=2013 |url=http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/pubs/seikasenshu/2013/documents/p58-59.pdf |pages=58–59 |language=ja}}{{cite journal|trans-title=The observation of flowering dates in the Cherry Preservation Forest at the Tama Forest Science Garden over a 30 year period |script-title=ja:多摩森林科学園サクラ保存林における30年間のサクラの開花期観測 |url=http://agriknowledge.affrc.go.jp/RN/2010813972.pdf |journal=Bulletin of FFPRI |first1=Toshio |first2=Kojiro |first3=Yukio |last1=Katsuki |last2=Iwamoto |last3=Ishii |volume=10 |issue=l |pages=7–48 |date=March 2011 |language=ja}}

• Prunus apetala (Clove Cherry){{cite journal |last1=Kato |first1=Shuri |last2=Matsumoto |first2=Asako |last3=Yoshimura |first3=Kensuke |last4=Katsuki |first4=Toshio |last5=Iwamoto |first5=Kojiro |last6=Tsuda |first6=Yoshiaki |last7=Ishio |first7=Shogo |last8=Nakamura |first8=Kentaro |last9=Moriwaki |first9=Kazuo |last10=Shiroishi |first10=Toshihiko |last11=Gojobori |first11=Takashi |last12=Yoshimaru |first12=Hiroshi |year=2012 |title=Clone identification in Japanese flowering cherry (Prunus subgenus Cerasus) cultivars using nuclear SSR markers |journal=Breeding Science |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=248–255 |doi=10.1270/jsbbs.62.248 |pmc=3501942 |pmid=23226085|bibcode=2012BrSci..62..248K }}
• Prunus campanulata{{cite journal |last1=Kato |first1=Shuri |last2=Matsumoto |first2=Asako |last3=Yoshimura |first3=Kensuke |last4=Katsuki |first4=Toshio |last5=Iwamoto |first5=Kojiro |last6=Kawahara |first6=Takayuki |last7=Mukai |first7=Yuzuru |last8=Tsuda |first8=Yoshiaki |last9=Ishio |first9=Shogo |last10=Nakamura |first10=Kentaro |last11=Moriwaki |first11=Kazuo |last12=Shiroishi |first12=Toshihiko |last13=Gojobori |first13=Takashi |last14=Yoshimaru |first14=Hiroshi |year=2014 |title=Origins of Japanese flowering cherry (Prunus subgenus Cerasus) cultivars revealed using nuclear SSR markers |url=https://link.springer.com/content/esm/art:10.1007/s11295-014-0697-1/file/MediaObjects/11295_2014_697_MOESM5_ESM.pdf |journal=Tree Genetics & Genomes |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=477–487 |doi=10.1007/s11295-014-0697-1 |s2cid=18606833 |access-date=2019-02-11}}{{cite book |url=http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/pubs/chukiseika/documents/3rd-chuukiseika5.pdf |title= |publisher=Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute Tama Forest Science Garden |isbn=978-4-905304-19-7 |language=ja |script-title=ja:桜の新しい系統保全 ―形質・遺伝子・病害研究に基づく取組― |trans-title=Conservation of new lines of cherry blossoms - Efforts based on traits, genes, and disease research |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708171655/http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/pubs/chukiseika/documents/3rd-chuukiseika5.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2014}}
• Prunus × furuseana (P. incisa × P. jamasakura{{Cite web|first=Toshio |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |last=Katsuki |date=2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301110856/https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/treeforesthealth/21/2/21_93/_pdf |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/treeforesthealth/21/2/21_93/_pdf |trans-title=Classification and morphological identification of cherry trees |script-title=ja:サクラの分類と形態による同定 |language=ja |pages=96–97}})
• Prunus × incam{{cite web |last=Brand |first=Mark H. |title=Prunus × incam: Okame Flowering Cherry |url=http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=358 |work=University of Connecticut Plant Database}} (P. incisa × P. campanulata{{cite journal |last1=Olsen |first1=Richard T. |last2=Whittemore |first2=Alan T. |date=December 2009 |title=Validation of the Hybrid Flowering Cherry Prunus × incam (Rosaceae) |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/121956 |journal=Novon |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=490–493 |doi=10.3417/2007177 |jstor=27765203 |bibcode=2009Novon..19..490O |s2cid=86536702}})
• Prunus incisa var. incisa
• Prunus incisa var. kinkiensis
• Prunus × introrsa
• Prunus itosakura (Prunus subhirtella, Prunus pendula)
• {{ill|Prunus jamasakura|ja|ヤマザクラ|vertical-align=sup}}
• Prunus × kanzakura (P. campanulata × P. jamasakura and P. campanulata × P. speciosa)
• Prunus leveilleana{{GRIN}} (Prunus verecunda)
• Prunus × miyoshii
• Prunus nipponica{{cite journal |last1=Ma |first1=Hongmei |last2=Olsen |first2=Richard |last3=Pooler |first3=Margaret |year=2009 |title=Evaluation of Flowering Cherry Species, Hybrids, and Cultivars Using Simple Sequence Repeat Markers |url=http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/37581/PDF |journal=Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science |volume=134 |issue=4 |pages=435–444 |doi=10.21273/JASHS.134.4.435 |doi-access=}}
• Prunus padus
• Prunus × parvifolia (P. incisa × P. speciosa)
• Prunus pseudocerasus
• Prunus × sacra (P. itosakura × P. jamasakura)
• Prunus sargentii
• Prunus serrulata var. lannesiana, Prunus lannesiana (Prunus Sato-zakura group. Complex interspecific hybrids based on Prunus speciosa.{{Rp|pages=86–95, 137}})
• Prunus × sieboldii
• Prunus speciosa{{cite journal |author1=Satoshi Ohta |author2=Shinsuke Osumi |author3=Toshio Katsuki |author4=Ikuo Nakamura |author5=Toshiya Yamamoto |author6=Yo-Ichiro Sato |year=2006 |title=Genetic characterization of flowering cherries (Prunus subgenus Cerasus) using rpl16-rpl14 spacer sequences of chloroplast DNA |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjshs/75/1/75_1_72/_pdf |journal=園芸雑誌(J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci.) |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=72–78 |doi=10.2503/jjshs.75.72 |access-date=2011-04-06 |doi-access=free}}{{Rp|pages=89–95, 103–106, 166–170}}
• Prunus × subhirtella (P. incisa × P. itosakura)
• Prunus × syodoi
• Prunus × tajimensis
• Prunus × takenakae
• Prunus × yedoensis (P. itosakura × P. speciosa)

File:Yoshino Sakura Tidal Basin DC.jpg ]]

The most popular cherry blossom cultivar in Japan is 'Somei-yoshino' (Yoshino cherry). Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and usually fall within a week before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. The cultivar takes its name from the village of Somei, which is now part of Toshima in Tokyo. It was developed in the mid- to late-19th century, at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The 'Somei-yoshino' is so widely associated with cherry blossoms that jidaigeki and other works of fiction often show the trees being cultivated in the Edo period or earlier, although such depictions are anachronisms.{{Rp|pages=40–45}}

File:Kawazu-zakura3.jpg

{{ill|Prunus × kanzakura 'Kawazu-zakura'|ja|カワヅザクラ|vertical-align=sup}} is a representative cultivar that blooms before the arrival of spring. It is a natural hybrid between the Oshima cherry and Prunus campanulata and is characterized by deep pink petals. Wild cherry trees usually do not bloom in cold seasons because they cannot produce offspring if they bloom before spring, when pollinating insects become active. However, it is thought that 'Kawazu-zakura' blooms earlier because Prunus campanulata from Okinawa, which did not originally grow naturally in Honshu, was crossed with the Oshima cherry. In wild species, flowering before spring is a disadvantageous feature of selection; in cultivars such as 'Kawazu-zakura', early flowering and flower characteristics are preferred, and they are propagated by grafting.{{Rp|pages=98–100}}

Cherry trees are generally classified by species and cultivar, but in Japan they are also classified using names based on the characteristics of the flowers and trees. Cherry trees with more petals than the ordinary five are classified as yae-zakura (double-flowered sakura), and those with drooping branches are classified as shidare-zakura, or weeping cherry. Most yae-zakura and shidare-zakura are cultivars. Famous shidare-zakura cultivars include 'Shidare-zakura', 'Beni-shidare', and 'Yae-beni-shidare', all derived from the wild species Prunus itosakura (syn, Prunus subhirtella or Edo higan).{{Rp|pages=86–87}}

The color of cherry blossoms is generally a gradation between white and red, but there are cultivars with unusual colors such as yellow and green. The representative cultivars of these colors are {{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Grandiflora' A. Wagner (Ukon)|ja|ウコン|vertical-align=sup}} and {{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Gioiko' Koidz (Gyoiko)|ja|ギョイコウ|vertical-align=sup}}, which were developed in the Edo period of Japan.{{Rp|pages=86–95, 104}}

In 2007, Riken produced a new cultivar named 'Nishina zao' by irradiating cherry trees with a heavy-ion beam. This cultivar is a mutation of the green-petaled {{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Gioiko' (Gyoiko)|ja|ギョイコウ|vertical-align=sup}}; it is characterized by its pale yellow-green-white flowers when it blooms and pale yellow-pink flowers when they fall. Riken produced the cultivars 'Nishina otome' (blooms in both spring and autumn, or year-round in a greenhouse), 'Nishina haruka' (larger flowers), and 'Nishina komachi' ('lantern-like' flowers that remain partially closed) in the same way.{{Cite web|url=https://www.riken.jp/en/about/history/story/zao/ |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302124605/https://www.riken.jp/en/about/history/story/zao/ |title=Nishina Zao |website=Riken |language=en |access-date=21 February 2024}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.riken.jp/pr/fun/sakura/index.html |trans-title=A new kind of cherry blossom |script-title=ja:新種のサクラ |website= Riken |access-date=21 February 2024 |language=ja}}

{{Gallery

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|height=155

|File:Shidare-zakura シダレザクラ2.jpg|Prunus itosakura 'Pendula' (Shidare-zakura)

|File:Weeping cherry tree in Daianji elementary school 02.jpg|Prunus itosakura 'Plena Rosea' (Yae-beni-shidare) is a cultivar having characteristics of both yae-zakura and shidare-zakura.

|File:ウコン近接.jpg|{{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Grandiflora' A. Wagner (Ukon)|ja|ウコン (サクラ)|vertical-align=sup}} with rare yellow flowers developed in the Edo period of Japan. One of the cultivars selected for the British Award of Garden Merit.

|File:Prunus lannesiana Gioiko 04.jpg|{{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Gioiko' Koidz (Gyoiko)|ja|ギョイコウ|vertical-align=sup}} with rare green flowers developed in the Edo period of Japan.

|File:Beniyutaka2.jpg|{{ill|Prunus × sieboldii 'Beni-yutaka'|ja|ベニユタカ|vertical-align=sup}}. One of the cultivars selected for the British Award of Garden Merit.

}}

All wild cherry trees produce small, unpalatable fruit or edible cherries, however, some cultivars have structural modifications to render the plant unable to naturally reproduce.{{Cite web|url=https://nzppi.co.nz/Prunus-serrulata-Auckland-ban/19776-bac69eb1-0526-41bc-962d-7cee8c88fbcf-s119774/ |title= Prunus serrulata Auckland ban |date= 3 August 2021 |website=New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated}} For example, {{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Hisakura' (Ichiyo)|ja|イチヨウ|vertical-align=sup}} and {{ill|Prunus serrulata 'Albo-rosea' Makino (Fugenzo)|ja|フゲンゾウ|vertical-align=sup}}, which originated from the Oshima cherry, have a modified pistil that develops into a leaf-like structure, and can only be propagated by artificial methods such as grafting and cutting.{{Rp|107}} Cherry trees grown for their fruit are generally cultivars of the related species Prunus avium, Prunus cerasus, and Prunus fruticosa.{{Sfn|Iezzoni |Lang |Pulawska |Quero-García |2017|loc=p. 100, pp. 119–122}}

{{Main|Cherry blossom cultivation by country}}

File:Kungsträdgården vår 2012a.jpg in Stockholm, Sweden]]

In the present day, ornamental cherry blossom trees are distributed and cultivated worldwide.{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2023/03/01/look-cherry-blossoms-blooming-around-world/11374723002/ |title= A look at Cherry Blossoms blooming around the world |website=USA Today |first1=Di'Amond |last1=Moore |date=March 1, 2023}} While flowering cherry trees were historically present in Europe, North America, Philippines, and China,{{Rp|122}} the practice of cultivating ornamental cherry trees was centered in Japan,{{Rp|pages=160–161}} and many of the cultivars planted worldwide, such as that of Prunus × yedoensis,Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins {{ISBN|0-00-220013-9}}. have been developed from Japanese hybrids.

The global distribution of ornamental cherry trees, along with flower viewing festivals or hanami, largely started in the early 20th century, often as gifts from Japan.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/cherry-trees-a-first-lady-legacy.htm |title=Cherry Trees: A First Lady's Legacy |access-date=February 20, 2024 |website=National Park Service}}{{cite web|title=The Sakura Campaign – The State of Berlin|url=http://stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/stadtgruen/stadtbaeume/en/sakura/index.shtml|website=Berlin.de|access-date=2 April 2017}}{{Cite web |date=2017-08-16 |title=Cherry Blossoms |url=https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/cherry-blossoms/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |website=City of Toronto |language=en-CA}} However, some regions have historically cultivated their own native species of flowering cherry trees, a notable variety of which is the Himalayan wild cherry tree Prunus cerasoides.{{GRIN | Prunus cerasoides | 29865 | access-date=24 January 2014}}{{Cite journal |last1=Chandel |first1=V. |last2=Rana |first2=T. |last3=Hallan |first3=V. |last4=Zaidi |first4=A. A. |year=2007 |title=Wild Himalayan Cherry (Prunus cerasoides) as a Natural Host of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus in India |journal=Plant Disease |volume=91 |issue=12 |pages=1686 |doi=10.1094/PDIS-91-12-1686C |pmid=30780621 |doi-access=|bibcode=2007PlDis..91.1686C }}

File:Wild Himalayan Cherry (Prunus cerasoides) Cibodas Botanical Garden.JPG in West Java, Indonesia]]

The wild Himalayan cherry, Prunus cerasoides, is native to the Himalayan region of Asia, and is common in countries such as Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar, where it is also cultivated.{{Cite web |title=Wild Himalayan Cherry |first=Navendu |last=Pāgé | url=https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Wild%20Himalayan%20Cherry.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=www.flowersofindia.net }}{{Cite web |title=SAKURA MAGIC IN THE NILGIRIS | url=https://thepapyrus.in/index.php/sakura-magic-in-the-nilgiris-wild-cherry-blossom-pollachi-papyrus/ |first=Divya |last=Chandran |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=thepapyrus.in |date=September 18, 2019}}{{Cite journal |last1=Chandel |first1=V. |last2=Rana |first2=T. |last3=Hallan |first3=V. |last4=Zaidi |first4=A. A. |date=December 2007 |title=Wild Himalayan Cherry (Prunus cerasoides) as a Natural Host of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus in India |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30780621/#:~:text=Prunus%20cerasoides,%20also%20known%20as,cerasoides. |journal=Plant Disease |volume=91 |issue=12 |pages=1686 |doi=10.1094/PDIS-91-12-1686C |issn=0191-2917 |pmid=30780621|bibcode=2007PlDis..91.1686C }}{{Cite book |last=Naithani |first=H. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIs_AAAAYAAJ |title=Flowering Plants of India, Nepal & Bhutan: Not Recorded in Sir J.D. Hooker's Flora of British India |date=1990 |publisher=Surya Publications |isbn=978-81-85276-20-5 |language=en}}

In 1975, three Japanese researchers proposed a theory that cherry trees originated in the Himalayan region and spread eastwards to reach Japan at a time before human civilisation, when the Japanese archipelago was connected to the Eurasian continent, and that cherry species differentiation was actively promoted in Japan.{{cite web|url=https://wisdom.nec.com/ja/series/tanaka/2021032401/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424051504/https://wisdom.nec.com/ja/series/tanaka/2021032401/index.html|script-title=ja:中国の人たちはなぜ花見をするようになったのか 日本を通じて桜を再発見した中国の人々|language=ja|author=Nobuhiko Tanaka|date=24 March 2021|archive-date=24 April 2021|access-date=5 April 2024}}

According to Masataka Somego, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture, cherry trees originated 10 million years ago in what is now Nepal and later differentiated in the Japanese archipelago, giving rise to species unique to Japan.{{cite web|url=https://www.htsj.or.jp/dennetsu/denpdf/Prof_Somego.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328122238/https://www.htsj.or.jp/dennetsu/denpdf/Prof_Somego.pdf|title=How it became Sakura in Japan|page=4|publisher=J stage|author=Masataka Somego|date=|archive-date=28 March 2023|access-date=5 April 2024}}

According to the Kazusa DNA Research Institute, detailed DNA research has shown that the Prunus itosakura and the Prunus speciosa, which is endemic to Japan, differentiated into independent species 5.52 million years ago.{{cite web |author1=Kenta Shirasawa |author2=Tomoya Esumi |author3=Hideki Hirakawa |author4=Hideyuki Tanaka |author5=Akihiro Itai |author6=Andrea Ghelfi |author7=Hideki Nagasaki |author8=Sachiko Isobe |date=12 March 2019 |title=Phased genome sequence of an interspecific hybrid 2 flowering cherry, Somei-Yoshino (Cerasus × yedoensis) |url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/573451v1.full.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612161636/https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/573451v1.full.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2021 |doi=10.1101/573451 |s2cid=91512025}}{{cite web|url=https://univ-journal.jp/25310/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407165222/https://univ-journal.jp/25310/|script-title=ja:ソメイヨシノのゲノム解読に成功、開花時期の予測が可能に|language=ja|publisher=University Journal Online|date=1 April 2019|archive-date=7 April 2021}}

File:P grayana2.JPG]]

On the other hand, according to Ko Shimamoto, a professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology, modern theories based on detailed DNA research reject the theory that the Himalayan cherry tree is the root of the Japanese cherry tree, and the ancestor of the cherry tree is estimated to be a plant belonging to the Prunus grayana.{{cite web|url=https://jspp.org/hiroba/q_and_a/detail.html?id=1927&key=&target=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240405111127/https://jspp.org/hiroba/q_and_a/detail.html?id=1927&key=&target=|script-title=ja:秋咲きのサクラはヒマラヤザクラの先祖返り？|language=ja|publisher=The Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists|date=|archive-date=5 April 2024|access-date=5 April 2024}}

According to HuffPost, it is a widely held consensus that the origin of the first cherry blossoms happened somewhere in the Himalayas, Eurasia but scholars posit that the blossoms may have reached Japan around several thousand years ago. In Japan, centuries of hybridization have brought about more than 300 varieties of the cherry blossom.{{Cite web |date=2013-04-16 |title=Cherry Blossoms: History Behind the Bloom |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cherry-blossoms-history_b_3081264 |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}

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| alt1 = Pickled blossoms

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Cherry blossoms and leaves are edible,{{Cite web |last=Friedman |first=Stephanie |date=2023-02-28 |title=How Toxic Cherry Blossoms Are Turned Into Edible Sakura |url=https://www.tastingtable.com/1213178/how-toxic-cherry-blossoms-are-turned-into-edible-sakura/ |access-date=2024-02-20 |website=Tasting Table |language=en-US}} and both are used as food ingredients in Japan:

• The blossoms are pickled in salt and umezu (ume vinegar), and used for coaxing out flavor in wagashi, a traditional Japanese confectionery, or anpan, a Japanese sweet bun most-commonly filled with red bean paste.{{Cite web |date=2020-05-01 |title=Preserved Cherry Blossoms and Sakura Vinegar|url=https://www.diversivore.com/preserved-cherry-blossoms/ |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=Diversivore |language=en-CA}} The pickling method, known as {{Nihongo|sakurazuke|桜漬け}}, is said to date back to the end of the Edo period,{{Cite web |last=Mok |first=Charmaine |date=25 March 2023 |title=How Japanese cherry blossom is used in food, what its tastes like, and where in Hong Kong you can find it |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3214671/how-japanese-cherry-blossom-used-food-what-its-tastes-and-where-hong-kong-you-can-find-it |website=South China Morning Post}} though the general method of pickling vegetables in salt to produce tsukemono has been known as early as the Jōmon period.{{cite book |last=Reid |first=Libby |url=http://k-i-a.or.jp/kokusai/jigyou/english-lesson/ts-report/report2008.pdf |title=TSUKEMONO: A Look at Japanese Pickling Techniques |date=August 2008 |publisher=Kanagawa International Foundation |page=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124012004/http://k-i-a.or.jp/kokusai/jigyou/english-lesson/ts-report/report2008.pdf |archive-date=2010-11-24 |url-status=dead}}
• Salt-pickled blossoms in hot water are called sakurayu{{cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2012/03/23/food/cherry-blossom-captures-the-flavor-of-spring/ |title=Cherry blossom captures the flavor of spring |first=Makiko |last=Itoh |date=March 23, 2012 |website=The Japan Times}} and drunk at festive events like weddings in place of green tea.{{cite web|url=https://www.happy-pair.com/useful/glossary/wedding/1322701/ |script-title=ja:【ホームメイト】桜湯｜ウェディング用語辞書 |trans-title=【Homemate】Sakura-yu｜Wedding terminology dictionary |language=ja |access-date=February 20, 2024 |website=Happy Pair}}
• The leaves are pickled in salted water and used for sakuramochi.{{Cite book |last1=Mouritsen |first1=Ole G. |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-57862-6 |title=Tsukemono: Decoding the Art and Science of Japanese Pickling |last2=Styrbæk |first2=Klavs |date=2021 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-030-57861-9 |location=Cham |page=120 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-57862-6 |s2cid=241732185 }} "A traditional Japanese sweet confection (sakura-mochi) consists of a ball of sweet, glutinous rice wrapped in a salt-pickled cherry leaf. Even if one does not want to eat the leaf, one will still experience a cherry taste as it seeps into the rice."
• Cherry blossoms are used as a flavoring botanical in Japanese Roku gin.{{Cite web |title=Bartenders' guide to foraging: Cherry blossom |url=https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/1651/cocktails/bartenders-guide-to-foraging-cherry-blossom |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=www.diffordsguide.com |language=en}}

Cherry leaves and blossoms contain coumarin,{{Cite journal |last1=Poonam |first1=V. |last2=Raunak |first2=null |last3=Kumar |first3=G. |last4=Reddy L |first4=C. S. |last5=Jain |first5=R. |last6=Sharma |first6=S. K. |last7=Prasad |first7=A. K. |last8=Parmar |first8=V. S. |date=2011 |title=Chemical constituents of the genus Prunus and their medicinal properties |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21831039 |journal=Current Medicinal Chemistry |volume=18 |issue=25 |pages=3758–3824 |doi=10.2174/092986711803414386 |issn=1875-533X |pmid=21831039}}{{Cite journal |last1=Shibato |first1=Junko |last2=Takenoya |first2=Fumiko |last3=Hirabayashi |first3=Takahiro |last4=Kimura |first4=Ai |last5=Iwasaki |first5=Yusuke |last6=Toyoda |first6=Yoko |last7=Hori |first7=Motohide |last8=Tamogami |first8=Shigeru |last9=Rakwal |first9=Randeep |last10=Shioda |first10=Seiji |date=2019-07-25 |title=Towards identification of bioactive compounds in cold vacuum extracted double cherry blossom (Gosen-Sakura) leaves |journal=Plant Signaling & Behavior |volume=14 |issue=10 |pages=e1644594 |doi=10.1080/15592324.2019.1644594 |issn=1559-2316 |pmc=6768248 |pmid=31342859|bibcode=2019PlSiB..14E4594S }} which is potentially hepatotoxic and is banned in high doses by the Food and Drug Administration.{{Cite journal |last1=Yamada |first1=Takashi |last2=Katsutani |first2=Naruo |last3=Maruyama |first3=Taeko |last4=Kawamura |first4=Tomoko |last5=Yamazaki |first5=Hiroshi |last6=Murayama |first6=Norie |last7=Tong |first7=Weida |last8=Yamazoe |first8=Yasushi |last9=Hirose |first9=Akihiko |date=2022-09-23 |title=Combined Risk Assessment of Food-derived Coumarin with in Silico Approaches |journal=Food Safety |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=73–82 |doi=10.14252/foodsafetyfscj.D-21-00015 |issn=2187-8404 |pmc=9509535 |pmid=36237397}} However, coumarin has a desirable vanilla-like scent, and the salt curing process used prior to most culinary applications, which involves washing, drying, and salting the blossoms or leaves for a full day, reduces the concentration of coumarin to acceptable levels while preserving its scent. Coumarin may also be isolated from the plant for use in perfumes,{{Cite journal |last1=Lončar |first1=Mirjana |last2=Jakovljević |first2=Martina |last3=Šubarić |first3=Drago |last4=Pavlić |first4=Martina |last5=Buzjak Služek |first5=Vlatka |last6=Cindrić |first6=Ines |last7=Molnar |first7=Maja |date=2020-05-18 |title=Coumarins in Food and Methods of Their Determination |journal=Foods |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=645 |doi=10.3390/foods9050645 |doi-access=free |issn=2304-8158 |pmc=7278589 |pmid=32443406}} pipe tobacco, or as an adulterant in vanilla flavorings, though the tonka bean is a more common natural source of this chemical.{{Citation |title=Principles of herbal pharmacology |date=2013 |work=Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy |pages=17–82 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780443069925000025 |access-date=2024-03-01 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-443-06992-5.00002-5 |isbn=978-0-443-06992-5}}

Cherry seeds and bark contain amygdalin and should not be eaten.{{Cite web |last=Bricault |first=Robert |date=13 March 2017 |title=Cherry blossom toxicity? #388219 |url=https://ask2.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=388219 |access-date=15 January 2024 |website=Ask Extension}}{{Cite web |last=Mekonnen |first=Serkalem |title=I Swallowed A Cherry Pit! |url=https://www.poison.org/articles/i-swallowed-a-cherry-pit-184 |access-date=15 January 2024 |website=Poison Control}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|

• The Cherry Orchard: play by Anton Chekhov
• Cherry Tree Park
• Kabazaiku: sakura wood craftsmanship
• Kigo: discussion of the role of sakura in Japanese poetry
• List of Award of Garden Merit flowering cherries
• Ohka: special attack aircraft used in World War II
• Saigyōzakura
• Sakura Square
• Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia
• Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|title=Cherries: Botany, Production and Uses |date=2017 |isbn=9781780648378 |editor-first1=Amy |editor-last1=Iezzoni |editor-first2=Gregory |editor-last2=Lang |editor-first3=Joanna |editor-last3=Pulawska |editor-first4=José |editor-last4=Quero-García |publisher=CABI}}
• {{Cite book|first=Toshio |last=Katsuki |date=2015|title=Sakura |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |isbn=978-4004315346 |language=ja }}
• {{Cite book|first=Toshio |last=Katsuki |date=2018 |title=Sakura no Kagaku |trans-title=Science of Cherry Blossoms| publisher=SB Creative |isbn=978-4797389319 |language=ja }}

{{Commons and category|Cherry blossoms|Prunus in flower}}

• [https://www.japancherryblossom.com/ Japanese Cherry Blossom Guide]
• [http://www.japanese-city.com/calendar/events/p/cherry.php Japanese Cherry Blossom Events & Locations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731221516/http://www.japanese-city.com/calendar/events/p/cherry.php |date=31 July 2016 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080429184917/http://www.sakurafestival.dk/index.php Copenhagen Sakura Festival]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150912064729/http://db1.ffpri-tmk.affrc.go.jp/sakura/home.php Flowering cherry Database]—Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
• [http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/pubs/chukiseika/3rd-chuukiseika5.html Flowering cherry introduction]—Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
• [http://www.cherryblossom.com/ International Cherry Blossom Festival Online]—Information about the 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees in Macon, Georgia, and the 10-day celebration held in mid-March
• [http://www.vcbf.ca/ Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival]—Information about the 37,000 cherry trees in Greater Vancouver (Canada), What's in bloom now, Cherry Scout reports and maps, Cultivar identification.
• [http://jasgp.org/cherryblossomfestival/ Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia] (({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901135100/http://jasgp.org/cherryblossomfestival/ |date=1 September 2009 }})—Information about cherry trees and the annual two-week Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia.
• [https://blog.safarmasti.com/cherry-blossom-in-japan/ Cherry Blossoms Celebration in Japan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809050018/https://blog.safarmasti.com/cherry-blossom-in-japan/ |date=9 August 2022 }}
• [http://www.turismovalledeljerte.com/ Cherry Blossoms Celebration Tourism Office Valle del Jerte in Spain] {{In lang|es}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cherries

Category:Flora of Japan

Category:Flowers

Category:Garden plants of Asia

Category:National symbols of Japan

Category:Ornamental trees

Category:Plants used in bonsai

Category:Prunus

Category:Spring (season)

Category:Trees of Japan

fi:Kirsikat