The
National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift of
Japanese cherry treeA cherry blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees known as Sakura in Japanese. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry...
s from Mayor
Yukio OzakiYukio Ozaki December 24 1858–October 6 1954) was a liberal Japanese politician, born in modern-day Sagamihara, Kanagawa...
of
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
to the city of Washington. Mayor Ozaki donated the trees in an effort to enhance the growing friendship between the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and also celebrate the continued close relationship between the two nations.
In a ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady
Helen Herron TaftHelen Louise Herron "Nellie" Taft was the wife of William Howard Taft and First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913....
and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of these trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in
West Potomac ParkThe West Potomac Park is a U.S. national park in Washington, D.C., adjacent to the National Mall. It includes the parkland that extends south of the Reflecting Pool, from the Lincoln Memorial to the grounds of the Washington Monument...
.
The
National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift of
Japanese cherry treeA cherry blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees known as Sakura in Japanese. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry...
s from Mayor
Yukio OzakiYukio Ozaki December 24 1858–October 6 1954) was a liberal Japanese politician, born in modern-day Sagamihara, Kanagawa...
of
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
to the city of Washington. Mayor Ozaki donated the trees in an effort to enhance the growing friendship between the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and also celebrate the continued close relationship between the two nations.
History
In a ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady
Helen Herron TaftHelen Louise Herron "Nellie" Taft was the wife of William Howard Taft and First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913....
and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of these trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in
West Potomac ParkThe West Potomac Park is a U.S. national park in Washington, D.C., adjacent to the National Mall. It includes the parkland that extends south of the Reflecting Pool, from the Lincoln Memorial to the grounds of the Washington Monument...
. By 1915 the United States government had responded with a gift of flowering
dogwoodThe genus Cornus comprise a group of 30-50 species of mostly deciduous woody plants growing as shrubs and trees, mostly known as dogwoods; some species are herbaceous perennial plants and a few of the woody species are evergreen. They are in the family Cornaceae, divided into one to nine genera or...
trees to the people of Japan. In 1927, a group of American school children re-enacted the initial planting; the first festival was held in 1935, sponsored by civic groups in the nation's capital. Suspended during World War II because of hostilities between the United States and the Empire of Japan, the festival resumed in 1947 with the support of the Washington, D.C. Board of Trade and the D.C. Commissioners. In 1948, the Cherry Blossom Princess and U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen program were started by the
National Conference of State SocietiesThe National Conference of State Societies was charted by Congress on April 3, 1952 when President Harry Truman signed Public Law 82-293...
.
3,800 more trees were accepted in 1965 by First Lady
Lady Bird JohnsonClaudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and she made...
. In 1981 the cycle of giving came full circle. Japanese horticulturalists came to take cuttings from the trees in Washington, D.C. to replace Yoshino cherry trees in Japan that had been destroyed in a flood. With this return gift, the trees again fulfilled their roles as a symbol and agent of friendship. The most recent event in this cycle occurred in the fall of 1999. It involved the formal planting in the Tidal Basin of a new generation of cuttings from a famous Japanese cherry tree in
Gifu Prefectureis a prefecture located in the Chūbu region of central Japan. Its capital is the city of Gifu. Located in the center of Japan, it has long played an important part as the crossroads of Japan, connecting the east to the west through such routes as the Nakasendō...
reputed to be over 1,500 years old.
In 1994 the Festival was expanded to two weeks to accommodate the many activities that happen during the trees' blooming. Today the National Cherry Blossom Festival is coordinated by the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Inc., an umbrella organization consisting of representatives of business, civic, and governmental organizations. More than 700,000 people visit Washington each year to admire the blossoming cherry trees that herald the beginning of spring in the nation's capital.
The two-week festival is kicked off with an opening ceremony, followed by an array of activities and cultural events. Every day there is a
sushiIn Japanese cuisine, ' is vinegar rice, usually topped with other ingredients, such as fish. In spelling sushi its first letter s is replaced with z when a prefix is attached, as in nigirizushi, due to consonant mutation called rendaku in Japanese.Sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi, as...
/
sakeSake or saké is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.This beverage is called sake in English, but in Japanese, sake or o-sake refers to alcoholic drinks in general. The Japanese term for this specific beverage is Nihonshu , meaning "Japanese sake".Sake is also referred to in English as...
celebration, classes about cherry blossoms, and a bike tour of the Tidal Basin. Other events include art exhibits (photography, sculpture, animation), cultural performances,
rakugoRakugo is a Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone storyteller sits on the stage, called the Kōza . Using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story...
,
kimonoThe is a Japanese traditional garment worn by women, men and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
fashion shows, dance, singing,
martial artsMartial arts or fighting arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. While they may be studied for various reasons, martial arts share a single objective: to physically defeat other persons and to defend oneself or others from physical threat...
, merchant-sponsored events, and a
rugby unionRugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
tournament.
The
Cherry Blossom 10-Mile RunThe Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run is an annual 10-mile road race in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973 originally as a precursor training run for elite runners planning to compete in the Boston Marathon, the race has evolved over the years into a local race for runners of all abilities...
is held as part of the festival on the first Sunday in April. Because the festival must be planned long in advance, it sometimes fails to be celebrated during the peak of the cherry blooms. On the last Saturday of the festival, there is the Parade of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, followed by the
SakuraA cherry blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees known as Sakura in Japanese. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry...
Matsuri-Japanese Street Festival, a celebration of Japan presented by the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C.
The
Smithsonian Kite FestivalThe Smithsonian Kite Festival is an annual kite event held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. at the end of March, as the beginning of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It celebrates the arrival of spring in the U.S...
begins the festival on the last Saturday of March.
External links