March 27
CHERRY BLOSSOM DAY
One of nature’s most beautiful spectacles is the blooming of 3,750 cherry trees, the first two of which were planted on this day in 1912 by First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Ambassador of Japan. If you have ever been in Washington, D.C. between the middle of March and the first week of April, you have been witness to this annual event.
The cherry trees, a gift of friendship to the United States from the people of Japan, are located in West Potomac Park around the Tidal Basin, at Haines Point in East Potomac Park and on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
The original concept of beautifying Washington’s waterfront with the flowering “Sakura” (as it is known in Japan), began in 1885 when Mrs. Eliza Scidmore had just returned from a visit to Japan where she had seen the trees in bloom. Her proposals to have the cherry trees planted were ignored for almost three decades. But in 1909, the persistent Mrs. Scidmore came up with a fund-raising plan to buy the trees and then donate them to the city. She sent a letter outlining her idea to President Taft’s wife, who had once lived in Japan. After a series of meetings with Japanese diplomats, Mrs. Taft was offered a donation of 2,000 cherry trees from Tokyo to be planted along the Potomac River. The trees arrived in 1910, but infected with insects and disease, had to be destroyed. Through diplomacy, good will and determination by all concerned, new trees were propagated from Japan’s famous grove that grow on the bank of the Arakawa River in Adachi Ward, a suburb of Tokyo and selected trees grown in Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture. The result was 3,020 cherry trees of 12 varieties that arrived in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1912. Approximately 125 of the trees from these original 3,020 still survive.
An annual celebration of the planting of these trees is the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The two-week long event coincides with spring’s burst of blooms (when nature cooperates) giving fabulous photo ops to visitors from around the world.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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