Sakura

Sakura

Somei Yoshino

Most of the cherry blossoms along the Chidorigafuchi Ryokudo (Greenway) are of the Somei-yoshino variety. The blossoms appear before the leaves, and change colour from pale pink to white as they reach full-bloom. Somei-yoshino was first developed in the late Edo period by a Japanese gardener from Somei village (now Komagome in Tokyo) as a hybrid plant of two Japanese endemic species, Oshima-zakura and Edohigan-zakura. Its flowers are much more profuse than any other variety and it is loved for its sumptuousness.

The trees on the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine which are used as the official harbingers of the beginning of cherry blossom season are of the Somei-yoshino variety.

Ooshima Sakura

A parent tree of the hybrid Somei-yoshino. The flowers are larger and whiter, and appear alongside the green leaves. The leaves are traditionally pickled in salt and used for Japanese sweets (wagashi) called Sakura-mochi (cherry blossom rice cake).

You can find Oshima-zakura near the parking lots for the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, and the police box on Daikancho street (tree ID Nos.62, 64 and 77)

Yama Sakura

A parent tree of the hybrid Somei-yoshino. The flowers are larger and whiter, and appear alongside the green leaves. The leaves are traditionally pickled in salt and used for Japanese sweets (wagashi) called Sakura-mochi (cherry blossom rice cake).

You can find Oshima-zakura near the parking lots for the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, and the police box on Daikancho street (tree ID Nos.62, 64 and 77)

Kohigan Sakura

A parent tree of the hybrid Somei-yoshino. The flowers are larger and whiter, and appear alongside the green leaves. The leaves are traditionally pickled in salt and used for Japanese sweets (wagashi) called Sakura-mochi (cherry blossom rice cake).

You can find Oshima-zakura near the parking lots for the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, and the police box on Daikancho street (tree ID Nos.62, 64 and 77)

Shuzenji Kansakura

Starts blooming earlier than Somei-yoshino, so most of its flowers have fallen and leaves are coming into bud by the time the Somei-yoshino are in full bloom. The flower is a darker pink in colour. You can find this tree at the front of the Indian Embassy (Nos. 51, 52 and 53) and near the jetty.

Syokawa Sakura

You can find a single tree of this variety at the southern entrance to the Chidorigafuchi Ryokudo (Greenway).  It is surrounded by a fence with a descriptive sign board next to it. The original cherry blossom tree of this kind was moved from a village called Shokawa in Gifu prefecture which was submerged due to the construction of a dam. The tree in the Chidorigafuchi Ryokudo (Greenway) is a direct descendant of the original Shokawa-zakura.

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