Japanese Sakura (Cherry Blossom) 桜 花見

Sakura is (Japanese) for Cherry trees and their blossoms, in English. Japanese kanji : 桜 or 櫻; katakana: サクラ; hiragana: さくら. Cherry fruit is known in Japan as sakuranbo. In English, "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry and their blossom and they are called 'Cherry Blossom".

The fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms is symbolic to the Japanese. They liken the petals to the life of the samurai – a brief explosion of colour, bright for the duration of their short life, before they wither and die. They represent the brevity of life and the frailty of existence, and this is celebrated by getting roaring drunk on copious amounts of saké.

Cherry blossoms, or sakura, have captured the imagination of the Japanese and appear frequently in everyday life. There is a Sakura Bank, and when naming a child, the Japanese often incorporate the character for sakura in the name. The word itself even serves as a not-uncommon girl's name.






The cherry tree motif graces the back of 100 yen coins, and the first song many Japanese children learn is called “Sakura, sakura”.

The most popular variety of sakura in Japan is the Somei Yoshino. 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 variety takes its name from the village of Somei.

Japan gave 3,020 sakura trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and famously line the shore of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. (see West Potomac Park), and the gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965. The sakura trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring.

Cherry blossoms are also a major tourist attraction in Germany's Altes Land orchard region, Western Philippines, Palawan, serves as home to an endemic Palawan Cherry Blossoms and Vancouver, BC is famous for its thousands of cherry blossom trees lining many streets and in many parks, including Queen Elizabeth Park and Stanley Park.