Returning home to the nation's capital after a trip to Asia in 1885, travel writer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore brought back a dream: to see the banks of the Potomac River planted with cherry trees like the ones she had admired in Japan. For the next 24 years, Scidmore presented her idea to each new Superintendent of Public Building and Grounds in turn, but to little avail. A coalition of supporters, however, eventually brought the dream into reality: On March 26, 1912, a gift of 3,020 cherry (sakura) trees arrived in Washington from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo.
The next day, First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two cherry trees on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin. This simple ceremony was the foundation of Washington's renowned Cherry Blossom Festival that draws some 750,000 visitors each spring to view the 3,750 flowering trees.
Through the years, cherry trees have served as a living bond between Japan and the United States, outlasting even the rupture in the nations' relationship that culminated in World War II. In 1952, the U.S. sent cuttings from the original trees back to Japan to help restore the parent-stock grove, which had deteriorated in the aftermath of the war. In 1965, the Japanese sent a gift of several hundred trees to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, and, in 1982, cuttings from these trees were returned to Japan to help preserve the genetic integrity of the species.
Visit here for more information.
Printer-friendly version