28/03/2026
Cherry blossoms in Japan were originally admired by aristocrats during the Heian period, when nobles wrote poetry under blooming sakura instead of the earlier plum blossoms. 🌸 By the time of the Edo period, the shogunate planted cherry trees across cities like Tokyo to make hanami a celebration for everyone, not just the elite. Sakura later became a powerful symbol of life’s impermanence, even influencing samurai culture and wartime ideology. Today, many of Japan’s famous trees are descendants of a single variety, Somei Yoshino, carefully cultivated for centuries to bloom almost all at once.
