With AAHAM’s
Legislative Day just around the corner, April 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill, you may be able to see some of the famed cherry
trees still in bloom. In case you want
to arrive early for Legislative Day, there’s a lot of excitement around the
cherry blossom trees including a huge festival and parade on Saturday, April 13.
This popular
festival commemorates the gift of approximately 3,000 cherry trees from the
Mayor of Tokyo to the United States in 1912, a gift celebrating the friendship
between the Japanese and American people.
First Lady
Helen Herron Taft accepted the trees from Viscountess Chinda, the wife of the
Japanese ambassador in a ceremony on March 27, 1912. The first two trees were planted on the north
bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park.
During the ceremony, the First Lady presented Viscountess Chinda a
bouquet of American Beauty roses. There’s
a large plaque where the two trees still stand commemorating the event. The United States responded with a gift of
flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan.
From 1913 to 1920, more trees were planted around the
Tidal Basin while others were planted in East Potomac Park. The majority of the trees are of the Yoshino
variety but another species, the Kwanzan, usually blooms two weeks after the
Yoshino trees.
Tragically, on December 11, 1941, four trees were cut
down. It was suspected this was
retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor but it was never confirmed. Just to be politically correct throughout the
war, the name of the flowering cherry trees was changed to “Oriental.”
In 1965, 3,800 more Yoshino trees were given to our county
by the Japanese and accepted by First Lady Bird Johnson. The first Lady and Ryuji Takeuchi, wife of
the Japanese ambassador, reenacted the original 1912 ceremony. Many trees were
planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
In 1982, illustrating the friendship and cooperation between
the two countries, Japanese horticulturalists
took cuttings from the Washington D.C. Yoshino trees to replace cherry trees
that had been destroyed in a flood in Japan.
I
look forward to seeing you at Legislative Day, Washington is always exciting and this year
should be no exception!