I thought today we'd look at the cherry blossoms again. This time the main type, someiyoshino or Yoshino Cherry. These are the most popular type of cherry blossom in Japan and the most common these days. They are planted everywhere. They are so common that most of Japan turns a pale pinkish-white for a week or two. It's really amazing to see.

Unfortunately, it is only a week or two. This type may be the most beautiful according to most people, but it is also one of the more short-lived types. Even in good conditions they only last about two weeks, but if it's especially windy or a storm hits, it can be far less. So it goes.

But maybe that's a factor in why they are so loved. They don't last, so you need to enjoy them while they are here, and that fleetingness makes us embrace them even more.

Let's explore!

Might as well lead off with that image. When you get up close you can see some pink hues but from the distance they look mostly white. These trees here are alone a river. Someiyoshino like water so along rivers or streams is a fairly common arrangement. People come here on their lunch break and sit under them.

A little pink as we get closer you see. The middle—what's that called? The sigma?—starts off yellow but it gets more and more pink the closer they get to falling.

You see, here are some young ones:

And here are some closer to the end:

They really didn't last long this year at all. They came quite suddenly. Usually it is more of a slow ramp up, but this year they seemed to go from 0 to 100 in just a few days. They were also earlier than usual. Another thing to blame on climate change, but at least while they are around we don't much care about the negatives of that. We are too busy enjoying the blossoms!

You can see at the far end of the bridge all the food stalls. Tons of them selling all kinds of street food. It was even busier this year that years previous because Okazaki's most famous son, Tokugawa Ieyasu, is being featured in this year's Taiga drama, so tons of tourists from all over Japan are flocking to Okazaki to see Okazaki castle, which is where this is.

The someiyoshino blossoms are thought to be a cross between Oshima cherry blossoms and Edo-Higan. The exact person who created they is unknown. There are various idea floating around, some of which I've probably given in past posts, but nothing is known for sure except that they were first created in Somei Village in Edo, which is around present-day Toshima Ward, Tokyo. Yoshino may have been the name of the person sho created them. It's also been suggested they were called Yoshino because they were similar to the cherry blossoms that grow on Mount Yoshino.

They don't naturally seed, so all trees are clones of each other and made with tree grafts as well as some other techniques.

Besides only lasting about a week or two, someiyoshino have another bad point: the trees themselves are short-lived, usually only lasting about 50-60 years. This is opposed to some wild types of cherry blossom trees that can last hundreds of years. While some someiyoshino do last longer, the trees need a lot of care and are very delicate so the average is shorter.

Those bad points mean cities do have to spend a lot of money maintaining them. The river here in Okazaki is lined with hundreds of trees. The city spends a lot of money maintaining them. What's worse, many are approaching end-of-life and some are starting to die. Okazaki is a fairly rich city but cannot afford to replace them as there are so many that need replacing. Luckily many private companies have been more than willing to donate new ones.

Bad points aside, I don't think someiyoshino will be replaced by another type as Japan's favorite anytime soon. Though the Kawazu blossoms (I posted some last week) have been increasing in popularity the past several years, someiyoshino is still the king of cherry blossoms.

Here's a shot better showing the river I've mentioned a few times:

You can see it is lined with cherry trees on both sides. There is a rather tall building close by that I've gone to the top of to get photos of these blossoms. I'll have to look in my archives and share shots from up there one of these days.

Anyway, I walked up and down, enjoying the blossoms and the festive atmosphere. These are just a few of the photos I got. Over a thousand more have been added to my archive. Enough that even if I left Japan tomorrow I'd still be sharing them for years to come. Hmm... Good thing storage is getting cheaper!

The blossoms are mostly gone now. I told you these type don't last long. But while they are here it is amazing!

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.