In Japan, the king of cherry trees overshadows diversity

The period causes national effervescence each year in Japan, where the media compete with forecasts on the exact timing of the full blossoming of the cherry trees ("sakura") and where onlookers indulge in the festive custom of "hanami" - the admiration of their flowers.

The Somei Yoshino represent more than 90% of the ornamental cherry trees planted in Japan. Their flowering, which lasts about a week, tends to occur simultaneously on trees in a given region because they are clones of a single specimen.

Prized for its rapid growth, this variety conquered all of Japan during the unbridled urbanization of the country between the 1950s and 1980s. But it is also more exposed than others to diseases and tends to take up a lot of space as it grows. .

“The secret is planting the right variety in the right place,” said Hideaki Tanaka, an ornamental cherry expert who would like more variety in Japan.

"There are all kinds of sakura, not just the Somei Yoshino. I want to help recreate ancient times, when there was a wide variety to admire" with different flowering times, he adds.

His horticultural farm in Yuki, Ibaraki Prefecture (northeast of Tokyo), showcases about a thousand cherry trees of 400 different varieties to encourage municipalities across the country to consider alternatives to Somei Yoshino.

His operation has also distributed more than three million sakura seedlings, including Somei Yoshino, but is now promoting another variety, "Jindai Akebono", a cherry tree that is more resistant to infection and less bulky when it grows. , making it easier to carve.

A strong emotional bond

For decades, countless Somei Yoshino have not been pruned properly, leaving them vulnerable to an infection called "witches' broom disease", which forms clusters of unsightly twigs and impairs flowering.

Somei Yoshino also grow very tall and wide, which can pose a hazard in the event of a typhoon or other natural disaster in Japan, and their bulky roots can crack sidewalks.

Despite all these drawbacks, replacing this queen variety is not easy for municipalities, because residents are often very attached to the cherry trees in their neighborhood.

In Kunitachi, for example, in the western suburbs of Tokyo, the city took three decades to remove about 80 Somei Yoshino out of 210 supposed to be replaced.

With their outstretched branches, these trees form a floral tunnel that the residents of the neighborhood want to preserve. "People had moved here to admire them," said Ryusuke Endo, a Kunitachi Roads Manager.

In Yokohama (southwest of Tokyo), the plan to cut down 300 Somei Yoshino cherry trees along a busy avenue also recently caused an outcry and made noise in the local media.

“The Somei Yoshino will always be the main attraction,” admits horticulturist Hideaki Tanaka himself. "But I would like to help communities create other spaces where people can admire all kinds of varieties of cherry trees."

In Kunitachi, where the municipality has started planting Jindai Akebono, the variety that Mr. Tanaka is promoting, "people are starting to realize that these trees are also beautiful", wants to believe Mr. Endo.