DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16633#0278
258
History of Garden Art
The tree itself, dark and gnarled, and in old age often quaint-looking, is a great contrast
to its delicate flowers, with their snow-white or blood-red bloom, appearing before the
leaves. The people come in crowds, and though some are noisy, others gaze with silent
rapture. Poets of all times have taken this tree for their theme, and it seems to embody
hopes for the coming year in the endless allegories and legends that are bound up with
it. Royal princes and great men alike planted parts of their parks with the mume, after-
FIG. 566. UYENO PARK, TOKIO-CHERRY-TREES IN BLOOM
wards admitting the common people, and receiving the nobility on certain special days
marked for ceremonial fetes. Rejoicings are still more vehement when the Japanese cherry,
Prunus pseudo-cerasus, is in flower in April. Both these trees are grown for the sake of
their flowers, not for their fruit, which is of little use. The year has come to its chief
beauty, and now even the very poorest person brings out a gay dress, to share with friends
and children a humble picnic under the flowering trees (Fig. 566).
The double cherry, with its large white and pale pink flowers, is exceedingly beautiful.
In the old garden, the Fukiage, which once belonged to the Shogun, and is now the
property of the Mikado, are held the annual ceremonial feasts of the Cherry-blossoms.
There is a saying, " If anyone asks where is the heart of a true Japanese, point to the wild
History of Garden Art
The tree itself, dark and gnarled, and in old age often quaint-looking, is a great contrast
to its delicate flowers, with their snow-white or blood-red bloom, appearing before the
leaves. The people come in crowds, and though some are noisy, others gaze with silent
rapture. Poets of all times have taken this tree for their theme, and it seems to embody
hopes for the coming year in the endless allegories and legends that are bound up with
it. Royal princes and great men alike planted parts of their parks with the mume, after-
FIG. 566. UYENO PARK, TOKIO-CHERRY-TREES IN BLOOM
wards admitting the common people, and receiving the nobility on certain special days
marked for ceremonial fetes. Rejoicings are still more vehement when the Japanese cherry,
Prunus pseudo-cerasus, is in flower in April. Both these trees are grown for the sake of
their flowers, not for their fruit, which is of little use. The year has come to its chief
beauty, and now even the very poorest person brings out a gay dress, to share with friends
and children a humble picnic under the flowering trees (Fig. 566).
The double cherry, with its large white and pale pink flowers, is exceedingly beautiful.
In the old garden, the Fukiage, which once belonged to the Shogun, and is now the
property of the Mikado, are held the annual ceremonial feasts of the Cherry-blossoms.
There is a saying, " If anyone asks where is the heart of a true Japanese, point to the wild