The National Cherry Blossom Festival

Throughout 2025, the World Tribune is featuring on the cover historical acts by people and countries that shifted public sentiment and even thawed tensions between nations. We focus here on the power of one person to give countless others hope.

In a now-beloved passage, Nichiren Daishonin wrote, “Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are as if in winter, but winter always turns to spring” (“Winter Always Turns to Spring,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 536). The cherry tree, with its profusion of blush-tinted petals each spring, became a powerful symbol of friendship when the mayor of Tokyo gifted 3,000 such trees to Washington, D.C., in March 1912.

The first were planted along the Tidal Basin by First Lady Helen Taft and the wife of the Japanese ambassador as a symbol of friendship between the U.S. and Japan. More than a century later, their iconic imagery near the U.S. Capitol serves as a testament to effective cultural diplomacy.

Some of the relationship’s highlights:

• 1912: Japan gifts the U.S. 3,000 cherry trees, which are planted along the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.
• 1935: The First Official Cherry Blossom Festival is held in Washington, D.C. While informal events were held throughout the years, this marked the first federally recognized event. 
• 1940: During World War II, the festival was suspended and some trees were vandalized.
• 1952: Following the war, Japan gifted additional trees to replace those lost over the years, reinforcing the diplomatic goodwill between the two countries.
• 1965: Japan sends 3,800 trees to help replenish the Tidal Basin’s iconic cherry blossoms.
• 1981: Cuttings from the original 1912 trees were sent to Japan to restore cherry trees lost in a flood, further enforcing cultural ties.
• 2012: a 100th-anniversary celebration is held in Washington, D.C., including diplomatic engagements. Japan gifts the U.S. 3,000 dogwood trees as a gesture of ongoing friendship.