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had lost their lives on the battlefield, was entangled in an equally desperate struggle for survival. Sprouts and flowers of the cherries of Yoshino were eaten by the villagers instead of enjoyed as part of the picnic setting. The Cherry after the Second World War After Japan's eventual defeat, cherries were no proud nation's flower. Miyoshi's volume, Sakura, Japanese Cherry, in a handy set by the Tourist Library that introduced many facets of Japanese culture to foreign visitors, was replaced by an innocent booklet on kimono-dress. The country was in ruin and the spiritual world of Japan in a profound state of trauma; it was an atmosphere that prevailed during the occupation by the U.S. forces in the following years. Land for gardens and nurseries had been confiscated, often by authority of only local police officers, for growing vegetables. Again a period was entered in which many horticultural cherries were in danger of becoming extinct. Fully aware of the problem this time, a few nurseries managed to prevent serious damage to their collections through the years of the disastrous ambitions of Great Japan. A nursery on grounds formerly owned by the Ninna-ji Temple in had already been run for some generations by gardeners of the Sano house. Mr. Toemon * Sano III (d. 1934) had been collecting cherries from all over the country since the early 1920s. His wife and son, Sano IV, were able propagators. During the Second World War they managed to save a large part of the collection, planting numerous trees out in various locations in the neighborhood before the nursery was turned into a vegetable garden. Mr. Toemon* Sano IV published Sakura; Flowering Cherries of Japan in 1961, which lists and illustrates 101 wild and garden forms. Mr. Toemon* Sano V (b. 1928) still actively conserves and promotes cherries. He helped in the construction of the UNESCO Japanese garden in Paris, after a design by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The garden has a nice stand of 'Kanzan' holding its branches at about eye-level over a well-designed garden path. Mr. Kamenosuke Koshimizu had nurseries in , Kawaguchi, and took over a cherry preservation collection from another nurseryman, a Mr. Matsumoto. Thus, Koshimizu was able to carry the cherries of Arakawa through the Second World War, helped by special permission to preserve