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Figure 21 Cherries at the Yodo River in Osaka. The smoking chimneys of the National Mint, now famous for its Prunus serrulata cultivar collection, can be seen on the opposite bank. Woodblock print sold as a souvenir in the late nineteenth century.
itors enjoyed a blossom season that lasted many weeks longer than seasons elsewhere, including the more recently developed cherry sites that relied on Prunus Ă—yedoensis and the older picnic sites that had short-lived flowers of a mountain cherry. The historical importance of the Arakawa planting is much greater than it seems to our modern mind. Japan's society was in a process of modernization, but the old feudal way of thinking was still in everybody's mind. That a nursery had stock of old plants once grown for a daimyo did not involve that these trees could be sold or given away. A profoundly felt reverence towards anything from daimyo standing prohibited any other action than an anxious conserving. The enlightened vision and persuasive powers of Shimizu brought these treasured and unique cherries to the outside