--- title: History Behind Washington's National Cherry Blossom Festival description: The first time the cherry trees came to the U.S., it was a total failure canonical: https://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-18T12:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:50:35.731Z article:section: History og:title: History Behind Washington's National Cherry Blossom Festival og:description: The first time the cherry trees came to the U.S., it was a total failure og:url: https://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd56635f200e1d783/69888ab1428a9e19afcd1c46/cherries.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Washinton Monument og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: History Behind Washington's National Cherry Blossom Festival twitter:description: The first time the cherry trees came to the U.S., it was a total failure twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd56635f200e1d783/69888ab1428a9e19afcd1c46/cherries.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Complicated History Behind Washington's Cherry Trees  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 18, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  A decal of the Washington Monument, with cherry blossoms pictured, from 1956. A decal of the Washington Monument, with cherry blossoms pictured, from 1956.Jim Heimann Collection / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 18, 2016 12:00 PM UTC More than a century after Washington D.C.’s famous cherry blossom trees were first planted, the annual springtime blooming has become a favorite point in the capital calendar. Beginning on Sunday, this year’s festival will once again celebrate the pleasant and pink sight. (Next week is probably the [best time of all](http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/20103-2/) to check them out.) It’s not a secret that the trees were a 1912 gift from Japan to the U.S. in honor of cooperation between the two nations, but the mechanisms behind that gift-giving are a little more complicated than that explanation might suggest. As TIME would [later tell the story](http://time.com/vault/issue/1950-05-29/page/25/): --- > “” --- Ozaki would continue to support warm relations between Japan and the U.S. throughout his life, even as war divided the two. Sometimes at [great risk to his own life](http://time.com/vault/issue/1933-03-06/page/24/), he spoke out for disarmament, peace, international cooperation and independent democracy. Though his life was long and extremely busy, Ozaki clearly remembered the gift of the cherry trees as a high point. In the 1950s, when Ozaki—then in his 90s—was on his deathbed, he composed [this](http://time.com/vault/issue/1952-05-12/page/44/) poem: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/"},"headline":"The Complicated History Behind Washington's Cherry Trees","datePublished":"2016-03-18T12:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:50:35.731Z","description":"The first time the cherry trees came to the U.S., it was a total failure","url":"https://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/","keywords":["international relations","spring","holiday","Festival"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd56635f200e1d783/69888ab1428a9e19afcd1c46/cherries.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd56635f200e1d783/69888ab1428a9e19afcd1c46/cherries.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Washinton Monument","caption":"Washinton Monument","creditText":"Jim Heimann Collection / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/international-relations/","name":"international relations"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/","name":"The Complicated History Behind Washington's Cherry Trees"}}]}] ```