Celebrating 110 Years of Cherry Blossoms – Pic of the Week

Peak bloom arrived early in Washintgon, D.C. this year, beginning on March 22 as a lovely welcome to the spring season. This year also happens to be the 110th anniversary of Japan‘s gift of the cherry blossom trees to the United States on March 27, 1912. In my usual trend, I visited the blossoms to begin my morning before heading into the Library.

Did you know that this crop of cherry blossoms was not the first to arrive in the capital? The original 2,000-tree gift arrived in 1910 and was crowded with pests. Fortunately, the cherry blossoms we see today have bloomed beautifully for the past 110 years and will hopefully continue to symbolize both the return of springtime and the diplomatic friendship between the United States and Japan for many more years to come.

If you were unable to celebrate in person with us this year, the Library’s Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Examples of Friendship exhibit remains available to the public, where you can also learn the importance of the cherry blossom in Japanese culture. You can also create your own cherry blossom landscape with these free-to-use images of the cherry blossoms over the years.

Subscribe to In Custodia Legis – it’s free! – to receive interesting posts drawn from the Law Library of Congress’s vast collections and our staff’s expertise in U.S., foreign, and international law.