GII laboratory members are planning to have Hanami party today, as far as weather is fine. I am really hoping we can enjoy faint color and fragrance of "Somei-yoshino"(染井吉野), a beauty of Japan, this evening.
By the way, do you know the origin of the name "Somei-yoshino"?
"Yoshino" comes from the name of place located in Nara prefecture, a moutain completely covered by thousand of cherry trees. And "Somei" comes from also the name of place where horticultural art has flourished and "Somei-yoshino" was created more than hundred years ago. The place is located in Tokyo.
It is really my pity that we can't see any remnants of this big horticultural center in current Tokyo. But it once was a center of garden artists in Edo time through until the early Meiji time. Recently I found a record written by one British man, Robert Fortune, a famous horticulturist/botanist at Kew Garden in London, who has left us a wonderful travel record of his trip to Japan and China. The title of the book is
"Yedo and Peking: A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China". It was published in 1863 in London. From his accurate accounts, we can imagine how the town "Somei" looks and works at the time of his travel. The following lines are the excerpts from his book.
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The capital of japan is remarlkable for the large number of gardens in its suburbs where plants are cultivated for sale. The good people of Yedo, like all highly civilized nations, are fond of flowers, and hence the demand for them is very great. The finest and most extensive of these gardens are situated in the north-eastern suburbs, at places called Dang-o-zaka, Ogee, and Su-mae-yah.
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source: Robert Fortune [1], p.103
The last word in the citation, "Su-mae-yah" is the place which I intended to tell in this blog, "Somei". Let me continue quote from his book.
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Park-like scenery, trees and gardens, neatly-clipped hedges, succeeded each other; and my attendant yakoneens (note: "YAKUNIN", officials) at length announced that we had arrived at the village of Su-mae-yah. The whole country here is covered with nursery-gardens. One straight road, more than a mile in length, is lined with them. I have never seen, in any part of the world, such a large number of plants cultivated for sale. Each nursery covers three or four acres of land, is nicely kept, and contains thousands of plants, both in pots and in the open ground......
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source: ibid., pp.110-111.
If you wish to read more about Su-mae-yah, please contact me. I will give you a copy of these pages. And if you wish to read in Japanese translation, see [3].
REFERENCE
[1] Robert Fortune, "Yedo and Peking: A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China", London, 1863
[2]
Sakura at Wikipedia
[3] ロバート・フォーチュン，幕末日本探訪記：江戸と北京，三宅馨訳，講談社学術文庫
[4]
Robert Fortune at Wikipedia
