The Cherry. 25 



of those who have been freely imbibing sake, beer or whis- 

 key. The following story (Conder's Floral Art of Japan) 

 tells the origin of the connection between sake and sa- 

 kura. The Emperor Richiu was disporting himself with his 

 courtiers in a pleasure boat, on a lake of the Royal Park, 

 when some petals from the wild cherry-trees of the ad- 

 joining hills fluttered into the wine-cup from which he was 

 drinking. This circumstance is said to have drawn His 

 Majesty's notice to the beauty of this neglected blossom, 

 and from this time arose the custom of wine-drinking at 

 the time of cherry-viewing. To the present day there is a 

 popular saying: "Without wine, who can properly enjoy 

 the sight of the cherry blossom?" 



"No man so callous but he heaves a sigh 

 When o'er his head the withered cherry-flowers 

 Come fluttering down. Who knows? The spring's soft showers 

 May be but tears shed by the sorrowing sky." Chamberlain. 



The Koganei cherry-trees, which, for two miles and a 

 half, line both sides of the aqueduct conveying water into 

 Tokyo, are said to have numbered originally ten thousand, 

 but there are now only a few hundred. They were planted 

 there with the idea that they had "the virtue of keeping 

 off impurities from the water." 



Night cherry flowers (yozakura), "seen by the pale 

 light of the moon," are a great attraction, one of the special 

 sights of the year. 



It may readily be understood that so popular a blossom 

 as this would figure largely in Japanese literature. The 

 famous "Hundred Poems" contain five on that subject; 

 and several are included in the Manyoshiu. But we have 

 room for only two, of which the first is remarkable for its 

 brevity, and the second is Motoori's famous one, dear to 

 all Japanese: 



