which has since risen to the foremost rank in the group 
of noted flower resorts throughout the realm. 
In the Tokugawa period, when Edo (present-day 
Tokyo) became the centre of culture and civilization, 
there gradually appeared, with the progress and advance- 
ment of botanical studies and horticulture, many garden 
varieties of cherry trees, which are known by the group 
‘name of Sato-zakura, or domestic cherries as they are 
now called. Different names have been given to those 
cherry trees which bear comparatively large flowers of 
a beautiful colour and emit a delightful fragrance. 
-Those superior trees were greatly admired by the lovers 
of flowers, and efforts were made for their multiplica- 
tion by means of grafting and other similar devices. 
Among the cherries belonging to the category of 
Sato-zakura, the variety known as Fugenzo existed as 
early as the Muromachi period (about 1555), and they 
were much admired by the people of that time. It was, 
however, after the middle part of the Tokugawa period, 
or about 1750 and later, that many other garden varie- 
ties of Sato-zakura appeared, the largest number being 
recorded in the era of Bunka (1804-1817). 
Among the daimyos, or feudal lords of those days, 
there were many students of horticulture and lovers 
of cherry trees who collected saplings of rare varieties 
and planted them in their gardens. They even went 
the length of making artists sketch their flowers and 
prepare illustrated albums of. cherry blossoms. These 
albums remain to this day, and are highly valued by 
botanists and others interested in the study of the varie- 
ties of cherry trees. A man named Oten Kubo, who 
l6~ 
