shiogama

Prunus 'Shiogama'

Sato-zakura Group

A very old sato-zakura from the Shiogama Jinja - a Shinto shrine in Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture, where it overlooks, but is well above, the devastated coastal zone in NE Honshu caused by the tsunami of 2011.

The flowers are fully double with 40-60 petals of a pale pink colour turning white with age. They are narrow and pointed  with an irregular wave-like undulation along their length. The flowers  also have  phylloid (green leaf-like) stamen/pistils. Flowering period is slightly late, end April to early May in Japan.

It is first mentioned in a cherry list of 1707, but possibly derives from a cherry in the courtyard of

the Kanasawa Palace in the Kenroku-en Garden, Kanasawa, Ishikawa Prefecture during the Kaga feudal clan era and may possibly have been mentioned in a waka (short poem) made by the Emperor Horikawa (1086 - 1107 AD).

As an ancient cultivar, this double-flowered cherry was designated as one of the 27 Natural monuments of Japan in 1940. The original tree died of old age so its designation was cancelled in 1959. However, a gardener at the Shiogama shrine had propagated it by grafting. Now 31 trees are planted in the grounds of the Shrine. Its monument status was re-designated in 1987.

Location

• One by old entrance to campus; square N2; tag 4127. Planted in 2009.