The cherry blossom connects communities, cultures, and nations from Japan across the Pacific to Washington D.C. Closer to home, the Waimea Cherry Blossom Festival is the second largest event in Hawaii County each year. This Saturday, Feb. 7 the 22nd annual tradition will mark the blooming of the historic cherry trees at Church Row Park and celebrate the age-old Japanese tradition of hanami, which translates to “cherry blossom viewing party.”
The spirit of the cherry blossom floated across the Pacific with the Japanese immigrants, who also brought their sense of duty and hard work along with a reverence for the natural world that fed their communities. In the cherry blossom can be traced a history of the human spirit, a completed life cycle leading to abundance, fearlessness of the warrior in the face of death and an inspiration for poetical reflection.
Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain
The spring breeze wearing Cherry blossom petals
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Saigyo
According to Shinto belief the soul of the mountain deity, who was the guardian of agriculture, sailed down to the rice paddies on clouds of cherry blossoms. To worship this sacred ancient tree, early farmers traveled to the mountains and eventually began to plant the trees in villages and towns where they were celebrated annually. Later, when the samurai were formed in the seventeenth century, the cherry blossom was adopted as part of their bushido code; the samurai, like the cherry blossom, often fell at their peak, an ideal death.
Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain
The spring breeze wearing Cherry blossom petals
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Saigyo
According to Shinto belief the soul of the mountain deity, who was the guardian of agriculture, sailed down to the rice paddies on clouds of cherry blossoms. To worship this sacred ancient tree, early farmers traveled to the mountains and eventually began to plant the trees in villages and towns where they were celebrated annually. Later, when the samurai were formed in the seventeenth century, the cherry blossom was adopted as part of their bushido code; the samurai, like the cherry blossom, often fell at their peak, an ideal death.
Later, Hawaii plantation life was difficult and there was little time for celebration, but like a dormant seed that springs forth when the conditions are right, the celebration of the cherry blossom emerged in the early 1950’s. The story of the arrival of the first cherry trees on Hawaii Island begins on Oahu with the arrival of Fred Makino.
Born in Japan, the son of an English silk merchant and a Japanese mother, Makino arrived in Hawaii in 1899 at the age of 22 and began work in his brother’s Na’alehu store. Finding Hawaii Island too quiet, he soon found his way to Honolulu where he opened the Makino Drug Store and married Michiye Okumura. In 1912, Makino began the Japanese language newspaper, Hochi Hawaii and spent the rest of his life advocating for the well-being of the Japanese community.
To commemorate Makino’s contributions, following his death in 1953, his widow contacted Baron Goto who contacted the Kona extension office and arranged for Hawaii Island’s first three cherry trees to be propagated. One tree was given to Mr. Hori Tohachi and two of the trees were given to nurseryman, Mr. Okada, one of which he planted in church row next to the Kamuela Hongwanji. Two grafted trees were also given to Hartwell Carter and from those trees, his gardener, Isami Ishihara began to propagate more trees. These first trees became the source of Waimea’s Cherry Blossom Festival.
Born in Japan, the son of an English silk merchant and a Japanese mother, Makino arrived in Hawaii in 1899 at the age of 22 and began work in his brother’s Na’alehu store. Finding Hawaii Island too quiet, he soon found his way to Honolulu where he opened the Makino Drug Store and married Michiye Okumura. In 1912, Makino began the Japanese language newspaper, Hochi Hawaii and spent the rest of his life advocating for the well-being of the Japanese community.
To commemorate Makino’s contributions, following his death in 1953, his widow contacted Baron Goto who contacted the Kona extension office and arranged for Hawaii Island’s first three cherry trees to be propagated. One tree was given to Mr. Hori Tohachi and two of the trees were given to nurseryman, Mr. Okada, one of which he planted in church row next to the Kamuela Hongwanji. Two grafted trees were also given to Hartwell Carter and from those trees, his gardener, Isami Ishihara began to propagate more trees. These first trees became the source of Waimea’s Cherry Blossom Festival.
While it takes the community pulling together to create an event such as the Cherry Blossom Festival, it often takes the spark of one inspired persistent, person. In the case of the Cherry Blossom Festival, which began in 1994, that person was North Kohala resident James Tohara, who was enchanted by the blooming cherry trees in Church Row Park. One of the many people he contacted was George Yoshida, then director of Hawaii County Parks and Recreation, whose department was instrumental in establishing the festival. Roxcie Waltjen, Cultural Education Administrator for Hawaii County Parks and Recreation, is the backbone of the festival, which she has coordinated since 1995. “The Cherry Blossom Festival is Hawaii County’s second largest event after the Merry Monarch and it’s important for the county to keep it going,” said Fred Nonaka, Lions Club cherry tree maven.
The Waimea Cherry Blossom Festival is a multi-national, multi-cultural event. “The Hongwanji has an open house every year and visitors from all over the world, Europe, Japan come and sign our guest book,” said Nonaka. The 2012 festival was the 100 year celebration of the cherry trees gifted to the U.S. and planted in Washington D.C. The Embassy of Japan provided seeds to Hawaii Island that were especially suited to the climate. “Dr. Koyama, a retired professor, arranged to get the seeds. They chilled them and by the time the seeds got to Hawaii they were sprouting. We arranged with the State Tree Nursery and paid for the supplies,” said Nonaka. The young trees were planted at the 2012 festival by Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi, Yoshihiko Kamo, Consul General of Japan in Honolulu and Tetsuo Koyama, director of the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden.
The Cherry Blossom Festival in Waimea shows what can be done when individuals, groups and communities pull together, united by the generous spirit of our island home. The festival will provide a chance for the island wide community as well as the many visitors to share in the spirit of the cherry blossom and take a few moments to reflect with graditude on the wisdom of nature.
The Cherry Blossom Festival in Waimea shows what can be done when individuals, groups and communities pull together, united by the generous spirit of our island home. The festival will provide a chance for the island wide community as well as the many visitors to share in the spirit of the cherry blossom and take a few moments to reflect with graditude on the wisdom of nature.
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