The is an ancient cherry tree in

Miharu, Fukushima is a Towns of Japan, town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 17,471 in 6348 households, and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total area of the town was . Geography Miharu is located ...

, in northern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is a weeping higan cherry (''Prunus subhirtella var. pendula'' ‘Itosakura’. syn. ''Prunus spachiana'' ‘Pendula Rosea’. ''Benishidare-zakura'' in Japanese) and is over 1,000 years old. It flowers in mid to late April, and its light pink flowers spread in all directions from the branches, like a waterfall.

The Tree

The tree is high, the trunk circumference is , the east-west spread is , and the north-south spread is . It is classified as one of the five great cherry trees of Japan (日本五大桜) and one of the three giant cherry trees of Japan (日本三巨大桜). It was designated a

national treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

in 1922. Polls frequently rank it as the number one tree in all of Japan. Around 300,000 people visit the Miharu Takizakura every year, making it an important source of income for Miharu, which is otherwise a farming community of around 17,000 people.

Damage

The tree suffered some damage from heavy snow in January 2005, breaking several branches; residents brushed off the snow and built wooden supports to limit damage. It was unharmed by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

, but in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster the number of visitors decreased markedly. While in 2011, the number of visitors was less than half the usual amount, in 2012, visitors returned to the tree. Visitors return to renowned cherry tree in Fukushima April 26, 2012
'' Asahi Shimbun'' Retrieved April 20, 2015

References

* This article was partly translated from the Japanese Wikipedia article " 三春滝桜". {{reflist

External links

*

', Fukushima Prefecture Tourism Information Individual trees in Japan Tourist attractions in Fukushima Prefecture Miharu, Fukushima

The Tree

Damage

See also

References

External links