The Benguet–Kōchi Sisterhood Park is a park in

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

Paoay of the town of

Atok ATOK (; ) is a Japanese input method editor (IME) produced by JustSystems, a Japanese software company. ATOK is an IME with roots from KTIS (Kana-Kanji Transfer Input System) come with JS-WORD, the Japanese word processor software for PC-100 i ...

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...

in the Philippines.

History

The park was established in 2016 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the

relations Relation or relations may refer to: General uses * International relations, the study of interconnection of politics, economics, and law on a global level * Interpersonal relationship, association or acquaintance between two or more people * ...

of the

Philippine province In the Philippines, provinces ( or ) are one of its primary political and administrative divisions. There are 82 provinces at present, which are further subdivided into component cities and municipalities. The local government units in the ...

with the

Japanese prefecture Japan is divided into 47 prefectures (, , ), which rank immediately below the national government and form the country's first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They include 43 prefectures proper (, ''ken''), two urban prefect ...

Kōchi Kochi is a city in Kerala, India. Kochi or Kōchi may also refer to: People * Kochi people, a predominantly Pashtun nomadic people of Afghanistan * , a Japanese surname: ** Arata Kochi (born 1948 or 1949), Japanese physician and World Health Org ...

. It is situated in barangay Paoay on a land owned by the Haight clan at above sea level. The area where the park is located is known as a place for cultivating highland vegetables. It was founded by farmer Edward Haight and Japanese national Hiromi Yoshikawa. Japanese botanists scouted several areas of the province to grow cherry blossom trees to commemorate the ties between the two localities. The Kabayan portion of

Mount Pulag Mount Pulag (; ) is Luzon's highest peak at above sea level, List of mountains in the Philippines, third-highest mountain in the Philippines, and the List of islands by highest point, 26th-highest peak of an island on Earth. It is List of Ul ...

, Madaymen in Kibungan and Timbac in Atok were among the places considered by the botanists for the tree planting. At least a hundred cherry blossom trees were propagated in November 2015 but only a few of them survived due to the timing of the planting. At least thirty cherry blossom trees were planted in the park in June 2016. It is projected that the site will be a future destination for tourists when the cherry blossoms start to bloom in the coming years. The first blooming of the trees were reported in May 2017.

Flora

The park hosts at least two varieties of cherry blossoms; Yokiwari and Sindaya. Yokiwari trees produces pink blossoms while Sindaya produces white flowers. The cherry blossoms were grown from seed and grafts originating from the

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 669,516 (1 April 2023) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and Tok ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benguet-Kōchi Sisterhood Park History of Benguet History of Kōchi Prefecture Tourist attractions in Benguet Parks in the Philippines Japan–Philippines relations