Sakura

About Sakura Trees Sakura are the flowers of the cherry trees known as (? or ?; ????). In English, "sakura" refers to the Japanese flowering cherry. The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts. Today world wide, people flock to the cities every spring to view sakura in bloom.