1912 Tokyo gift of Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin

In 1912 Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo donated 3,020 cherry trees to the United States, and many of those Yoshino (Somei-yoshino) trees were planted around the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. The plantings established the core of what is now the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. The original 1912 shipment and subsequent replantings are documented by the National Park Service and city records. The trees are a major springtime feature encircling the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin promenades.