Each spring, we look out our windows to find a startling surprise: The cherry blossoms are in bloom again. Once bare, our backyard branches are now cloudlike, full of pink, white, and purple flowers. The last winds of winter whip through the trees, sending a confetti burst of blooms throughout the air. It’s cherry blossom season—that all too short, mystical time of renewal.
The tradition of celebrating the cherry blossoms goes back centuries in Japan. In the United States, the trees are a more recent addition. According to the National Park Service, the first cherry trees in the country were planted in Washington, D.C. in 1912 as a gift from Japan. (In return, President Taft sent flowering dogwood trees to Japan.) First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, the wife of the Japanese Ambassador, planted the first two trees in a small ceremony that became the first iteration of D.C.’s now-famous National Cherry Blossom Festival. There are also festivals in San Francisco, Copenhagen, Seoul, in various regions across Japan, and more. Attendees sometimes wear blossom-inspired outfits, from flowing floral dresses to pink berets.
Some cherry blossom super fans follow the flowers using interactive maps, like the Central Park or the Brooklyn Botanic Garden tracker, which is endearingly populated with little flower icons and info about each species of tree, for inquiring minds. My best friend watches the Brooklyn tracker like a hawk, updating the group chat with increasingly colorful screenshots until we all know it’s time to catch the trees in peak bloom.
In celebration of the fleeting, perennial magic of cherry blossoms everywhere, Vogue asked 11 photographers to share some of their favorite shots of cherry blossom trees. Below, see their selections.
Katsu Naito
Photographed by Katsu Naito
Photographed by Katsu Naito
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