While the exact start of cherry blossom season varies each year, the order in which the flowers bloom remains constant. Kyoto is home to a wide variety of cherry trees, from early bloomers to the widely beloved Somei Yoshino, and finally, the late-blooming varieties. Among the early bloomers, you can find Kawazu Zakura along the Yodo Suiro Waterway, Harumeki Sakura in front of Seitoku School in central Kyoto, and Okame and Kanhi Zakura at Chôtokuji Temple. Each of these blossoms heralds the arrival of spring with its own unique charm.
As the season progresses, mid-blooming varieties like Somei Yoshino—the most iconic cherry blossom in Japan—and Yamazakura begin to flourish, usually around April. This natural progression ensures that cherry blossoms can be admired throughout much of the spring, offering a continuous display of beauty.
The magnificent Okame cherry is one of the first varieties to bloom. It breaks the dreary grip of late winter with an outstanding two- to three-week display of rosy pink blossoms. This hybrid small flowering cherry was developed in England, and created by crossing two Asian cherry species.
Origins
The Okame cherry is a man-developed hybrid plant. In early 20th century England, noted cherry tree enthusiast Captain Collingwood Ingram experimented with creating a cherry with excellent tolerance of winter cold and tremendous flowering. The seedling ‘Okame’ resulted from fertilizing the female flower of a Fuji cherry (Prunus incisa) with the pollen from a Taiwan cherry (Cerasus campanulata). Sources in the 20th century published the botanical name Prunus x Incisa ‘Okame’. This name is considered synonymous with, but is not preferred to, the modern name of Prunus ‘Okame’.
Oh, by the way, the name “Okame” which means “Tortoise”, is also a lucky symbol for long life. Okame represents a lovely, always smiling Japanese woman who brings happiness and good fortune to any man she marries.
If you want to know more. . .
The glory of the Okame cherry is the abundance of rosy pink flowers in late winter and early spring. It is often regarded as the first cherry tree to flower in the landscape, often flirting with subfreezing late winter temperatures as the flowers open. The flowers have five petals and are attractive as pollen and nectar sources for bees. Although the flowers are pink, there are castings of reddish rose or lavender when the blooms are seen en masse on the branches. The flowering season lasts two to three weeks. After flowering, the deep green foliage appears and extends into autumn. In hot, long summers, the foliage often becomes bronzed, more so if conditions are dry. As autumn weather brings sunshine with cool nighttime temperatures, the foliage turns an attractive bronze-orange to orange-red. The bark of the Okame cherry is particularly interesting in winter with the foliage absent. The pale rust-tan or gray, smooth bark has horizontal stripes of lenticels, or small spot holes, on it, and the satiny sheen of the bark reflects light.
Chōtokuji Temple (長得寺) is a small but charming temple located in northern Kyoto, across the street from the Demachiyanagi train station on the Keihan line. Because of its Okame Zakura (おかめ桜), an early-blooming variety of cherry blossoms, this temple becomes very popular during early spring when the vibrant pink Okame Zakura trees are in full bloom.
Right next to these pink flowers, you can see another variety, darker, with flowers in grape, the Kanhi Zakura.
And among all these flowers, the little White Eye birds fly around and enjoy the new sweet nectar available to them.
