Kyoto Gyoen National Garden Cherry Blossoms

Kyoto Gyoen National Garden (京都御苑) is a national garden of Japan that is situated around the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

It extends approximately 700 m east to west and 1,300 m north to south, with a total area of 92 hectares.

When the capital was moved to Tokyo in the Meiji era (1868-1912), most of the official residences surrounding the Imperial Palace were moved out and abandoned. The Emperor Meiji, saddened by the devastation, ordered the gardens to be reforested to to provide residents with a place to relax.

Itosakura (Itozakura, 糸桜) means thread cherry, and appeared in historical documents from the Heian period in Japan.

Historically, the Japanese have produced many cultivars from this wild species, and they are also called weeping cherry, autumn cherry, or winter-flowering cherry because of the characteristics of each cultivar.

Since 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture has classified the species as Prunus itosakura. It is the scientific name.