Sakura requires purity. Actual cherry fruit can be found here in the Yoshino cherry tree. But the sakura born from the planted seed is not called the Yoshino cherry. The seed born from mating with other trees has the blood of other Sakura mixed in. Actually you can say that the Yoshino cherry trees throughout the country are all clones. But what does this mean? The answer is what is called “tree grafting”. The Yoshino cherry is transplanted over the roots of other trees.
Incidentally, the most common Sakura is the Yoshino cherry, while the Ginko sakura, which is the model tree of Shinjuku Gyoen is actually the second most common. The key feature of the Yoshino is the long stamen--the pollen-producing portion of a flower.
The cherry blossom viewing party sponsored by the Prime Minister is often time carried out during the time you can see the flowers of the Ginko sakura.
The Yoshino cherry has a beautifully written name. When I first saw the characters, I felt like I had seen this cherry blossom in Nara on the sparsely populated hillsides which are dyed with the color of cherry trees. But the trees in Nara are actually a different variety called Yama-Zakura.
As the Yoshino cherry was raised by professionals who were living in the Somei village, the name of Somei Yoshino was given to the tree. Due to recent research we know that the Yoshino cherry is a hybrid of the Yama-Zakura, and Oshima cherry.
Even if the flowers don’t bloom you can still have a cherry blossom viewing by just imagining the name or characters of the various sakura. For example, Chinese characters of one type of tree bring to mind a flower that is in the shape of hand grenade. The characters of other trees might make you think of the milky way. How do Japanese people see the scenery of sakura with the eyes of their heart? That is impossible to know.