Tour San Francisco home page internet tours logo
Google

Home<San Francisco<Cherry Blossom Festival

Site Map

Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco

The blooming of cherry trees in Japan announces the arrival of spring where the short lived blossoms are an inspiration to take time out to appreciate life.

Click images to enlarge

Cherry blossom picture

Friends and co-workers gather beneath the blossoms for picnics and ohanami suru, or cherry blossom viewing, and to contemplate the cycle of the seasons.
spacer
San Francisco’s Cherry Blossom Festival, held annually in Japantown since 1967, has more in common with the many other US Cherry Blossom Festivals.

Japanese-American community pride and/or a reaffirmation of friendship among sister cities in the US and Japan is more evident in the many annual Cherry Blossom Festivals in San Francisco and other American cities.
spacer
Street fair pictureUS Cherry Blossom Festivals often began with a gift of cherry trees from a group in Japan to the US community, such as is the case with the festival held each spring in our nations capital.

picture of Kristi Yamaguchi

Kristi Yamaguchi was this years parade Grand Marshal


Cherry Blossom Royalty float picture

Cherry Blossom Queen
& Her Court on parade float


2003 Queen and Court picture

'03 Cherry Blossom Festival Queen and Princesses


2002 Queen and Court picture

'02 Los Angeles
Nisei Week Court


Hawaii Queen on float picture

Queen on Hawaii float


Beautiful Hawaiian girls picture

More beautiful Hawaiian Girls


Taiko drummers float picture

Taiko Drum Float


Young kimino clad dancing girls picture

Young Girls Dancing in Kimonos


Traditional Kimono dancers picture

Traditional Kimono Costumes


Younger, older Japanese women picture

Older, Younger Dancers


Beautiful Kimonos, Girls picture

Beautiful Kimonos, Girls


Traditional Japanese costumes picture

Japanese Kimonos

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual celebration of the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the citizens of Tokyo to the citizens of Washington, D.C.
spacer
Lady Bird Johnson accepted 3,800 more trees from the Japanese government in 1965. Japanese horticulturists were able to come to the US to take cuttings from the trees they had given us after floods destroyed many of Japan's Yoshino cherry trees in 1981.
spacer
The Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco started as a community event in specific reaction to the redevelopment of Japantown in the 1960s. When run-down Victorian residences were razed and replaced by modern glass and steel structures the festival formed in order to keep the community in touch with its roots.
spacer
Most cherry blossom festivals are carefully timed to coincide with the brief time that cherry blossoms are in bloom.
spacer
The Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, as the San Francisco Japantown celebration is know, takes place during two weekends in April. The trees in Peace Plaza still held quite a few cherry blossoms for this years festival.
spacer
Martial arts demonstration picture Traditional Japanese arts are showcased with demonstrations of martial arts, dancing, fashion, tea ceremonies and bonsai exhibits. There are also Asian food kiosks and Asian oriented street vendor booths like Kanji calligraphy scrolls, Japanese art and flowers.
spacer
Taiko drumming was traditionally reserved for ritual occasions in Japan and was not part of the cherry blossom festival. San Franciscos Cherry Blossom Festival has become a celebration of all forms of Japanese culture and taiko drumming plays a large part in the main event of the festival.
spacer
Parades and pagents to choose festival royalty are both American additions to the traditional cherry blossom festival.
spacer
San Francisco's annual Cherry Blossom Festival parade begins at the Civic Center and ends after passing through Japantown on Post Street.
spacer
The parade includes several beautiful kimono clad dance groups — each typically including a range in age from grandmother to granddaughter — scout troops, bands, schools, cars carrying various politicians and floats for past and present festival royalty in addition to several Taiko drum troop floats.
spacer
A large Anime Costume contingent in the parade reflects one of the more modern aspects of Japanese culture.

More Anime Costume / Cosplay pictures from the 2004 San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival and parade including several individual costumes.
spacer
Other cities with annual Cherry Blossom Festivals include Honolulu, Hawaii which has celebrated the Cherry Blossom Festival for over fifty years. Women of multi-ethnic ancestry have only been able to participate in Hawaii's Cherry Blossom Queen contest since 1998, Macon, Georgia, which claims over 275,000 Yoshino cherry trees in bloom and New York’s Brooklyn Botanic Garden with 42 species and varieties of cherry trees.

Seattle, Washington’s Cherry Blossom Festival began when one thousand Cherry trees were sent by the Japanese government. (This link has good historical information on cherry blossom festivals.) Pasadena, California celebrated its second cherry blossom festival in 2003. The Los Angeles Nisei Week FEstival is in it's 64th year.

English language web sites covering some cherry blossom festivals in Japan include Hirosaki City, Sagamihara, Sunomato and Okinawa.

There's more information about and pictures of San Francisco's Japantown on iNeTours.com. And don't miss our coverage of the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

Take a real San Francisco Sightseeing Tour.

Peace Plaza picture

Peace Plaza


SFFD Hot Ribs food booth picture

SFFD Hot Ribs food booth



Bonsai booth picture

Bonsai for Sale



Karate demonstration picture

Karate Demonstration


Unsheathed sword picture

Sword Demonstration


Golden Gate Bridge float picture

Moving cars crossed the Golden Gate Bridge


Taiko drummer girls picture

Taiko Drummer Girls


Year of the Ram parade float

Scout Troop with Fish


Boy Scout Band picture

Boy Scout Troop Band


Anime float picture

Anime Float


Anime costume parade picture

Anime Costume Parade


Anime Easter Bunny picture

Anime Easter Bunny?


Cute Girl Anime costume picture

Cute girl with Blue Hair
and Green Wings

2004 Anime Costume
and Cosplay pictures


spacer

return to top
Complete site copyright © 2001–2008 Lee W. Nelson
iNeTours.com
Home | About | What's New | Privacy Policy | Contact | FAQs

Tour San Francisco
Apartment Rentals | Roommates | Vacation Rentals | Restaurants | Restaurant Reviews | San Francisco Hotels
Alcatraz | Aquatic Park | Castro| Chinatown | Civic Center | Coit Tower | Embarcadero | Financial District | Fisherman's Wharf
Golden Gate Bridge | Golden Gate Park/Conservatory/Japanese Tea Garden/Strybing Arboretum | JapanTown | SOMA | Presidio
Marina & Union Street | Nob Hill/Cable Cars | North Beach | Pacific Heights | Pier 39 | Scenic SF | South Beach | Haight-Ashbury
Treasure Island | Dragon Boats | Union Square | Victorian Houses | 1906 SF Earthquake & Fire | San Francisco Map
San Francisco Tours
Alcatraz Tickets / Tours | SF Open Top Double Deck Bus Tours | Muir Woods & Sausalito | Seaplane Tour | Yosemite day tour
Chinatown North Beach Eve | Chinatown Culinary | North Beach Culinary | Fisherman's Wharf Maritime
Winery_Tour | Muir Woods & Winery Tour | Segway Tour | Taste SF Tour | SF Bay Sail Boat Tour | SUV Wine Tour
San Francisco CityPass | Go San Francisco Card | Fisherman's Wharf Pass
SF 5 hour Shuttle Tour | Muir Woods Shuttle Tour | Napa Valley Wine TourPrivate/Custom Tours
San Francisco Bay Area
Marin Headlands | Point Bonita Lighthouse | Muir Woods National Monument

Las Vegas Tour and Travel Guide
Las Vegas Strip Casino Resort Hotels | Apartments/Roommates | Restaurants | Las Vegas Tours

New York City Tour and Vacation Guide
New York City Apartments | New York City Hotels | Manhattan Map | New York City Tours

Wine Tours
Wine racks/wine storage | Wine glasses | Wine Gifts | Napa Valley | Sonoma County

Los Angeles Tour and Vacation Guide
  LA & Hollywood Tours | LA Apartment Rentals | Anaheim/Disney Resorts | Santa Monica

CA Central Coast
  Monterey | Carmel-by-the-Sea | Pacific Grove | Big Sur | Central Coast Map

Tour San Diego
San Diego Map | San Diego Apartments | San Diego Vacation Rentals | San Diego Tours

Tour New Orleans
New Orleans Hotels | Apartment Rentals | New Orleans Tours | Steamboat Tour

Yosemite National Park
Yosemite Map | Yosemite National Park Lodging

Pictures and Custom Prints
San Francisco | Wine Country | New York City | National Parks
Flowers, Roses | California Landscape | Sunset Pictures

Discount Travel
  PC Remote Viewing | Remote access software | Student software | Travel Shoes

Sightseeing Tours