YAHOO NEWS: CHERRY BLOSSOMS WILL BLOOM ALONG SACRAMENTO’S WATERFRONT, A NOD TO CITY’S DEEP JAPANESE ROOTS

At the turn of the 20th century, Japanese Americans settling in the city had a special name for Sacramento. Merging their community’s appreciation for the cherry blossom tree, or sakura, they called it: Sakuramento.

Now, a project aiming to honor them and their descendants’ contributions to the capital city has broken ground in Robert T. Matsui Park. Dozens of the iconic cherry blossom trees, public art and valuable shade will soon accompany the riverfront from Old Sacramento to the American River, supporters of the project announced at a groundbreaking Thursday.

Called the Hanami Line, the project draws from a common practice known as hanami or “blossom watching,” practiced by many Japanese communities and others across the world. Spearheaded by the nonprofit Sacramento Tree Foundation, it’s projected to span 1½ acres to connect the waterfront, the Sacramento River I Street Bridge and other development projects in the Railyards.

“This is where Sacramento began: the confluence of two great rivers,” said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, an honorary co-chair of the project’s campaign committee, at the groundbreaking. “That defines us here and everything that we’ve done.”

The park is named for her late husband, Bob Matsui, who sat on the city council before representing Sacramento in Congress from 1979 until his death in 2005. The park itself is a stone’s throw from the city’s once-bustling Japantown, whose population once rivaled Los Angeles and San Francisco’s similar enclaves.

It’s also a common tradition for many travelers to Japan or Washington, D.C., famed for its cherry blossoms, to appreciate the trees’ vibrant colors and shade. The flower itself has varied meanings for Japanese cultures, but some treat it as a reminder of the impermanence of life, given the tree’s typically short lifespan.

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