What is the oldest tree in Matsumae?
Matsumae's mapped tree is Kechimyaku Zakura (The Blood-Lineage Cherry), the mother tree of the Matsumae-hayazaki cultivar (also called Naden), from which every tree of that cultivar in Matsumae's 250-plus-cultivar cherry collection descends. Its age is put at somewhere between a little over 200 and a little over 300 years, since sources disagree and none states a method.
The tree stands in the grounds of Kozenji, a temple founded in 1575 in what became the northernmost castle town in Japan. The Matsumae-hayazaki cultivar is thought to be a cross between Takasago and Kasumizakura, believed to have reached Hokkaido via the Kitamae-bune coastal trading route from the Sea of Japan coast. Japanese Wikipedia gives its age as over 200 years in one place and over 280 in another; garden and tourism sources say over 300; none names a method, so the range is carried honestly rather than narrowed. It measures 5.5 metres round and stands 8 metres tall. Hokkaido designated it a Memorial Tree in 1973, and the temple's own name for it, meaning blood lineage, comes from a local story about a maiden and a family line. It is still tracked as an active bloom-forecast site on Japan's national cherry tracker. The temple grounds are free and open, about a 10-minute walk from the Matsushiro-shimo bus stop, reached by Hakodate Bus from JR Kikonai.
See more themed collections of remarkable trees.