What is the oldest tree in Miharu?
Miharu's only mapped tree is Miharu Takizakura, a weeping Edo-higan cherry traditionally estimated at over 1,000 years old, though no dating method backs the figure. It stands in the village of Miharu, Fukushima, its crown spreading 22 metres east to west, and around 300,000 people visit during its bloom each April.
Miharu Takizakura stands in the village of Miharu in Fukushima Prefecture, its name meaning waterfall cherry for the way its weeping crown falls in pink strands, 22 metres across east to west and 18 north to south. It was designated a National Natural Monument on 12 October 1922, the same day as Jindai-zakura and Usuzumi-zakura, and Japanese sources describe it as the first cherry tree ever given that status. The traditional age, over a thousand years, carries no dating method behind it, and published measurements disagree with each other by several metres, which the sources themselves never explain. In January 2005 heavy snow broke several branches, and local residents built wooden props that still carry part of the crown's weight today. The tree survived the March 2011 earthquake undamaged, despite standing about 60 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant; visitors stopped coming that year and were back within twelve months. Cuttings have since been sent abroad as goodwill gifts, to Bhutan, Poland, Taiwan, Britain and the United States among others.
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