PublishedChatto & Windus, April 2019 |
ISBN9781784742027 |
FormatHardcover, 400 pages |
Dimensions22.2cm × 15.3cm × 3.7cm |
A richly illustrated and award-winning Japanese biography, history and exploration of cherry blossom told through the life of an English amateur botanist, rewritten for English readers
'Sympathetic and engrossing... a portrait of great charm and sophistication' GuardianThe irresistible story of Japanese cherry blossoms, threatened by political ideology and saved by an unknown EnglishmanCollingwood Ingram, known as 'Cherry' for his defining obsession, was born in 1880 and lived until he was a hundred, witnessing a fraught century of conflict and change.After visiting Japan in 1902 and 1907 and discovering two magnificent cherry trees in the garden of his family home in Kent in 1919, Ingram fell in love with cherry blossoms, or sakura, and dedicated much of his life to their cultivation and preservation.On a 1926 trip to Japan to search for new specimens, Ingram was shocked to see the loss of local cherry diversity, driven by modernisation, neglect and a dangerous and creeping ideology. A cloned cherry, the Somei-yoshino, was taking over the landscape and becoming the symbol of Japan's expansionist ambitions.The most striking absence from the Japanese cherry scene, for Ingram, was that of Taihaku, a brilliant 'great white' cherry tree. A proud example of this tree grew in his English garden and he swore to return it to its native home. Multiple attempts to send Taihaku scions back to Japan ended in failure, but Ingram persisted.Over decades, Ingram became one of the world's leading cherry experts and shared the joy of sakura both nationally and internationally. Every spring we enjoy his legacy. 'Cherry' Ingram is a portrait of this little-known Englishman, a story of Britain and Japan in the twentieth century and an exploration of the delicate blossoms whose beauty is admired around the world.
Bill is one of the founders of Boffins and has been involved in selecting the books we stock since our beginning in 1989. His favourite reading is history, with psychology, current affairs, and business books coming close behind. His hobbies are reading, food, reading, drinking, reading, and sleeping.
When we think of Japan, we think of cherry blossoms, or Sakura, as a national symbol. From the mid nineteenth century through to the 1930s in Japan, cherry trees were planted en masse to celebrate state occasions, and a certain cherry cultivar, Somei-yoshino cherries, was always used.The diverse old varieties were pushed out, some becoming extinct. Because of the efforts of an Englishman, Collingwood Ingram, numerous varieties of cherry were preserved. “Cherry” Ingram travelled to Japan in the early part of the twentieth century and became aware of what was happening to the traditional cultivars. He worked tirelessly to preserve them, working with people in Japan and also in England. He certainly earned his nickname. This award winning biography, told by a Japanese journalist, has now been translated into English in a delightful hardcover edition, with beautiful botanical drawings and photographs, including of Cherry’ Ingram’s pre-war trips to Japan.
