The trees were a 1912 gift from Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, to the city of Washington and the people of the United States, as a gesture of goodwill and the hope for a lasting friendship between the two countries.
It was a gift which was facilitated by a Japanese American chemist with ties to Illinois, who over the course of his life and career made many scientific advancements which contribute to our daily lives today.
Dr. Jokichi Takamine was born in Takaoka, Japan, in 1854. His father was a prominent doctor, giving Takamine access to westerners and the chance to learn English at a young age. Graduating from college in Japan in 1879, he traveled abroad, studying in Scotland, before returning home to work as a chemist with Japan’s Department of Agriculture and Commerce.
He founded a fertilizer company and isolated an enzyme that later bore his name, takadiastase, which helps in the breakdown of starches. His work took him to America in 1884, where he was a co-commissioner of the World Cotton Centennial Exposition, as the New Orleans World’s Fair was known. There he met his future wife, Caroline. In 1890, the family moved to Chicago after he received a telegram informing him that a distillery in that city wanted to use his enzyme in manufacturing whiskey.
He established the Takamine Ferment Company and was soon using his own method to produce more whiskey per bushel of corn – which also reduced the production cost.
Takamine went to work for the Distillers and Cattle Feeders’ Company, a Peoria-based whiskey distiller, and also garnered some notice from the Chicago Tribune, which in February 1891 wrote about his process, “Discovery of a new and better process of manufacture. From 12 to 15 percent can be saved over the old method.”
Takamine did much of his work in a laboratory he built in an old carriage house next to his home on Jefferson Street in Peoria.
The Takamine family returned to Chicago after Dr. Takamine had to be rushed to that city for emergency surgery on his liver. There Takamine continued his work, including applying for a patent in 1896 on a process he discovered for extracting glycerin from used printers’ rollers.
In 1897, Takamine moved to New York, where work was being done on isolating epinephrine. Along with Dr. John Jacob Abel of Johns Hopkins, in 1901, Takamine succeeded in isolating epinephrine as a pure substance, with far-reaching implications for health care to this day.
Four years later, Takamine published a scientific paper announcing the formal discovery of adrenaline. While this discovery gained him tremendous attention in the medical and scientific communities, it was an endorsement from the famed heavyweight boxer Gene Tunney which brought attention to the practical, medical uses of Takamine’s discovery.
“Adrenalin Chloride is absolutely necessary in every boxer’s corner when engaged in combat,” Tunney later wrote. “Many a time I have used it and many a time it has turned almost sure defeat into victory for me by stopping the flow of blood and enabling me to see and breathe freely.”
Adrenaline, often administered by an EpiPen, has saved the lives of countless individuals who were suffering allergic reactions. It is also used in the treatment of heart problems and can be used surgically to prevent excessive bleeding.
Takamine’s growing stature among the medical and scientific community in the United States also made him an unofficial emissary of his native country. Takamine organized the Japan Society in New York to “facilitate personal contact and mutual understanding between the Americans and the Japanese.”
To further strengthen ties between the two nations, Takamine arranged for the gift of 2100 cherry blossom trees to be planted near Grant’s Tomb in New York City. Unfortunately, the trees were attacked by insects and did not survive. His second such gift proved to be much more successful.
Two years later, the first cherry blossom trees arrived in West Potomac Park in Washington, DC, and were planted during a ceremony overseen by First Lady Nellie Taft. Takamine provided the funding, but a Washington Post story later explained why he deferred the credit.
“As a private businessman, scientist and goodwill ambassador, Dr. Takamine didn’t think he should be ‘out front’ on this, so he and Japan’s Consul General in New York agreed that the gift should be made through official channels.”
For more than a century, the Japanese cherry blossom trees have remained in the nation’s capital as a symbol of the friendship between Japan and the United States. Even during the dark days of World War II, the trees remained a hopeful symbol for renewed friendship and relations in the future, a hope which was realized and a friendship which has now endured for generations.
In 2012, the Daiichi Sankyo Company marked the centennial of the cherry blossom trees by producing a documentary film called, “The Story of Jokichi Takamine: Japan’s Goodwill Ambassador.”
Cherry blossom trees also serve as a symbol of friendship here in Illinois. The Japanese Garden at Jackson Park in Chicago was originally built for the 1893 World’s Fair. The garden has been revitalized several times since 1893 and today features nearly 200 cheery blossom trees.
State Representative Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) serves on the House International Relations, Tourism and Trade Committee, and was invited by Japan’s Midwest consulate to attend an April event celebrating the beauty of the blooming cherry blossoms, called a Hanami.
“I’ve learned that in Japanese culture, the cherry blossom and the celebration of its brief blooming in spring embody the importance of appreciating the present and the value of friends coming together to enjoy this beautiful occasion,” said Keicher. “Having experienced it myself, I highly recommend it, whether at Jackson Park or in Washington.”
Dr. Takamine has been honored for his scientific contributions on both sides of the Pacific. In 1985 he was named by the Japan Patent Office as one of the ten greatest Japanese inventors of all time. Just last year in the United States the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame posthumously inducted him for his work in advancing the medical use of epinephrine.
Dr. Jokichi Takamine died in 1922. At the time of his death, he held more than 20 patents. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York.