What is Oshima Sakura?
An Island
Turned White.
The Blossom
Oshima Sakura is a wild cherry native to the Izu Islands, with large white flowers and a scent noticeably stronger than the ornamental cherries of city parks. Its leaves are the ones used to wrap sakura mochi.
The Island
Izu Oshima is a volcanic island in the Pacific, about 120 km south of Tokyo. The blossom grows across the island's slopes, where salt air and volcanic soil shape everything that flowers there.
Eight Centuries of Blossom
On the island stands the Sakura-kabu, an Oshima Sakura estimated to be more than 800 years old. In 1952 it was designated a Special Natural Monument of Japan — the highest protection the country gives to a living thing — and it remains the only plant in Tokyo Prefecture to hold that status. Oshima Sakura is also a parent of Somei Yoshino, the cherry whose blossoms define spring across Japan. Our honey is not gathered from that single ancient tree, but from the same lineage of blossom that has belonged to this island for centuries.
The Brief Season
The flowering window is short. Whether the bees can gather enough nectar depends on weather and conditions in those few weeks — which is why the harvest varies, and why so little is bottled.
The Beekeeper
On Izu Oshima, the story of this honey begins with a beekeeper devoted to the island and its blossoms. Hives are placed where the blossom is densest, timed to the opening of the flowers. When the season is poor, there is simply less honey.
