• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.124-136
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• 2011

In landscape architecture, plants play an important role in realizing the intention of the architect and user- behavior as well as an ecology and appearance of the space for them. However, it is true that many researches have focused on ecological characteristics of plants, their cultivation environment and symbolic meanings in traditional terms, while relatively few for the analysis of the aspects of each period through plants. For this, cherry trees that we often see around are selected and their introduction, propagation, development and symbolism from the view of chronicle are studied and the results are followings; Firstly, three-year seedlings of 1,500 pieces of cherry tree from Osaka and Tokyo were planted for the first time in Oieseongdae, Namsan Park, Seoul. Since then, they had been widely planted at traditional sites, modern parks, newly-constructed roads for street trees, and for this, the Japanese Government-General of Chosun had actively supported by its direct cultivation and selling of cherry trees. The spread of cherry trees planted raised the question of whether or not Prunus yedoensis is originated from Jeju Island. Secondly, such massive and artificial planting of them had become attractions over the time and mass media at that time also had actively promoted it. And such trend made the day and night picnic under the cherry blossoms one of the most representative cultures of enjoying spring in Seoul. Thirdly, although general people enjoyed cherry blossoms, but they had dual view and attitude for cherry trees, which were well expressed in their use of them: for example, cherry blossoms, aeng and sakura were used altogether for same meaning, but night aeng or night picnic under cherry blossoms were especially used instead of yojakura when mentioning just pleasure, which meant some saw night enjoying cherry blossoms a low culture. Fourth, symbolic space of Chosun had been transformed into the space for enjoyment and consumption. Anyone who paid entrance fee could enjoy performance of revugirl, cinema and entertainment along with enjoying cherry blossoms. The still-existing strict differentiation of enjoyment culture by social status, class and ethnicity was dismantled from that trend and brought about a kind of disorder. From this, we could find that cherry blossoms had made a great contribution to the change of traditional enjoyment culture over the Japanese colonial period and become a popular spring enjoyment.