These were hosted by the emperors. By the early 18th century, hanami became more open thanks to Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. He made sakura trees available to everyone. This made hanami festivals a ...

A picture scroll from 1728 depicts the event being held there to ward off the evil that brought smallpox to Tokugawa Yoshimune’s heir. Fast-forward a couple of centuries, and Takadanobaba is a ...

The classic tale of the shogun's illegitimate son Aoi Shingo is told in three parts as he strives to become the greatest fencer in Japan, while his father Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune seeks to reunit ...