Tourists walk under cherry trees at Himeji Castle in Himeji, Japan, where there are about 1000 cherry trees in full bloom this season. Credit:Getty Images

In Beijing, the most popular place to view cherry blossom is Yuyuantan Park, home to more than 2000 cherry trees, about 200 of which were given to China by Japan in the early 1970s, when the two countries re-established diplomatic ties.

Nonetheless, the cherry blossom spat reflects tense relations among the three Asian rivals, which are frequently at odds with each other on issues such as Japan's 20th-century history, when it colonised Korea and parts of China, culminating in World War II, and competing territorial claims in regional waters.

Speaking to a major Chinese newspaper, He Zongru, executive chairman of the China Cherry Industry Association, dismissed claims that the tradition of cherry tree cultivation began in either Japan or what's now South Korea, and instead pointed to its origins in China's Himalayan highlands. He said the trees arrived in Japan only 1100 years ago, during the period of Tang-dynasty rule in China.

"We don't want to get into a war of words with Japan and South Korea but we want to assert a fact: Many historical documents confirm that the cherry blossom's place of origin is in China," the Southern Metropolis Daily, based in the city of Guangzhou, quoted him as saying. "As Chinese people, we have a responsibility to let more people know this history."