Cherry blossoms first appeared in KI no Tomonori's poem, 'When I saw Mt. Yoshino covered with cherry blossoms, I thought it must have snowed' (Spring Poems Part 1), in Kokin Wakashu (A Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry), but around that time, snow poems remained more common, such as 'At dawn, when the sky began to lighten a little, I saw sparkling white snow that carpeted the country of Yoshino and I thought the moon might be lingering' (Winter Poems) by SAKANOUE no Korenori, which is selected for One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets.
古今和歌集において、紀友則の「み吉野の山べにさける桜花雪かとのみぞあやまたれける」（春歌上）と詠まれているのが桜についての初見ではあるが、この頃はまだ、百人一首にも選出されている、坂上是則の「あさぼらけ有明の月とみるまでに吉野の里にふれる白雪」（冬歌）に代表される雪の歌が優勢であった。