... now I want it back.
The Giant Trees of Tochigi: #79 The Giant Cryptomeria of Yuzen Shrine
The sun does almost magical things in this grove.
Number: 79
Name: The Giant Cryptomeria of Yuzen Shrine (湯泉神社の大杉)
Type: Cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica)
Height: 47m
Trunk Circumference: 6.5m
Age: >700 years
Location: 栃木県那須郡那須町芦野 (36° 59′ 26″N 140° 09′ 25″E)
Date of Visit: 2011-8-13
Across the Nara River from the ruins of Ashino Castle, there lies Yuzen Shrine at the foot of Mt. Takebu. (More of a hill, really, but I digress).
The Ashino Clan (芦野氏) gave 60 koku of land to this shrine in the Kyouroku Era (享禄, 1528-1532 CE) as a sign of good will and to ask the favour of the gods. I guess the feudal lord must have had deep reverence for this place.
This one is tall blighter.
At the front-right corner of the main hall (that is, the left side as you face it), stands a giant cryptomeria designated as a Natural Monument of Tochigi.
At the time, I thought I was suffering heatstroke because the lights seemed so dreamy. Turns out the light WAS fantastic.
This tree has been hit several times by lightning, and at a glance, you seen where it has mended itself, and there is no trace of any burning.
I hope this tree stands for many more centuries.
I try to show you my Japan. Won’t you show me your Japan?
नमोऽमिताभाय
南無阿弥陀仏
Misappropriation and Inattention to Detail…
... can lead to confusion.
The Giant Trees of Tochigi: α8 Saigyo’s Wandering Willow
The enclosure is made of special rocks from this region, Ashino basalt.
Number: α8
Name: Saigyo’s Wandering Willow (遊行柳)
Type: Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica)
Height: 10m
Trunk Circumference: 0.9m
Age: unknown
Location: 栃木県那須郡那須町芦野 (36° 59′ 44″N 140° 09′ 54″E)
Date of Visit: 2011-8-13
I realize it’s a bit of a stretch to include this in a “Giant” trees project, as it’s neither all that big, nor all that old. But it’s important, and it’s right beside a giant tree, so hey why not, right??
やなぎかげ
When the poet and wandering monk Saigyo (西行, 1118-1190 CE) was on his travels in Northern Honshu, he stopped beneath a willow in this area and wrote a poem:
みちのべに
しみづながるゝ
やなぎかげ
しばしとてこそ
たちとまりつれAlongside the path
Fresh water flows, and
In the willow’s shade
Just for a little while
Would I take my ease…
In Bunmei 3 (文明３年, 1471 CE), the 19th head of the Ji Sect of Buddhism (also known as the Yugyou — wandering — Sect) was a fellow named Sonkou (Saint Sonkou, if you want to be specific – 尊皓上人). At that time, as members of the sect had done ever since its inception some 200 years earlier, he was wandering throughout the land, preaching the power of the nembutsu (念仏), converting people to this flavour of Pure Land Buddhism.
When he chanced to rest beneath this willow, the spirit of the willow appeared to him in the guise of an old man. Sonkou told the spirit about the Amida Buddha, said ten nembutsu on his behalf, and gave him a slip of paper with the nembutsu on it, as was the practice of the Ji Sect. The old man thanked Sonkou, and disappeared. As it was late in the day, and the willow was as good a place as any to spend the night, Sonkou settled down to make camp.
When night fell, the spirit rematerialized and, to repay the kindness Sonkou had shown him, he told Sonkou the history of the tree and the area through the medium of interpretive dance before disappearing once again.
田一枚
In the spring of Genroku 2 (元禄２年, 1689 CE), the poet Basho was in the area, in the midst of his great wander that would give him the source material for The Narrow Road to the Deep North (おくのほそ道). Indeed, it has been said that Saigyo’s wanderings inspired Basho to his own. At any rate, after visiting The Killing Stone (殺生石, in present-day Nasu), he paid a visit to this willow. While sitting there, in the same place that Saigyo once did, he became lost in thought, and watched an entire rice field being planted. Thereupon, he wrote:
田一枚
植て立去る
柳かなOne field
did they plant.
I, under the willow.
The marker denoting this as a natural monument of Nasu Town.
Still later, during his Basho-inspired wanderings of the north, Buson (与謝蕪村, 1716-1784 CE) was feeling melancholy about the state of poetry. In his age, he felt, there was no one of the calibre of Saigyo or Basho, and so he wrote:
柳散
清水涸
石處々Willow bare
clear stream dried up
rocks here and there
All three of these poems can be found carved in stones around the Willow, reminding us of its importance.
Of course, the Willow I saw was not the Willow under which Saigyo sat; it was not the willow whose spirit achieved Nirvana with Saint Sonkou’s help; it was not the willow Basho sat beneath as a rice field was planted and it was not the willow featured in Buson’s stark metaphor of mid-Edo poetry. This willow is not old enough. Successive generations of people have taken it upon themselves, however, to make sure that a willow is always growing here. Spiritually, if not materially, this willow and those willows are the same willow.
I try to show you my Japan. Won’t you show me your Japan?
Life is beautiful…
... in all its shapes and forms.
I hate the Beatles.
But I like caterpillars. I wonder what this guy turned into.
The Giant Trees of Tochigi: #78 The Giant Ginkgo of Kaminomiya
From the mouth of the path. Directly ahead is the wee grove with the Wandering Willow. The Ginkgo lies further back.
Number: 78
Name: Giant Ginkgo of Kaminomiya (上の宮のイチョウ)
Type: Ginkgo (Ginkgo Biloba)
Height: 35m
Trunk Circumference: 6.0m
Age: >300 years
Location: 栃木県那須郡那須町芦野 (36° 59′ 44″N 140° 09′ 54″E)
Date of Visit: 2011-8-13
In the Ashino District, Yuzen Shrine has two bases: the one at Takebu-san (健武山) which is home to the Giant Cryptomeria of Yuzen Shrine; and this one, near Saigyo’s Wandering Willow. Because this one is located further upstream than the Takebu-san shrine, this shrine is known as Kami-no-miya (上の宮), the upper shrine.
The stone torii. Ahead, the shrine, and the ginkgo. To the left, the Willow, and to the right, a willow.
On the path approaching the shrine, near the stone torii gate, one can find Saigyo’s Wandering Willow. If one continues along the path, it becomes clear that the shrine is literally at the foot of the cliff.
I got kind of distracted by how awesome the rocks were ._.
Apparently this tree is not nearly as well known as the Wandering Willow. I must admit a degree of embarrassment, because even when I was there that day, I thought, “Oh, this is just some other tree, I’ll take pics and research it later — it mustn’t be too important,” but in fact the Wandering Willow is much more well known than this tree. As such, my post on the Wandering Willow will be… lacking, perhaps, due to my focus on this tree.
Though not as well known as the Willow, this tree does have a remarkable life force.
The base. The sidegrowth has really given this tree an interesting shape at this level.
A shot up the canopy. Absolutely lovely, no?
Ginkgo trees have this odd growth behaviour sometimes. They're like, aerial roots/secondary trunks that will grow down to the ground, I think.
Basho visited here in Genroku 2 (元禄２年, 1689). Perhaps this tree was here when Basho was. But, given its age, it is unlikely that it caught his eye. He was too enamored of the Willow, I think, to have given any pause to wee ginkgo seedlings.
Look, I told you there was a sign !
Nowadays, though, at mouth of the path, there are signs for both the Willow and this Ginkgo, so I think that, despite the tourist draw of the Willow, people still make time to wander further along the path and meet this grand old tree.
It's a lovely day for tree-hunting. Maybe I'll make a pit-stop at the Wanderer's Hermitage, that store over there.
I try to show you my Japan. Won’t you show me your Japan?
I grow tired of questions I cannot hear properly.
Sir, we've detected an incoming pie. / Deploy the wife!
Oslo is burning.
...and I don't wanna swim.
