Cedar Avenue Hakone. Four centuries ago exactly, the second Edo Period Shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, ordered the planting of sugi (Japanese Cedar, Cryptomeria japonica) along both sides of Tokaido to shade travellers as they made their way around the shoreline of Lake Ashinoko towards Hakone Checkpoint. 420 of these magnificant specimens remain, towering straight, fat, and proud into the Hakone sky along Cedar Avenue.
Sugi is integral to Japanese life. 70% of Japan’s land area is forested, an astounding proportion for any country, let alone a smallish, highly industrialised nation with a massive population. Most of these forests are plantations established shortly after World War II. Sugi and Hinoki are the two main species planted, as both have been Japan’s main timber species for centuries. As Japan lacks sufficient labour to harvest this vast area, the youngish post-war plantations will continue to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide for decades or even centuries ahead. Parts of the national landscape will in time become as impressive as Cedar Avenue, or the Redwood forests of California.
Unfortunately these sugi plantations get a lot of bad press, as the copius pollen they produce in spring is the cause of hay-fever grief to many Japanese. Weather forecasts at this time of year also have a “pollen forecast” for the unfortunate sufferers.
But sugi is an incredible tree. The eldest tree on Japan’s main island of Honshu is the two millennia Old Camphor at Kinomiya Shrine in Atami. But Japan’s eldest trees are several thousands year old sugi on remote Yaku Shima (Yaku Island), south of Kyushu. Understandably, the Yaku Shima sugi has a lot of spiritual meaning for Japanese people, and presumably is excused the hay-fever blame.
A walk along Cedar Avenue Hakone is included in Hakone Hachiri Tour.
Reblogged this on Namiki Trails and commented:
Here is a story about the old Tokaido Road in the Mount Fuji Area, where I am trialling a new multi-day hike.