Higashiagatsuma · JP

Jindaisugi

The Jindaisugi — the Divine Era Cedar — is one of Gunma Prefecture's most extraordinary natural monuments: a colossal hollow Japanese cedar trunk with a living young tree growing through its center. Standing beside National Route 145 at Tottou Shrine in Yagura, Higashiagatsuma, this tree defies expectation at first glance. The outer shell, once a sacred giant of nearly 10 meters circumference, has been dead for well over a century, yet a second-generation cedar sprouts from within it like a tree wearing a coat. The effect is both eerie and heartwarming — a living thing sheltered inside the ribcage of an ancient. Legend holds that the great hero-prince Yamato Takeru planted this cedar himself during his eastern expedition more than fourteen centuries ago. Whether or not the legend is literal, the tree was already ancient when disaster struck: a careless traveler set a fire inside its hollow in 1742, and in 1783 the volcanic mudflows of Mt. Asama's eruption threatened to destroy what remained. A monk cut the burning giant at mid-height to save the base, and about two hundred years ago a sapling was planted inside the remaining shell. The result is the remarkable 'parent-child' tree you see today.