Jōmon-Sugi

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Jōmon-Sugi

Jōmon-Sugi ( Japanese 縄 文 杉) is the name of a very old crescent fir or Japanese cedar ( Cryptomeria japonica ) on the Japanese island of Yakushima .

Origin of name

The name "Jōmon" is derived from the age of the crescent fir - the Jōmon period is from 14,000 to 300 BC. Chr. Lasting epoch of Japanese history. "Sugi" (杉) is the Japanese name for a sickle fir.

description

According to dendrochronological dating on the branches of the tree, the Jōmon-Sugi is at least 2000 years old, according to some estimates even up to 7200 years. This makes it the oldest crescent fir in the world. It has a height of about 25 m, a diameter of 5 m and a circumference of 16 m.The crescent fir grows in the mountains in the center of the island of Yakushima at an altitude of 1292  m .

history

The Jōmon-Sugi probably escaped woodcutters from the Edo period hundreds of years ago, like other old sickle firs from Yakushima, probably only thanks to their irregular shape. The tree was rediscovered in the 1960s and has since been under protection, along with the rest of the forests on Yakushima, in the Yakushima National Park , which was designated in 1964 . In 1993 an area of ​​107.47 km² of the sickle fir forest was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . Two hiking trails, which are used by more than 10,000 climbers annually, lead to Jōmon-Sugi. To protect the tree and especially its roots, a viewing platform was built to the south and north of the tree.

There are several other famous trees along the paths to Jōmon-Sugi. These include Meoto-Sugi , a pair of crescent firs described as a man and woman hugging, Daiō-Sugi (Eng. "Great King Cedar"), one of the largest trees on the island, and Wilson's Stump (named after the English-American botanist Ernest Henry Wilson ), the remains of a giant crescent fir that was felled in the 1580s. Wilson's early 20th century photographs of the stump have been rediscovered in the Harvard University archives .

Tree partnership

Tāne Mahuta in New Zealand - tree partner of Jōmon-Sugi since April 2009

In April 2009, the world's first tree partnership was concluded with the Tāne Mahuta in New Zealand's Waipoua Forest . The age of the New Zealand kauri tree is estimated to be around 2000 years.

Web links

Commons : Jōmon-Sugi  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Pakenham: Remarkable trees of the world . First American ed. New York, NY 2002, ISBN 0-393-04911-6 ( google.de [accessed April 14, 2021]).
  2. ↑ Yamaguchi, H .; Nishio, S .: Water surrounding Jomon-sugi, a mysterious cedar tree growing in Yakushima Island for 7200 years. In: Journal of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers . tape 80 , 1995, ISSN  0021-468X , pp. 86-89 .
  3. ↑ a b Jomon Sugi. Japan Travel, accessed April 19, 2021 .
  4. ↑ Yakushima. UNESCO, accessed March 20, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Iconic trees in world-first partnership , accessed on March 20, 2021 (English)

Coordinates: 30 ° 21 ′ 38.6 ″  N , 130 ° 31 ′ 55 ″  E