PINACEAE. CRYPTOMERIA 69 



to be about 25 square miles. In Odate district alone there are some 15,000 acres, 

 and I was told in 1914 that during the past eight years these had yielded lumber to 

 the value of a million dollars annually. The mountain slopes are steep and about 

 300 m. high ad the soil is volcanic ash, grit, pumice, etc. The trees densely crowd 

 the slopes and valleys, average from 30 to 40 m. in height and in girth of trunk from 

 2 to 3.5 m.; the largest are said to be 60 m. tall and from 5 to 6 m. in girth. The 

 heart- wood is very red and the timber is of exceptionally good quality. At Nagaki- 

 sawa a portion of this forest occupying a valley is preserved by the government as 

 a national monument. A point worthy of note is that the Cryptomeria trees in 

 this northern forest grow taller, but are less in girth than those on Yaku-shima. 



The Cryptomeria, or Sugi as it as called in Japan, is the noblest of the Japanese 

 conifers and many famous places in Japan owe much of their charm to stately 

 avenues and groves of this impressive tree. There is a solemnity and a dignity about 

 it, with its perfectly straight trunk towering heavenward and topped with a conical 

 dark green crown, as befits a tree used for enshrouding temples, shrines and sacred 

 places generally. The famous and well-known avenues at Nikko, said to be the 

 humble gift of a Daimyo poor in worldly goods, is the most magnificent of all the 

 monuments raised to the memory of the first Shogun. Although much less well 

 known, there are in different parts of Japan many avenues and groves of Cryptome- 

 ria with larger trees than those at Nikko. At the shrines of Ise there are said to be 

 some wonderful old trees, but I did not visit this famous place. The finest tree I saw, 

 and probably the largest in all Japan, is in the grounds of a temple at Sugi, a village 

 in Tosa province, Shikoku, which measures 50 m. in height and 25 m. in girth. It 

 is in perfect health, though the top has been broken off by storms and formerly its 

 height was fully 15 m. more than it is now. At the shrine of Jimmu-Tenno, the first 

 Emperor, at Sano in Osumi province, Kyushu, there is a fine avenue of Cryptomeria 

 planted some 500 years ago, the trees being from 50 to 60 m. tall and from 3 to 6 m. 

 in girth. On the Kasuga-yama at Nara there are trees from 40 to 50 m. tall and 

 from 10 to 12 m. in girth of trunk. In the park and temple grounds, too, at Nara 

 are many magnificent old Cryptomerias. The most impressive avenue I saw is 

 that on Koya-san on the borders of Yamato and Kii provinces, which I was told 

 was planted by one Ogo Shonin, a priest, about 650 years ago. This avenue is 

 more than a mile long and the trees range from 40 to 60 m. in height and from 4 

 to 8 m. in girth of trunk, and I believe with Elwes that they "surpass in grandeur 

 any other trees planted by man in the world." I have mentioned the curious asso- 

 ciation of Trochodendron and Cryptomeria, and in these avenues and groves it 

 is a not uncommon thing to see other conifers or even broad-leaved trees growing 

 on living and apparently perfectly sound trees of Cryptomeria. At the entrance 

 to the Futaara Temple at Nikko a tree of Quercus glandulifera Bl. a metre in 

 girth may be seen growing from the side of a perfectly healthy Cryptomeria, at 

 about 4 m. from the ground, as if it were a natural branch of the tree. What- 

 ever cavity there was when the acorn was deposited is entirely filled, and above 

 and below the Oak nothing, not even a swelling, is visible. The heart of these trees 

 is often decayed, and I suppose the roots of the Oak have found their way there 

 and then to the ground. That the Cryptomeria can play the part of guest as well 

 as that of host is exemplified at Nara, where at Kasuga shrine a tree of Crypto- 

 meria 25 m. tall and more than 1 m. in girth is growing from the side of a 

 Juniperus chinensis L., which is 18 m. tall and 5 m. in girth. In the groves and 

 avenues the Cryptomeria trees were planted very close together, with the result 

 that in time at their base numerous trunks have become fused into one butt of 



