Category: Japan Culture

Japan Culture 2026.07.12

Daisugi: The 600-Year-Old Japanese Technique of Growing Trees on Trees

Daisugi (台杉) is a traditional Japanese forestry technique in which a single “mother tree” is kept alive while multiple perfectly straight cedar… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.06.07

Midori Tsumi: Reading a Pine Tree’s Future in Its Spring Candles

In May, candle-like new shoots begin to extend from the tips of every pine branch. What those candles mean — which direction… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.05.17

Japan’s Sacred Giant: The 2,000-Year-Old Camphor Tree of Kinomiya Shrine

In the coastal city of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, a single camphor tree has been standing for more than 2,000 years. This is… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.05.17

What a Submerged Forest Teaches Us About Landscape Design: Ecology Over Aesthetics

Why does a landscape exist where it does? Standing at the edge of Nishiakiko Lake in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, and watching trees… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.05.06

From Family Crest to Garden: How Kamon Plants Shaped Japanese Landscape Design

Every plant in a Japanese garden was chosen for a reason. When a paulownia tree stands at the entrance of a historic… Read Article →

Tree Risk 2026.05.03

Japan’s Falling Trees Crisis: When the Postwar Planting Boom Reaches Its Limit

Japan’s Falling Trees Crisis: When the Postwar Planting Boom Reaches Its Limit Introduction In April 2026, an 18-meter cherry tree with a… Read Article →

Tree Risk 2026.04.25

How to Read Tree Decay Without Technology: Japanese Field Methods

How to Read Tree Decay Without Technology: Japanese Field Methods Introduction Strike a wooden mallet against the trunk and listen. Press a… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.04.21

Karikomi: The Japanese Art of Cloud Pruning Explained

Karikomi: The Japanese Art of Cloud Pruning Explained Introduction That landscape of rolling green mounds — soft domes and undulating ridges that… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.04.15

Miharu Takizakura: Japan’s 1,000-Year-Old Weeping Cherry Tree

In the small town of Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, stands a single cherry tree that stops people in their tracks every spring. Miharu… Read Article →

Tree Risk 2026.04.12

VTA vs. Jyumoku-i: Comparing Two Tree Diagnosis Systems — Western Science Meets Japanese Expertise

VTA vs. Jyumoku-i: Comparing Two Tree Diagnosis Systems — Western Science Meets Japanese Expertise Introduction How do you decide whether a tree… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.04.10

Niwaki vs Topiary: What Western Gardens Get Wrong

“Cloud pruning.” “Pom-pom trees.” “Japanese-style topiary.” When I see these terms used to describe niwaki in Western garden media, I feel something… Read Article →

Japan Culture 2026.04.09

Why Do Japan’s Ancient Trees Live for a Thousand Years?

Imagine standing before a tree that was already old when Rome still ruled the Western world. In Japan, this is not a… Read Article →