Yakushima’s ethereally beautiful valley closed to visitors following storm damage.

With Typhoon Shanshan (or Typhoon Number 10, as it was called in Japan’s numerically based naming system) having dissipated, the time comes for Japan to survey the damage caused. As with most typhoons, Shanshan came up from the southwest, hitting that part of Japan the hardest, and its winds were so strong that it snapped a 3,000-year-old tree on the island of Yakushima in two.

The Yayoi Sugi/Yayoi Cedar is, or rather was, a 26.1-meter (85.6-foot) tall cedar tree standing in Yakushima’s Shiratani Unsuikyo, an ethereally beautiful, densely forested valley that famously served as inspiration for the mystical setting of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke anime film. The Yayoi Cedar is estimated to be 3,000 years old, and its majestic, humbling presence makes it one of the primary attractions for hikers on Yakushima, so much so that there’s a specific Yayoi Sugi trail that leads to it.

▼ The Yayoi Cedar (top left) and Yayoi Cedar trail, prior to the typhoon

▼ This video opens with footage of the tree in 2004, and though that was 20 years ago, that’s a pretty small span of time compared to its total age.

https://youtu.be/7gDybQGNfiw

Sadly, after the typhoon passed out of the Yakushima area, on August 31 a local tour guide went out to check the conditions of the Yayoi Cedar trail, and found the path blocked by landslides at multiple points. Worst of all, when the guide eventually did manage to reach the Yayoi Cedar, she saw that the trunk had snapped near the roots, with the broken off portion lying horizontal after falling.

Mercifully, the entire tree wasn’t uprooted, but it’s unclear if the damage is something that the Yayoi Cedar can recover and grow back from. The local forestry authorities are currently investigating the best course of action to take, and for the time being Shiratani Unsuikyo is closed to visitor access while the trails are being repaired.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Livedoor News via Jin, Yakushima no Tabi
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