Mythological Giant Trees in Japan

Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 13:16:19 -0700
To: jj68@nyu.edu
Subject: mythological giant trees

Dear Dr. Julian,
I thought you and your readers might be inteested in these giant mythological
trees.

The Kunugi Tree, a kind of Oak, is said to have stood on the island of
Tsukushi in Japan.  Its shadow at dawn and sunset is said to have cast a
shadow for hundeds of miles.  Hundreds of thousands of people could walk on
it when it fell.  One of its stems was like a long hill range.

The Kurita Tree was a Chestnut in the province of Omi, also in Japan.
Its branches spread so far that the nuts fell scores of miles away, one nut
forms a mound in Ise.  The trees shadow covered many districts.  People to
the northwest, in Wakasa, said their rice crop failed because of the shadow
and petitioned the Emperor to cut it down.  Supposedly he did so.

The Katsura Tree is naturalized in Japan but suspected of being Chinese in
origin.  It was a kind of laurel said to live on the moon and be visible in
its dark spots.  In those olden times other cultures too had stories of
trees that filled the entire universe.


                                     Keep on,

                                       Mark Healy
                                            Pacific Grove, Ca.
                                               Home to many amazing trees.

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