S P O T ／ SPOT-292

The Great Camphor of Takeo

武雄の大楠たけおのおおくす

Hidden at the end of a bamboo path behind the main hall of Takeo Shrine in Saga Prefecture stands a colossal camphor tree said by tradition to be 3,000 years old. About 30 meters tall, 20 meters around the trunk, and 33 meters across its crown, it ranks among Japan's greatest trees. Its most striking feature is the cavernous hollow that gapes open at ground level: roughly the size of twelve tatami mats, with a small shrine to the deity Tenjin enshrined deep inside. The gnarled bark, likened to an elephant's legs, and the half-decayed yet still-living trunk embody the ancient folk reverence for giant trees as dwellings of the gods — a place where the boundary between living wood and sacred architecture dissolves. (Note: it is a Takeo City Natural Monument, not a national one, though the two are often confused.)