The Camphors of Rokusho Shrine

Measured round the roots, each of these two camphors comes to 24 metres. That figure is so far out of line with the trunks above it because, when Rokusho Shrine's buildings were rebuilt at some point, the ground around the trees was cut down, and the root bases that had been buried were left standing in the open. The trunks are huge enough on their own. At chest height the front tree, the Kumano sacred tree by the approach, is 8.5 metres round; the Sumiyoshi sacred tree further back is 7.5. Fukuoka Prefecture made the pair natural monument number 41 in April 1960. How tall they are depends on whom you read. Itoshima city gives 28 and 39 metres; another account, which reads like the prefecture's own description, gives 28 and 29. The 39 may be a slip for 29. We give you both and pick neither. The age is in dispute in the same way: the city says both trees are over a thousand years old, the other source says presumed over about 800. Somewhere between the two is the honest answer. The shrine around them has its own long record. Otomo Yoshiaki built its oldest documented hall in 1531, fire took it in the Tensho era, and Kuroda Tadayuki restored it in 1631. Shrine tradition ties its founding to Empress Jingu, more than 1,300 years ago. It is a day trip, about 27 km west of Fukuoka in Shima-Baba, Itoshima, and the precinct is open at all hours.