Minamihanazawa no Hananoki

In August 2010 the main trunk of this maple rotted through from the inside, after lightning, and came down. The tree is still here. It is a hananoki, Acer pycnanthum, a maple that grows wild in only a handful of wet valleys in central Japan. This one and its companion 600 metres north are the westernmost naturally occurring specimens known, and both were made National Natural Monuments on the same day in March 1921. It is the sacred tree of Hachiman Shrine at Minamihanazawa, 5.2 metres round at chest height and 21 metres tall. Hananoki means flower tree, and the name is earned in early spring, when dense red flowers crowd the bare twigs before a single leaf opens. Two things are disputed and worth saying plainly. Japanese Wikipedia puts the tree at over 250 years, a local account at over 450, and nobody has settled it. And the sources part company on what the 2010 collapse actually left: Wikipedia says the tree survived and pushed out new growth from the branches it still had, while a later account describes what remains as preserved rather than living. A photograph taken at these coordinates in September 2019 shows a tree standing, which is the reading this page follows. If you have been past more recently, tell us what you found.