This banyan is named after a brass band. In the early twentieth century, under French rule, a military bugle band of twelve to fourteen players used to practise in its shade, and Hoi An has called it the Da Ken tree, the bugle band banyan, ever since. The band is long gone and the tree is protected. In November 2014 the city put it on its list of 46 protected old trees, and in March 2015 it was given paving, steps and an information stele of its own. The Hoi An Heritage Centre puts it at about 20 metres tall. It also records a trunk of 4.1 metres at chest height, though as a diameter that would be implausibly wide for a fig this height, so it is probably a circumference or a span across the roots. Nobody has a document for its age. Local accounts say several hundred years, and that is as far as the record goes. If you know more, tell us. Even its address is disputed. The heritage centre places it on the pavement beside 42 Tran Hung Dao, east of the Xuan Lam communal house, while the Da Nang newspaper and a 2026 heritage article put it on Tran Cao Van. The pin follows the one banyan mapped on Tran Cao Van, which is the likelier spot but not a certainty. It stands on a public street in the old town, free to visit at any hour.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Tran Cao Van street beside Xuan Lam communal house, Hoi An old town
You can recognise it by the information stele, paving and steps at its foot. It stands on the pavement by the Xuan Lam communal house, on Tran Cao Van street by most accounts.
Free: on a public street pavement with paving, steps and an information stele (installed 27 Mar 2015); in the old town (old town tickets are for sites, not streets, not checked).
In Hoi An old town, walkable; no transport needed.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.