What is the oldest tree in Iwaki?

The tree is really two trunks growing together as one umbrella-shaped clump, a naturally occurring weeping and twisted form of the ordinary Japanese maple. The larger stem stands 6.8 metres tall and 3.5 metres round; the smaller reaches 4 metres, and together they spread 12 metres of branches over the grounds of a small Kannon temple. Japan designated it a National Natural Monument in 1937, and it has held that status for close to ninety years. No age is stated on this page. Japanese Wikipedia's own article speculates 400 to 500 years if the tree dates to the temple's founding, but no source actually ties the two together, so the figure is left out rather than repeated as fact. What is documented instead is attention: Iwaki's city government tracks and publishes this specific maple's autumn colour every year, most recently noting in late November 2024 that the leaves had just begun to turn. A nine-space car park near the temple exists for the visitors who come to see it.