What is the oldest tree in Minami-Alps?
The oldest tree in Minami-Alps is the Great Zelkova of Mitsue, put at over 1,000 years by both the national and city registers and ranked one of the Three Great Zelkovas of Japan. The four junipers of Kochozenji, about 3.6 kilometres away, are younger at roughly 700 years, dated from the temple's own 1316 founding.
The Great Zelkova's age comes from two official sources, the national Agency for Cultural Affairs database and the city's own heritage page, both giving 'over 1,000 years' without a sharper figure; this page keeps that vagueness rather than inventing precision. Its trunk girth is recorded as 14.2 to 14.35 metres at breast height, though an older source gives 14.7, and height is disputed between 20 and 25 metres. A lightning-caused fire once hollowed its core, why the trunk looks split into two from outside though it is confirmed to be one tree. Typhoon Hagibis snapped a major limb in October 2019; the city completed cabling and wound treatment by February 2020, and the tree was already sprouting new growth from the base soon after. The four junipers at Kochozenji temple are dated from a documented founding year, 1316, attributed to founder Muso Kokushi, giving roughly 700 years as of today. Designated a single National Natural Monument in 1953, they stand about 10 metres apart at the four corners of the former guest hall's courtyard, said locally to represent the Four Heavenly Kings. Both sites are free, publicly reachable, and under active local preservation.
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