The Great Camphor of Kiyotake

People sheltered inside this tree during the war. The trunk has a mouth in it, and behind the opening the hollow runs to something like the floor of a seven or eight mat room; Kodansha's survey of Japan's natural monuments records that it was used as a makeshift air-raid shelter, and whether that would have helped against strafing or a bomb was never tested, because the attack did not come. The camphor stands at the foot of the hill beside Funabiki Shrine, which its signboard dates to 1087, and the 900-year age given for the tree is that founding date carried across on the assumption the two began together. It is a large assumption and it is the only basis there is. What is measured is the size, and it is not in dispute: 13.2 metres round and 35 metres tall in the Environment Agency's survey, which puts it among the largest camphors in the country. The shrine enshrines Emperor Chuai, Empress Jingu and their son Ojin, the Hachiman deities, and the tree is known locally as the Hachiman camphor because of it. It has been a National Natural Monument since June 1951. Epiphytes have thickened on it noticeably over the last few decades.