The Camphors of Tobihino

Three trees planted in 1908 have grown into one cloud. They stand in a ring fence in the middle of the Tobihino meadow, marking the spot where Emperor Meiji sat to watch army manoeuvres, and in a little over a century they have closed into a single dome so complete that most people photograph them believing they are looking at one enormous tree. The largest trunk is nearly five metres around and the crown reaches twenty-six metres. What makes the spot rather than the tree is everything else in the frame: open grass, morning mist off the hills behind, and the deer of Nara Park grazing right up to the fence, because Tobihino is where they gather. This is the youngest tree on this page by several centuries and it earns its place on presence alone. Come early. The meadow faces east, the light comes in under the crown, and the deer are out before the buses are.