Jiji Sugi and Baba Sugi of Suwa Shrine

Two cedars stand about 1.37 metres apart on the approach to Suwa Shrine, and each has its own name. The one to the right as you face the hall is Jiji-sugi, Grandpa. The one to the left is Baba-sugi, Grandma. Ono Town treats them as a married couple, a meoto-sugi, which is why they count as one thing to go and see: there is a single obvious place to stand, and it is between them. Grandpa runs to 48.5 metres tall, with a trunk 9.2 metres round at breast height and a root girth near 10.6 metres. Grandma is 47.8 metres, 9.5 metres round, roots near 10.85. So the taller tree carries the grandfather's name and the thicker trunk belongs to the grandmother. They were made a National Natural Monument in December 1937, after the botanist Manabu Miyoshi came out to survey them on 10 October 1936. Shrine tradition holds that Fujiwara no Tsuguna planted the pair as saplings in 780, the year he is said to have founded the shrine to pray for victory in a campaign in the north. That is the tradition rather than a recorded planting, and the age usually quoted, 1,100 to 1,200 years, rests on it. Both trees are in good health, with no visible major damage or decline on either trunk. Natsui Station is a five-minute walk away, which for a pair of trees of this size is unusually little effort.