Sugimori Jinja no Ohatsuki Icho

These two ginkgos grow their seeds on the edges of their leaves. That is the whole reason for the designation, and it is a genuine botanical oddity rather than a local story. In the ohatsuki form of the ginkgo the ovules form directly on the leaf margin instead of on a normal stalk, so a fertile leaf comes down in autumn with the seed still attached to it. Only a handful of ohatsuki ginkgos are nationally protected in Japan. Sugimori Shrine has two, a short walk apart inside one small precinct, and a single designation made on 27 August 1935 covers the pair. The register's word for what makes them worth protecting is academic, not scenic. They are large without being freakish. Both run to roughly 32 metres. The one on the hillside behind the main hall measures about 3 metres round, the one on the western side in front of the hall about 2.8. Both are female, which is what makes the trait visible at all, since a male ginkgo has nothing to carry on a leaf. Neither tree has been dated by any source found, so no age is given here. If you know of one, send it. The pin marks the shrine rather than a single trunk, which for once is the right way round. You are coming to see two trees, and they are both inside the gate.