The Cedars of Noike Shrine

Noike was a shrine to a water deity before it was anything else. In 1873 it became a public park under the government decree that created Japan's first parks, one of the earliest in the country, and in 2025 the national government named it a scenic site. Two springs from the volcanic Kuju plateau feed its pond, and they run at 12 to 13 degrees in every season. The torii at the park entrance stands between two giant cedars. Japan's forest tree breeding centre lists the shrine's cedar at an estimated 800 years, 41 metres tall and 7.2 metres round, which no second source confirms, so take the age as an estimate. The same centre runs a gene bank for giant trees: at an owner's request it grows young trees from cuttings or grafts, keeps some and gives some back. In March 2008 it returned young cedars grown from this one to the shrine. The park is small, about 250 metres from end to end, and a third of it is water. Stand at the torii and look up: the cedar's crown spreads far above the bamboo grove beside it. Old cedars, tabu trees and Japanese andromeda line the pond behind.