Seasons1 of 4
The upside-down tree Tokyo never quite got over. In 1229 the Buddhist monk Shinran planted his walking staff in the ground here before leaving Zenpukuji, or so the story goes, and the staff took root and grew into this ginkgo. Whatever the truth of the legend, tree-ring estimates put the trunk at roughly 750 years old, which makes it the oldest living thing in Tokyo and a rare tree that has outlasted the city around it more than once. Its aerial roots hang from the lower branches like stalactites, thick and pendulous enough that locals nicknamed it Sakasa Icho, the Upside-Down Ginkgo. The tree was declared a National Natural Monument in 1926, one of the first in Tokyo. Then came March 1945: American incendiary bombs burned most of the temple to the ground and scorched the ginkgo's trunk black. Ginkgos are famously fire-resistant, sappy and slow to catch, and this one kept living. New growth eventually covered the char. Every autumn it turns a shade of gold that draws photographers who have never heard of Shinran.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Zenpukuji, 1-6-21 Motoazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0046
You can recognise it by the aerial roots hanging off its lower branches like stalactites, the feature that earned it the name Sakasa Icho. It stands in the grounds of Zenpukuji temple in Motoazabu.
7 min walk from Azabu-Juban Station (Namboku/Oedo lines)
Autumn colour
late November, when the ginkgo turns deep gold
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
