Farewell to the Old Man of the forest

Anyone who has taken the Okabu trail from the logging railway on their way to Jomon Sugi would have come across a grand old tree called Okina Sugi (翁杉). It was thought to be around 2000 years old and was hidden beneath a coat of thick green moss. Here is what it looked like a week ago:


And this is what it looked like last weekend:


As you can see, it completely collapsed. The bottom of the trunk had become 90% hollow and was finally unable to hold the weight of the tree above it. Some time during the night of the 9th-10th September 2010 it split at a height of 3 metres and promptly shattered into pieces as it hit the forest floor on the opposite side to the trail.

A fond farewell then to the Old Man whose branches hung over many an exhausted hiker.