Climbed to Jomon Sugi cedar tree

I climbed up to see the famous huge Jomon Sugi cedar tree in the altitude of 1,300m in Yakushima Island off southern Kyushu. It was mountaineering of more than ten hours. Several years ago, my wife and I visited Yakushima and did sightseeing of everything there except the too difficult Jomon Sugi. This time, with my wife's generous permission, I participated in the tour alone thinking like Elvis Presley "It's now or never."

We changed planes at Kagoshima Airport to a never-heard-of propeller plane "DHC-8" manufactured by "de Havilland Canada", and flew only for 25 minutes to arrive at Yakushima Airport. We had lunch and changed clothes for mountaineering for 3.5 hours in Shiratani Unsuikyo, which I visited for the second time. We saw the mother nature there with several huge cedar trees, some monkeys and deers. The animation movie director, Mr. Hayao Miyazaki, is said to have got the idea of "Princess Mononoke" here seeing heavily mossed ravine. Last time the ravine was called "Mononoke Ravine", but this time it was called "Moss Ravine" in consideration of the copyrights.

We were told that the mountaineering on that day was our strength test for grouping for the next day. I walk rather fast in walking downhill or flat, but I am accustomed to walk rather slowly uphill without recesses to reach the destination faster. I am weak in walking uphill faster taking frequent rests. In addition, I am probably the oldest member. So I suggested to my guide not to include me in the fastest walking group.

Next morning, we got up at 3:30am, ate breakfast box at 4am, outfit ourselves and took a bus in the dark. At Arakawa Start Point at the altitude of 600m, we were grouped into three groups. The guides didn't say anything like fast or slow, but each guide called six or seven names. I was called last by an experienced female guide. After the other two groups had already started, our guide continued guidance talks and warm-up exercises for some time before starting at last at 6:13am. Our group consisted of a couple of the ages of 30's, two women of late 40's, a man about 65 and myself of 76 years of age. Since we were called last, I presumed that we were the weakest group, but it was soon found the strongest group. We quickly passed the preceding two groups and took the lead. Because we use only one bus, the strong group must adjust times, by starting later, taking more time for lectures of plant and earth sciences, doing more sightseeing, and returning to the starting point earlier.

In Yakushima Island, cedar trees were felled extensively until 1970. The tram track to carry lumbers was laid out in surprisingly constant gradients from the seashore up in Kosugi valley along River Abo up to the terminal of Okabu Trail Entrance at the altitude 900m. Walking on the track from Arakawa Start Point to Okabu Trail Entrance, the distance of 8.1km gains the elevation of 310m. We climbed this distance in 3 hours including occasional lectures, recesses and using toilets. Last time when we visited Yakushima Island, we heard that there was no toilet along the track. This time, there were toilets in Arakawa Start Point, a middle point and the terminal of the track. But, as we heard, the waiting times in lines for the toilets in the busiest seasons would be as long as one hour. Big cedar trees along the track had been all felled down to leave only stumps. On our way, we passed the spots of old Kosugi primary school and junior highschool. There used to be a community of logging workers and families.

Our guide used her radiophone to checked from time to time the current locations of the following groups, and spent time in sightseeing lectures lest our group should go too far ahead. I was now convinced that this was why our group was led by the experienced guide, who had many topics to tell. We were not doing the regular mountaineering to the summit, but doing the "sightseeing mountaineering."

A steep rugged Okabu Trail began at the end of the track. We climbed a wooden stairs without hand rails hung in the air to traverse depressed slopes, or very rugged paths of tree roots and granites. There were places where a slip on the stairs would risk the life. We climbed the three sets of long steep stairs, which our guide called the first, second and third stages of the hell, and gained the elevation of 100m at once to reach Wilson's stump with circumference of 13.8m. In the 16th century, it is said, the strong man Hideyoshi ordered to fell this tree to make the central column for the temple Hokoji in Kyoto, which was later burned in war. We entered into the hollowed stump of the size of a small room. The stump is prefixed with the name of a Harvard botanist, who had rediscovered it.

We continued to climb the steep slope to gain additional elevation of 200m, and reached Daio (Great King) Sugi cedar tree of the circumference of 11.1m. I was moved by the great tree, which was thought to be the biggest until Jomon Sugi was rediscovered.

When I had surveyed on a map in advance, the distance of 0.8km and the elevation of 80m from Daio Sugi to Jomon Sugi appeared to be a smooth ascending path. Actually, however, it was found repetition of wicked paths, such as 10m to descent and 10m to go before ascending 15m. Where Jomon Sugi was not far, there was a fountain and many benches on which many people were eating lunch boxes. We joined them.

Soon after we resumed walking, we finally arrived at the viewing stage of Jomon Sugi at the altitude of 1,300m. The huge cedar tree of the circumference of 16.4m was the biggest I had ever seen. I felt being injected with the life force by only viewing the tree. Two hours 40 minutes have passed from Okabu Trail Entrance, or five hours and 50 minutes from Arakawa Start Point.

Jomon Sugi is alleged to be 7,200 years old. An associate professor of Kyushu University once studied the annual rings of cedar trees on high mountains of Yakushima to define the average growth rate and multiplied it to the size of Jomon Sugi. Later another scholar took fragments of the inside wall of the hollow in the trunk and its carbon isotope turned out to be 2,170 years old in maximum. He conjured that including the hollow portion the tree should be at least 2,500 years old or probably 3,000 years old. These numbers seemed more persuading to me.

On our way back, we had more time adjustment and arrived at Arakawa Start Point in four hours and 20 minutes. Many information sources had impressed me in advance with hardness of climbing up to Jomon Sugi, but I found it rather easy, as easy as anyone could probably climb up successfully. An important factor for my thinking so was probably that we were indeed blest with the weather, in Yakushima Island where it was said to rain for 35 days in a month.

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