From Mainichi:
An 800-year-old “holy” cedar tree in a quake-hit Niigata shrine crashed to the ground on New Year’s Day in front of locals making their first prayers of the year.
This story reminded me of the trees in Nikko and the Toshogu Shrine. Those trees are gargantuan and very, very old.
And the culture truly owns those trees, as it has been around for just as long as they have.
I wonder what makes a tree holy…how it becomes so, over time.