Japan has always been a mysterious and intriguing country for foreigners especially when it comes to cultural aspects. Their ways of life never ceases to amaze and inspire others to achieve even a close comparison of perfection to each and every thing they put their mind to. The pursuit of excellence is deeply embedded in their culture and personalities, which is obvious in different aspects of their daily lives.
Western culture is already familiar in the art of bonsai. This Japanese green concept dates back to over a thousand years wherein small trees in pots are carefully cut and styled to mimic the appearance of full-sized trees; but barely anyone has heard about the ancient forestry technique known as ‘daisugi.’ While daisugi and bonsai have various similarities in technique, the results these two art forms produce are completely different to one another.
Learning that this technique dates back to the 14th century is a shock to people that haven’t heard of daisugi; until Twitter user Wrath of Gnon received over 17k likes on his post about it. Aside from going viral on Twitter, Gnon also popularized daisugi on Imgur and Reddit.
Sustainable forestry: lumber without cutting down trees. Daisugi is a Japanese forestry technique where specially planted cedar trees are pruned heavily (think of it as giant bonsai) to produce "shoots" that become perfectly uniform, straight and completely knot free lumber. pic.twitter.com/5ULYOmCkLp
— Wrath Of Gnon (@wrathofgnon) April 15, 2020
Originating from the region of Kitayama, the locals invented this method to solve their problem of seedling shortage. With barely any flat land in the region to harvest trees, planting and raising trees on sloped areas was extremely challenging and difficult. As a result of their natural landform, daisugi tailoring gave the arborists the freedom to reduce the numbers of trees they planted, speed up the harvest cycle and finally produce even better quality and denser wood than normal. This forestry technique was mostly used on sugi – a Japanese cedar tree.
Throughout the centuries, the art of tree tailoring has declined massively. In present day, daisugi art of tree cutting are now mostly found in well-kept and ornamental gardens to showcase their slender and elegant appearance.
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