The so-called miracle pine tree, the only one to remain standing among tens of thousands on a beach inundated by the March 11 tsunami, will no longer be a symbol of restoration efforts in the once scenic Takata-Matsubara forest of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
The so-called miracle pine tree, the only one to remain standing among tens of thousands on a beach inundated by the March 11 tsunami, will no longer be a symbol of restoration efforts in the once scenic Takata-Matsubara forest of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
Simply put: The tree is dying.
The Japan Greenery Research and Development Center, an organization that had been working to keep the tree alive, announced Dec. 13 that it has decided to abandon that effort.
The city government now plans to preserve the trunk as a monument from the natural catastrophe and will soon discuss details of the preservation project.
The Takata-Matsubara forest, known as one of Japan's top 100 scenic sites, had about 70,000 pine trees before the tsunami, which uprooted all but one of them.
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, the 270-year-old lone survivor has been plagued by rotting roots due to groundwater that is high in salinity, according to the organization.
"The tree is already a miracle, given that it survived such a formidable tsunami," said Futoshi Toba, the mayor of Rikuzentakata, who received a report on the decision. "It has anchored people's lives here for nine months (since the disaster)"
The city government, working with botanical experts, will discuss methods to preserve the trunk such as transferring it to a new location.