Three hundred year old pine tree

This amazing tree lives in the Hama Rikyu Detached Garden in Tokyo. It is awesome not only because of its age, but its ability to survive within the urban jungle that is Tokyo.

It thrives, tended by gardeners who never saw its beginning and will never see its ending, but continue to prune and create a structure for it that is unbelievable.

I could not photograph the entire tree in one picture and have it look like anything.

This tree was not allowed to grow upward. All of its growth was directed sideways. This is the structure holding it in place.

Some branches get wrapped with bamboo fibers to protect them.

Here is a close-up of some of that structure.

I made a collage in Photoshop. Let’s see if I can get it in here.

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Inspiration

I planned to have one last post that would summarize what I had not accomplished and what I ought to do on the next trip. I’m still working on it and reviewing the trip as I arrange all these posts on paper.

I found a charming blog, Kyoto Daily Photo, where Macky posts a new photo and explanation each day. I am inspired to post some of my photos with explanations about how they were taken, or what moved me to take the picture. I’ve been overwhelmed by their numbers. Uploading them to my Flickr site helped me organize them, but I’m still overwhelmed. My plan is now to select small numbers of the photos I like best and write about them in detail.

I took these photos in Kyoto as I was walking from the Toji Temple antique market. Even though all this stuff was outside, the shop really didn’t look open. Except for the obvious prices, it almost looked more like a work of art that a commercial enterprise.

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Photographs

I have finished adding all of my photos to my Flickr account.

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