Great sugi of Kayano

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Location of Great sugi of Kayano

The great sugi of Kayano (栢野大杉, Kayano Ōsugi) is a Cryptomeria (Sugi) tree at Yamanaka Onsen in Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. One of the four trees believed to be sacred in the precincts of the Sugawara Shrine, it has received the distinction of designation as a Special Natural Monument from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan.

The tree stands 54.8 metres (180 ft) tall. At the base, it measures 11.5 metres (38 ft) in circumference and 3.41 metres (11.2 ft) across. At chest height, it is 9.6 metres (31 ft) around and 3.0 metres (9.8 ft) across. The tree splits into two trunks 4.9 metres (16 ft) above ground level. In 1928, Professor Manabu Miyoshi of Tokyo Imperial University estimated the age of the tree to be 2,300 years.^{[citation needed]} The other three trees are 8.8 metres (29 ft), 6.65 metres (21.8 ft) and 7.8 metres (26 ft) at chest height and natural monument of Ishikawa Prefecture. These four trees are deemed artificially planted by human due to each tree position formed corner of rectangle, and Jōmon pottery excavated from field hill adjacent to shrine.^[1]

Jōmon period artifacts unearthed near the shrine establish that human habitation predates recorded history. Warriors including members of the Taira, Minamoto, Asakura, and the Togashi (富樫氏) clan are said to have come to the shrine. In 1947, on the occasion of the second National Sports Festival of Japan (held in Ishikawa Prefecture), Emperor Shōwa visited the great sugi.