Wilson Stump

Wilson’s stump is a stump of Yakushima’s Yakusugi cedar said to have been cut down about 400 years ago during the Shimazu domain period. Inside the stump is a large hollow where a clear spring gushes out and forms a small stream.

Three small cedars are growing at the base of the stump, a phenomenon known as “stump renewal. This refers to the growth of the next generation of cedars after a giant tree has been cut down. The Wilson stump was made known to the world by Dr. Wilson, an American botanist in the Taisho era (1912-1926), and was given its name.

It is a wonderful sight that brings to mind the power of the forest to grow giant trees, and also the people who have lived off the forest.

Wilson’s stock is believed to have been cut from the timber of Yakushima by order of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. This was done after Hideyoshi’s conquest of Kyushu in 1587, and it is believed that the wood was used to build the Great Buddha Hall of Hokoji Temple in Kyoto.

This magnificent Yakusugi cedar, with a 13.8 m chest-high circumference and estimated to be 3,000 years old, was studied and introduced to the Western cultural sphere by Dr. Ernest Henry Wilson, an English botanist who visited Japan for the Harvard University Arboretum. It was later named Wilson’s stock after him.

There is a spring of fresh water inside this stock, and a shrine has been established. There are many branches of the plant, and the useless tips are left in the surrounding streams. Although the area around the plant is off-limits, visitors can enter the interior of the plant and look up at the sky to see a heart shape.

Dr. Wilson also wrote other works on Japanese cherry trees and conifers, and contributed much to the flora of Japan.