Pines belong to the traditional Japanese landscape, as olive trees belong to the Mediterranean.

The people of these islands have always admired them for their graceful shape and appreciated the wood for its many uses. Pines dotting sandy beaches or thriving on sunny, low hills were images fixed in the Japanese mind until, in the 1970s, the ravages of the matsunozai senchu (pine weevil) robbed the scenery of so many.

Large, old pines, standing alone or soaring above other trees, were traditionally revered as passageways through which deities descended from heaven. With branches hanging downward, their umbrellalike form symbolized the celestial realm, and in bygone times, villagers gathered under them to dine, sing and dance together. Often, the tree itself became an object of worship.