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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Kanagawa
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During World War II, an order called for 30–50 of Hakone’s cedars to be supplied for military-ship timber. Hakone Town’s preservation history says a town-hall employee quietly buried the order, sparing the trees.
Local tradition says the lakeside cedars were planted in 1618, when Hakone-juku opened. But tree-ring counts from felled trees led researchers to suggest planting came several decades later.
Hakone’s surviving cedar stands include 2 varieties: about 70% Kuma-sugi, associated with Mie, Nara and Wakayama, and 30% Akita-sugi. In the Shinyamachi area, Akita-sugi make up 76%.
Pines were common along the Tokaido, but Hakone’s old-road avenue is the only surviving cedar-lined stretch on the historic route. One account says the original pines were later replaced with cedars.
More than 400 cedars line this roughly 500-metre stretch. Some reach 30 metres high, with trunks over 4 metres around—a towering shelter that once helped protect travelers from sun and wind.
Some cedars near Hakone Checkpoint were losing vigor, so caretakers connected young cedar roots to the old trees’ roots. The idea was to help the ancient trees draw more water and nutrients from the soil.
