Takamata Matsubara Regenerated Pine Forest was added to Your Favorites!
Sanriku Fukkō NP, Iwate
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A woman in neighboring Sumita had gathered Takata Matsubara pinecones for Christmas decorations in 2010. Their seeds grew into about 600 seedlings later planted in the new forest—a living link to the grove lost in 2011.
The shore was once called Tachigamihama, where salt winds and drifting sand ruined crops. From 1667, merchant Kanno Mokunosuke began planting pines; 3 generations tended them, and Matsuzaka Shin’emon later expanded the grove.
The grove regrew after tsunamis in 1835, 1896 and 1933. During the 1960 Chile tsunami, its pines were credited with reducing damage downtown—though that wave still toppled 2,000–3,000 trees.
Planting 40,000 young pines was completed on May 18, 2021: Iwate Prefecture planted 30,000, and the local NPO planted 10,000 with help from students and volunteers. A forest like the old one may take about 50 years to grow.
After the tsunami, hamanasu beach roses and other familiar plants sprouted on a tiny remnant of Takata Matsubara. Volunteers rescued them before construction could crush them; about 50 of the raised rose shrubs were later planted beside the memorial-park path.
Of about 70,000 pines, just 1 stood after the 2011 tsunami: the Miracle Pine. Saltwater damage killed it by May 2012, so the standing tree visitors see is a preserved memorial, not a living pine.
Before young pines could return to the exposed shore, local keepers and volunteers made bamboo screens to shield them from strong sea winds. School groups joined in the hands-on work of preparing the forest’s next generation.
