A Japanese craft for protecting trees
Japanese people are famous around the world for being well organized and sagacious. When December is knocking at their door, with sooner or later the snow, before cutting woods for the fire, Japanese people think about protecting trees too.
When you walk in a Japanese garden during the winter months (and sometimes a bit before), you can see trees covered with strange ropes rising above the trees like a crown or a cone. This is called “yukitsuri” 雪吊り (literally “snow hanging”) and is meant to protect the branches of the trees from being crushed by the snow. Trees are given extra support by bamboo poles next to their trunk with ropes attached to branches.
Mainly used on pine trees, this craft technique has many variations and sometimes up to 900 ropes can be used to craft a yukitsuri.
It is very common in the region with heavy snowfalls, such as Kanazawa and Takayama, but you can see it in less rural areas such as Tokyo’s gardens! Even if the capital doesn’t receive much snow anymore, yukitsuri craft somehow acts as a seasonal marker, along with the arrival of koyo!
This creative way of protecting nature has zero impact on the beauty of the landscapes. It is a perfect combination of esthetics and practicism!
It is also a good proof of Japanese people’s attachment to nature, an important component of Shintoism.
