HUGE fan of trees growing in places they should not reasonably be able to
upside down
sideways
out of a rock
upside down in a freakin LAKE
out of an Indiana courthouse
out of ANOTHER
GODDAMN
TREE
none of that is a reasonable expectation!!!
Thanks to everyone who let me know that the bottom image is an example of Daisugi, a Japanese forestry technique. Daisugi was created in the 14th century when a lack of level land made it difficult to plant enough Kitayama cedar trees to fill the demand for lumber.
By allowing only the straightest shoots to grow, Daisugi (a form of coppicing) relies on the tree’s ability for continuous growth to maximize the amount of wood per tree.
Through careful cyclic hand-pruning, the shoots were kept straight and free of knots, making them useful as pillars in Sukiya-zukuri houses (an architectural style characterized by use of natural materials, which would be popular throughout the Edo Period).
As demand for Kitayama cedar waned, so did the use of Daisuigi, which is now mainly valued for its visual appeal and historic significance. It’s still being used in some commercial projects though, which is good because it’s an example of humans using sustainable woodland management to get materials from their local lands while keeping them healthy, and available to future generations.
Ecologically mindful agriculture techniques like these allow humans to take what they need from the land without exploiting it–now more than ever is the time to encourage and preserve this mindset!
and here are some of the houses that would have been built with such trees:
Daisugi!