Holy Gingko

The Economist reported last month that an 800-year old gingko tree that stood outside the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine in Japan crashed to the ground in March. The Shintos believe that nature is holy and therefore this tree was divine. Accordingly, thousands of people rushed to the shrine to pay respects to the tree.

But it may live again. Scientists are working to replant and clone the tree through grafting. I wonder if anyone has asked the tree how it feels about all this. Shigeho Yoshida, chief priest at the shrine, said he feels the tree might have been trying to send a message by falling: "Perhaps the tree fell to draw everyone’s attention away from their focus on materialism and money."

Read the full story here.