A lush, multi-layered temperate rainforest dominated by mature, umbrella-shaped cedar trees with highly textured bark, under a dense, low-hanging mist blanketing steep green mountains.

Japanese Cedar / Yakusugi (Cryptomeria japonica)

Canopy of the Ancients

David S. McMeans · Sony Alpha 7R V · Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II wide-angle zoom

Yakushima National Park, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

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Canopy of the Ancients

Deep within the primeval, rain-drenched interior of Yakushima Island, a dense canopy of ancient Cryptomeria japonica rises like protective, jade-colored umbrellas over a saturated temperate ecosystem. Nurtured by an extraordinary climate where locals say it rains "35 days a month," these slow-growing giants develop incredibly resinous, tightly grained wood capable of surviving for thousands of years. Below their spreading, moss-cloaked limbs, a continuous carpet of endemic bryophytes blankets the granite floor, drinking directly from the low-hanging mountain fog that continuously rolls off the high peaks of Kagoshima Prefecture.

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