Part of BBC Earth documentary on Yakushima

Below is an NHK documentary called ‘Yakushima no Yamashi mori ni ikiru’ which follows Takada Hisao, a local man from Anbo, and his work in the forest collecting yakusugi trunks. It is split into 5 parts for Youtube. Return to Homepage

“When I first came to Yakushima, it would have never crossed my mind that I would soon learn the old Japanese craft of carving Yakusugi wood. I was a fisherman; out on the ocean every day to catch flying fish,” says Clive Witham, who, awed by the beauty of Japan’s

Deer cull planned to save flora The Yomiuri Shimbun, 13 Oct 2010 The Environment Ministry, the Forestry Agency and local governments are planning a large-scale cull of deer on Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture to counter the threat the animals pose to native plant species. The growing population of yakushika,

Yakushima Newsletter August 2009

Yakushima is famous for its wooden Yakusugi crafts. These are made from Yakusugi tree trunks, often 1000s of years old, which were lying on the forest floor. They are brought down the mountain, sliced into manageable pieces and distributed to craftsmen around the coast. It is an incredibly difficult task to change these chunks

The snow conditions in 2012: UPDATE: No snow on the main trails as of 2nd March 2012 Shiratani Unsuikyo and the Kusugawa Trail  The following photo was taken on 7th Jan 2012 at Tsuji pass above Shiratani Unsuikyo. There was 3-4 cm of snow and no special footwear was needed