Ginkgo Trees in the Lower Castle

A Living Giant Beside the Falls

The tree rises on a small elevated plot just east of National Route 212, on the road that runs from the town center of Miyabaru toward the Tsuetate Hot Spring district on the Ōita border. Just a few steps to the west, the Shimojō Falls plunges some forty meters down a sheer cliff face into the gorge of the Momigi River, a tributary of the Tsuetate River and—remarkably for a Kumamoto location—part of the great Chikugo River system that drains into the Ariake Sea.

The figures alone are humbling. The tree stands approximately 25 meters tall, with a root circumference of roughly 21 meters, and a trunk girth at chest height variously measured between 9.6 and 12 meters depending on the source. What truly distinguishes this ginkgo, however, is the extraordinary spread of its branches: about 19 meters to the east, 25 meters to the west, 19.5 meters to the south, and 15.5 meters to the north—reaching up to 40 meters at its widest. From a distance, it does not appear as a single tree at all, but as a small grove rising out of the hillside.

Why It Was Designated a National Natural Monument

The Shimo-no-Jō no Ichō was designated a National Natural Monument by the then Ministry of Education on December 28, 1934 (Shōwa 9). Its formal designation name preserves the older orthography "Shimo-no-Jō," reflecting the village name as it was written at the time of designation, although today the same place is commonly written "Shimojō" with an identical reading.

Several qualities together earned the tree this rare protected status. First, its sheer scale: it is among the largest ginkgo trees in Japan and indisputably the largest in Kumamoto Prefecture. Second, its estimated age of more than 1,000 years places it among the venerable elders of Japan's tree heritage. Third, the tree exhibits a striking and somewhat unusual form—numerous robust shoots (hikobae) have grown upward from the base, encircling the main trunk like columns, with the largest reaching 2 meters in height and 1.9 meters in girth. Together with the celebrated "milk-knobs" hanging from the trunk and limbs, this gives the tree a sculptural, almost architectural presence that is exceptional even among Japan's many ancient ginkgoes.

The "Chichikobu-san" and the Prayers of Mothers

Ginkgo trees are dioecious—each individual is either male or female—and the Shimo-no-Jō no Ichō is a female. Unlike many other ancient ginkgoes, it has very few of the long hanging "milk-pillars" (chichi-bashira) sometimes seen on the species. Instead, its main trunk is studded with numerous knot-like protrusions called chichikobu, meaning "milk-knobs"—rounded, breast-shaped growths that the local people have, for centuries, taken as a sign of the tree's quiet maternal power.

From these protrusions arose a beloved folk tradition. Women whose milk supply was insufficient for nursing would pray to the tree, and some would gently shave a small piece of its bark to brew as a tisane, believing it would help their milk flow freely. The practice has left visible traces on the bark, where small areas show the marks of many such offerings. Locally the tree is affectionately called "Chikobu-san" or "Chichikobu-san"—honored grandmother of milk-knobs—and it is still visited today by women hoping for the blessing of healthy nursing, the gift of a child, or a happy marriage.

The Shimojō Women's Association (Shimojō chiku fujinkai) has long taken responsibility for the tree's care and protection. Between the female sex of the tree, the folklore of nursing mothers, and the women who steward it, the Shimo-no-Jō no Ichō stands as a place of distinctly feminine reverence within Japan's broader tree-worship tradition.

Two Legends Beneath the Branches

At the base of the great trunk stands a five-ring stone pagoda (gorintō), and local tradition holds that this marks the grave of Myōei, the mother of Kazusa-no-suke Tsuneyoshi, a medieval lord of Shimojō Castle. According to this account, the ginkgo itself was planted as a grave marker—a living monument that has now outlived the castle, its lords, and the very era from which they came.

A second, more poetic legend connects the tree to the "Kagamiga-ike" (Mirror Pond) tradition, in which the ginkgo is said to be a grave marker for Mashin, the wet nurse of Princess Komatsu—a granddaughter of the Heian emperor Daigo. In either telling, the tree marks a maternal devotion: a mother for her son, or a nurse for the imperial child she raised. It is a fitting symbolism for a tree that has spent the past millennium gathering the prayers of mothers.

Highlights for Visitors

The tree rewards visitors in every season, but its true splendor is reserved for late October and early November, when the leaves shift through every shade of gold. After the leaves fall, the ground beneath the tree becomes a luminous yellow carpet—a sight in itself worth the journey to Oguni.

Each year during the peak autumn season, the town of Oguni illuminates the tree at night, transforming the already astonishing form into something dreamlike. Set against the dark mountainside, the radiant gold of the lit canopy seems to float above the earth. Visitors can enjoy:

• The spreading crown viewed from below, especially when fully leafed in summer green or autumn gold
• The cluster of root-shoots and the chichikobu protrusions on the lower trunk
• The five-ring stone pagoda and stone markers at the base, evoking the tree's legendary history
• The seasonal nighttime illumination during the late-autumn yellowing
• The neighboring Shimojō Falls and Nabekama Falls, both within walking distance

Around the Great Ginkgo: What to See and Where to Stay

The Shimo-no-Jō no Ichō sits at the heart of one of Kyushu's most rewarding hot-spring corridors. Within a short drive lie three distinctive onsen districts—Tsuetate, Kurokawa, and Oguni—each with its own atmosphere and bathing culture.

Tsuetate Onsen, just seven or eight minutes by car, is an old riverside spa town said to date back over 1,800 years, famed for its narrow valley packed with retro ryokan and steaming public baths. Kurokawa Onsen, about twenty minutes away, is celebrated nationwide for its understated wooden inns and its nyūtō tegata (a wooden pass allowing visitors to bathe at three different ryokan). Closer still is the Oguni town center, home to the Yū Station (Michi-no-Eki Oguni) just five minutes by car, which is a useful base for local information, regional crafts, and food.

Nature lovers can pair the great ginkgo with the dramatic Shimojō Falls just beside it, with the smaller Nabekama Falls nearby, or with a longer drive up to Mount Wakuda and the upper reaches of the Chikugo River. The whole region is also celebrated for its small-batch buckwheat noodles (soba), red Aso beef (akaushi), and locally raised Berkshire pork.