Japanese tourists take NZ forest fun run
24 May 2010
Japanese tourists, who last week joined locals in a fun run through a remote New Zealand kauri forest, were helping to celebrate a burgeoning friendship between two different cultures.
The annual Waipoua Forest Run is a light-hearted occasion when the mostly Māori local community turns out in force to run or walk a 12km route through the ancient kauri trees but - for the third year in a row - the run also attracted a sizeable and growing Japanese contingent.
Three years ago, there were 15 Japanese in the fun run, this year 42 took part, and next year about 70 runners are expected.
Living treasures
Japanese entries in the forest run are a manifestation of a developing relationship borne of two living treasures - a towering kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest, and a 7200-year-old yakusugi cedar on the southern Japanese island of Yakushima.
Revered icons in their respective homelands, these ancient trees are the first specimens united through the Family of Ancient Trees agreement - a world-first eco-tourism initiative established a year ago (April 2009) between the local Māori iwi (or tribe) of Te Roroa and the people of Yakushima.
The ‘family’ brings the two cultures together in a common vision to preserve and share their unique natural environments, while benefiting the local communities through tourist activities.
Annually, 90 - 110,000 tourists visit the Waipoua Forest, in New Zealand, while the national park on Yakushima Island receives 400,000 visitors.
Waipoua Forest
Waipoua has one of the largest surviving stands of the mature kauri forest unique to the Northland region.
The vast kauri forests once covered most of the land between the Waikato and New Zealand’s northern tip, but largely disappeared during the 19th and 20th century due to forestry, exploitation of kauri gum (used for varnish), clearing for agriculture and fire. The forests are now under conservation protection.
The kauri is one of the world’s great tree species. The largest kauri reach more than 50m tall, with girths up to 16m, and some living specimens date back to 2,000 years ago.
Good walking tracks easily access the oldest and most spectacular trees - Te Matua Ngahere (father of the forest) and Tane Mahuta (lord of the forest).
Local tourism operator Footprints Waipoua offers guided evening tours interpreting the forest and Māori legends under cover of darkness.
Reciprocal museum exhibitions
To celebrate the first anniversary of the Family of Ancient Trees project, two museums in New Zealand and Japan have opened reciprocal exhibitions telling the story of the trees and their forests.
The visiting Japanese contingent - which included seven high school students and Yakushima’s deputy mayor Noritaka Hidaka - were at the Matakohe Kauri Museum last week for the official opening of the New Zealand exhibition.
The Matakohe display has photos and details of the two trees in English and Japanese, information on their environments and examples of kauri and yakusugi timbers and their uses.
A similar exhibition opened last month at the Yakusugi Museum, on Yakushima Island.
School exchange
The Japanese students spent a week in the Hokianga region where they experienced Māori culture and the local landscape through the eyes of families of the Māori language school, Kura Kaupapa Whirinaki.
While they were in the Hokianga, the group visited the forest to see New Zealand’s great kauri tree, Tane Mahuta, and to take part in the fun run.
Later this year, a party of Hokianga students and their teachers will visit Yakushima Island to see Jōmon Sugi and experience Japanese culture at grass roots.
Family of Ancient Trees
The Family of Ancient Trees is a small step forward on a journey that goes back to the beginnings of time.
It unites two cultures, communities, and two great trees - growing and developing for thousands of years, on opposite sides of the equator - in the struggle to protect the environment, local culture, and keeping their communities vibrant.
Both trees are powerful spiritual and physical symbols for their communities.
In the Hokianga - Kaipara region of northern New Zealand, Māori have long revered their treasured Tane Mahuta, a 2000-year-old kauri tree (agathis australis) that towers above the Waipoua Forest.
Tane Mahuta - the lord of the forest - is the living symbol of the Māori creation story that depicts the separation of earth and sky. The legend tells the story of how Tane intervened between his parents to push them apart from their eternal embrace.
Across the Pacific Ocean, on Yakushima Island, Jōmon Sugi - also known as Emperor Cedar - is the oldest and largest cedar (cryptomeria japonica) in a forest of nearly 2000 trees. Jōmon Sugi is more than 2000 years old, but could be up to 7,200 years old.
Background:
Tane Mahuta - Waipoua, New Zealand
Tane Mahuta, New Zealand’s largest kauri tree (height 51.2m or 169 feet and a circumference of 13.8m or 45 feet), is Lord of the Waipoua Forest - a 9,105 hectare sanctuary near Hokianga, in Northland, New Zealand.
Private trusts like Waipoua Forest Trust, a bicultural partnership between conservationists and Te Iwi O Te Roroa (Māori guardians of the area) work to protect, restore, interpret and promote Waipoua.
The Waipoua forest stands as a fine example of kaitiakitanga - safeguarding New Zealand's unique culture, history, flora and fauna for future generations.
Jōmon Sugi - Yakushima, Japan
Jōmon Sugi is a key visitor attraction in Yakushima’s national park and has held UNESCO World Heritage status since 1993.
At 25.3m high and with a girth of 16.4m, Jōmon Sugi is the oldest and largest of nearly 2,000 old sugi trees on the island.
Jōmon Sugi is said to be as old as 7,200 years having grown out of another tree that fell in the spot. But the centre of the trunk is hollow and the most accurate estimate states that Jōmon Sugi is nearer to 2,170 years old. It is said to have survived felling in the Edo period as it was too twisted and knotted to be of any use.
More information:
Family of Ancient Trees established
Tane Mahuta - separator of heaven and earth
Iconic New Zealand native flora
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