Daisugi: 600-Year-Old Japanese Forestry Technique Grows Lumber Without Felling Trees

Daisugi, a 600-year-old Japanese forestry method, allows lumber production without cutting down trees. Originating in the Kitayama region of western Japan, the technique involves heavily pruning specially planted cedar trees (Cryptomeria japonica, or sugi) every two years, treating them like giant bonsai. Harvesting takes 20 years, with old tree stock producing up to 100 shoots at a time, yielding stronger and more flexible wood. Daisugi was developed due to a shortage of seedlings and flat terrain, enabling faster harvest cycles and denser wood. Demand was driven by the 14th-century elite vogue for sukiya-zukuri architecture, an elegant residential style derived from the tea house. The process begins when a sugi tree reaches six to seven meters tall (about as many years); the trunk is cut at half a meter, branches are pruned, and buds are cultivated on the remaining platform seeder. New trunks are pruned to maintain perfectly vertical growth, with only the top 30 centimeters left. Within a decade, the tree becomes a sustainable wood source and an ever-changing ornamental statement, often compared to something from a Ghibli film.