In Japan there is Kayashima, a station that grows around a 700-year-old tree
Whoever lasts wins: the camphor tree at Kayashima station, in Japan, has followed exactly this motto for over 700 years and has not allowed himself to be overwhelmed by the events around him. It pre-existed its foundation, has resisted the elements and effects of time and even opposed its own demolition.
Kayashima Station it arose right next to this tree, with a long life and not just before the year 1910, when the first construction was completed: in a black and white photo, in fact, behind a platform crowded with people waiting for the train, a lush, decisive and imposing shading canopy.
After 60 years, however, it was decided to expand the station and the treeUnfortunately, it was not included in the new projects. At this point it was now clear that the only solution for the modernization of Kayashima he could not contemplate both: either the station or the tree. And here stories and legends begin to mix and intertwine and get lost in the furrows of its trunk and branches.
It is said that a curse fell on anyone who wanted to lower the ax on the camphor of the Japanese station: a brave volunteer made the first move by trying to cut a branch, but fell ill immediately afterwards and was unable to continue. Some time later he was spotted a large and dangerous white snake three branches, as if to protect this almost divine tree.
Finally, it is said that one swarm of insects not well classified, they enveloped the ancient plant in a cloud of smoke: it was clear to everyone, legend or not, that the entire Universe was conspiring so that camphor was not destroyed at all.
Thus, the Kayashima station she grew up around this beautiful altar of nature, made of sap, wood and green leaves. The camphor tree it was fenced off with shimenawa ropes, or "delimiting ropes", made of hemp or rice and used during Shinto purification rituals.
This stubborn tree, which once looked at the station from a more distant angle, is now the nerve center of the platforms and every day welcomes or greets travelers on the punctual Japanese trains and makes Kayashima, on the outskirts of the better-known Osaka, one of the magical places to visit in Japan.
