Hunting for Special Trees
It started one day, last week, when a friend asked if I could locate a tree.
He has a black and white picture, taken somewhere around 1950.
A few prints, were made and along with Doc Graff, the search began.
Our first stop was on the northeastern side of Okinawa.
That's where we discovered this Ryukyu Pine.
Looking around at the background and taking photos from several angles, convinced us.
Although, it's big and impressive, it wasn't the tree we were searching for.
The tree, is special or, it wouldn't have this sign posted nearby.
So, I shot the sign and some other items in the area, for further investigation.
Without any help translating, I gained some information.
For example, the tree is 220-250 years old and, I have a Latin name.
Making Friends Searching for Trees
The folks in the neighborhood of that pine tree were helpful.
Once they saw what we were trying to accomplish, they showed an interest in helping.
They agreed, we had found the wrong tree and gave us some suggestions.
They even offered some sake, to drink. It wasn't lunchtime, yet !
Nice people but, we had work to do. So, I'll visit again, sometime.
Off to the Other Side of the Island
Up and down the west coast, we went, showing the photo of the old, special tree.
Over there, people were helpful, too.
They did stuff, like pull history books off the shelf, searching for that picture.
And, passing the photo around, gave us directions to another huge, historical tree.
But, it didn't turn out to be the one we were hunting for, either.
More on than gem, at a later date.
The rest of the story about this Ryukyu Pine, is more important.
Going 'Round and 'Round
It would probably be a good idea to go get a translator for this sort of thing.
But, I decided to try and do it on my own.
They have these online services, you can use, for free.
Take a JPEG image and get it scanned at one of them, by uploading the photo.
And, the thing turns it into a downloadable document.
So, I tried a few, using the photo, of the sign above. But, some won't read Japanese.
Once, I figured that out, I thought I had it made and, sent the image in for processing.
Then, downloaded the document, copied and pasted it into Google Translate.
And, it told me this:
Fowl 'v-hyun over, deer ... [people Tei嚢 y ~ 齔ｰ evening' material Bon bunch ゝ
Your Sakaki over over Hekioyake of tail Te bottom ~I
W {Kan [5 over Joe} $ over over: {over over 備叱
Two of the "Ichichi '© months of` Zoo + k people over over over f Kuso奮Ru Isuzu 丿 ~Yu~ukyu~uma-7 {Tung "嚇 over off KiHanare
Of stem ‡]] 3 "" y Kowa We over ~ "of shoes in over" j ya over sitting -.. (Over-('= rope is $ 丿 繍 7' over '(over 23] Yu 丶 also over "noisy over clock = over 苳" ｰｰｰ
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† or Sai $ L '; ~O
'Fire was the original M) the two [* L 丶No~yoｰ> Doniro figure L L 丶Tsu months "" monument 醐賽] = lees of two "or ["' the male ME々LL mi "
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The 7 Te ~Ka Buniru Nico f ゝ L and L [Ki ~Yu Sai L ze {Makai~ka '繍 Ru 丿豊 [丶 ‡, Te ~ L Mayumi = Results "' [a convex '丿繚 or [
The y you Tsu attract Ea ‡ a tight A Rea~ka ~ Shikihito ~ ~ Kuso~ka formula ## 瞰E ... a,]
Until] Zhi $ two Sugata珊Ma * ware-flops NiDan · `over or 軟縄 [{{over = over 37 ^ Nawa (over ~! [Yo 2々 ~>" fire. HanaKaoru-over "" k (... 'over "over"' ... =
The Ru L` ‡ "~ Sun," The more people 齔 L "'ｰｰｰ interpretation 繍雌 the Roh months u}" the [LL 丶殲 history and valve over two
Re '† over the `^ [[two and is over' mother-in-law of 些餃". Yuwe the k Ki needle tut ~ r elm Ko~ka丶 L its two male Nde vinegar Kenn ['Te song `
ゝ r j Nawasumire, 琉Ro-damaryo] Sudare蟲Nawa ("~ F ‡ name" ,, r ,,, Bruno "" [~Tsu,,, ^ ~ over zone,,, "V 丿 ~Yu~ukyu~uma ~ source 'over `~Karakaede in over ‡ over '齠木
To play # months ~ door> rope 丿邸 over Zheng}} yelled to 7 = E te; 瞰 over Roh rope, to heritage and over Shioki tree example a scissors G ichthyosis [; ... # Akatsuki or "‡ 4 [is ‡ 'over Na and
Masu "
Your Sakaki over over Hekioyake of tail Te bottom ~I
W {Kan [5 over Joe} $ over over: {over over 備叱
Two of the "Ichichi '© months of` Zoo + k people over over over f Kuso奮Ru Isuzu 丿 ~Yu~ukyu~uma-7 {Tung "嚇 over off KiHanare
Of stem ‡]] 3 "" y Kowa We over ~ "of shoes in over" j ya over sitting -.. (Over-('= rope is $ 丿 繍 7' over '(over 23] Yu 丶 also over "noisy over clock = over 苳" ｰｰｰ
Over, the land [and ('Nawani丿 2 [], []] Function' "via <over the ~ Ki魍 to Tade遵 L) Kaorufusuma Nino 丶 lance on and extending <" = 丿, † ~O or A 7 the
† or Sai $ L '; ~O
'Fire was the original M) the two [* L 丶No~yoｰ> Doniro figure L L 丶Tsu months "" monument 醐賽] = lees of two "or ["' the male ME々LL mi "
The Ru f] over over † 嶼地 or ('ImoHo rhino blanking Y Ke 〒 Chan "over * over rope seen over two -" and thickness was over Tsu ")" "A Yo-La K two" toe ^ ゝ. conc ~) co the 'over-
"> Iwao] 'L Buko or the two age † Etsu較 L A or a Gogo (Leh also dangerous ({} Te Xun ruins;' (ゝ 丿" Taba~o g Funi Te]
Even over over ゝ 瑚 to § [] "Narasudare do Ku [s * [two 丿 Etekima L † the two [‡ ^ [j ゝ world Yo L` Mugi遽 ... L is"
The 7 Te ~Ka Buniru Nico f ゝ L and L [Ki ~Yu Sai L ze {Makai~ka '繍 Ru 丿豊 [丶 ‡, Te ~ L Mayumi = Results "' [a convex '丿繚 or [
The y you Tsu attract Ea ‡ a tight A Rea~ka ~ Shikihito ~ ~ Kuso~ka formula ## 瞰E ... a,]
Until] Zhi $ two Sugata珊Ma * ware-flops NiDan · `over or 軟縄 [{{over = over 37 ^ Nawa (over ~! [Yo 2々 ~>" fire. HanaKaoru-over "" k (... 'over "over"' ... =
The Ru L` ‡ "~ Sun," The more people 齔 L "'ｰｰｰ interpretation 繍雌 the Roh months u}" the [LL 丶殲 history and valve over two
Re '† over the `^ [[two and is over' mother-in-law of 些餃". Yuwe the k Ki needle tut ~ r elm Ko~ka丶 L its two male Nde vinegar Kenn ['Te song `
ゝ r j Nawasumire, 琉Ro-damaryo] Sudare蟲Nawa ("~ F ‡ name" ,, r ,,, Bruno "" [~Tsu,,, ^ ~ over zone,,, "V 丿 ~Yu~ukyu~uma ~ source 'over `~Karakaede in over ‡ over '齠木
To play # months ~ door> rope 丿邸 over Zheng}} yelled to 7 = E te; 瞰 over Roh rope, to heritage and over Shioki tree example a scissors G ichthyosis [; ... # Akatsuki or "‡ 4 [is ‡ 'over Na and
Masu "
WHAT MORE COULD A MAN ASK FOR ?
So much more could have been learned, sitting with those guys and a bottle of sake !
