Scent of the forest: Hinoki cypress, Kuromoji, …

Oh it’s so hot these days in Yokohama …
 let’s have an imaginary breeze from this mountain stream …

One of the main activities for forest bathing is enjoying the smell of forest. I think everyone knows when we enter a forest of whatever kind, it smells nice normally, doesn’t it? It helps us to relax, and that’s the first step to the benefit of forest bathing. Those are the scents spewed massively from living trees through their photosynthesis. In addition to such basic waft within a forest, there are several trees that have fragrance almost like perfume. They are raw materials of essential oils. Japanese traditional culture does not have essential oil, but our people have used such aromatic trees in different ways. I’m studying some of these trees now. Let me tell you what I’ve learned so far.

First, ubiquitous (at least in Kanagawa) Hinoki cypress, or Chamaecyparis obtusa. Their smell is the very reason why they are planted massively in afforested area of Japan. It has noble and soothing aroma. In addition, as a construction material properly treated wood of Hinoki keeps its close grain for centuries. So, Japanese has been used the tree for important structures such as temples and shrines. Horyuji Temple 法隆寺 in Nara Prefecture 奈良県 is the world-oldest wooden structure, built with Hinoki cypress. I imagine when the temple was inaugurated in the early 7^th century, the whole sanctuary must have been filled with noble scent … Though, when we find Hinoki essential oils in stores, the ingredient, hinokitiol, is normally extracted not from Hinoki cypress, but from Thujopsis dolabrata, aka Hiba or Asunaro in Japanese. That’s because while Hinoki trees contain negligible amount of hinokitiol, Hiba can yield enough amount of it for commercialization.

It’s a formidable Hinoki cypress in Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林.

Thujopsis dolabrata is endemic tree of Japan, and has certain connotation of inferiority compared with Hinoki trees. (This Wikipedia entry explains it nicely). Come to think of it, it’s very strange. As a construction material, Hiba has the same quality as Hinoki, and it contains more of hinokitiol. Why Hinoki is more appreciated than Hiba? … At the moment, the substantial afforested area with Hiba expands snowy regions of Japan such as Tohoku 東北 or Hokuriku 北陸 areas. I guess when rich and powerful of the 7^th century around Nara, much warmer than Tohoku, searched for nice trees for their mansions and temples, what they found nearby was Hinoki, not Hiba. Perhaps it was the beginning of celebrity status of Hinoki, and the reputation continues to the 21^st century. Typical QWERTY… In any case, we can extract only 1kg oil of hinokitiol from 100kg of tips of Hiba trees. I’ve learned that’s almost a typical thing to harvest essential oil from trees. i.e. We need to cut them massively to have a tiny bottle of essential oil. 

This Thujopsis dolabrata was planted
 in some 30 or so years ago in Tanzawa 丹沢,
 and it is still small.
 I guess the climate of Kanagawa is warm form them.

Lindera umbellate, aka Kuromoji in Japanese, is another scented superstar in Japanese forests, though it cannot be construction material as its adult size is 5-6m high with ø10cm of biggish boughs. Even though, it is appreciated with noble aroma we can receive from whichever part of the plant. We just pick a leaf from Kuromoji tree, and tear it a bit. The smell of Kuromoji will remain on our fingers. During tea ceremony, the best utensils to serve sweets are made of Lindera umbellate. Its blackish tone matches well to the serenity of tea ceremony, while its gracious but reserved smell blends perfectly well with delicate sweets for Maccha tea. When dried, its young leaves and stems can be herbal tea that contains linalool and geraniol (C₁₀H₁₈O), and so if properly taken the tree extract could have sedative and anti-inflammatory effects. These days, several Japanese makers (such as this one) extract essential oil from Kuromoji, though from 1kg of tree we can have only 1-3ml of oil. In the forests of Kanagawa, we can find a tree of Lindera umbellate once in 2-3 times of hiking, although they are bushy trees of often less than 1m tall. I once had an ambition to extract aromatic oil from Kuromoji by myself, but realized I had to cut a lot such smallish trees to have a meaningful amount of essential oil. That would be the reason anyway why utensils and teas of Kuromoji can demand such a cool price tag …

Small and bushy Kuromoji

This is a full-grown tree of Lindera umbellate in Tanzawa.
 Could you see berries?
 I squashed one of these, and to my surprise,  it did not render aromatic oil.
 Was it too young?

Kuromoji is in Lauraceae family, and trees of Lauraceae have a nice scent. Aromatic Parabezoin praecox, aka Aburachan in Japanese, belongs to the same Lauraceae family. Though its aroma is not as noble as Kuromoji, the tree renders similar scented whiff that gave me a flashback memory of visiting a store of Niel’s Yard Remedies. Early summer is the time when Abrachan started to bear round berries of about ø1cm. As they are still young and green, we can squash them by our finger tips. Sure enough the berries ooze slightly sticky liquid with nice scent, but the juice is rapidly oxidized and stains our fingers with tar like color. Before gas or electric light, oil extracted from berries and stems of Abrachan was used for lamps in Japan. I guess Abrachan lamps gave people soothing aroma when they quietly read books before go to bed … That’s lovely, isn’t it?

Aburachan flowers early spring in Tanzawa.

And in early summer, they become these cute berries.

I’m now learning such fragrant trees in forests of Kanagawa. And sometimes, I found my judgement for “lovely scent” does not consistent with traditional naming of a plant. I think Japanese name for Skunkvine (Paederia foetida), Hekusokazura, is unfair to this cute flowering vine. “He” = fart, and “Kuso” = poop; you’ve got the idea, right? Hm … English name of the plant is Skunkvine so that it might be global to regard the smell of this vine belongs to toilet. But, so far, I have not found the smell of it Hekusogazura that horrible. Yeah, it might be a bit tricky smell, but at least it’s not coming from bathroom, I think. The language of Hekusogazura is “Misanthrope; Misunderstood; Unexpected.” Huh, … smell is such an delicate issue even in phytoncide-full of forest … 

Paederia foetida. As long as you don’t tear them, they just smell grassy,
 believe me.

If you find an environmental issues in the forests of Kanagawa, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/