“You can see a Ginko cherry anywhere.” For those of you who think that, we want you to look again. The Ginko cherry that you usually see lining roads are pruned, yet within Shinjuku Gyoen you can see the unpruned and natural body of the cherry tree. The evidence of this is the tree branches that you can reach with your hand. For the cherry trees that line the road the lower portions are instead cut off.
We want you to really check out this unadulterated branch. On one branch there are countless other small branches growing from it. You can see that the roots are like the scales of a fish. These are the remnants of a prior leaf. The Ginko cherry sheds its leaves once a year, if you count the layers you can tell how many years this branch has lived, and by doing so you can realize once again how long it takes for just one branch to grow.
It does indeed take a long time for a plant to grow. Even if we know this basic fact, we may often forget it. That is why in order to let it sink into your mind you must discover nature up close, even if this seems overly romantic.
Is to empathize the ability to see the similarities between humans and plants? The more you look at the details, the more you can see the world is teeming with life and the landscape is life-like. The Ginko cherry is actually said to have a distinct gender. The Ginko that blooms is said to be the female, but those that are planted to line the streets are mainly male. In Shinjuku Gyoen you can see both.