The Pola Museum of Art, located in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park blends into the rich nature landscape where 300-year-old beech trees and gregarious Hime-syara stewartia grow, with its concept "symbiosis between Hakone's natural beauty and the works of art".
The Pola Museum of Art is actively working on the natural forest regeneration of Hakone. We have planted seedlings of the local beech, Hime-syara stewartia, kousa dogwood and other trees to change the Japanese cypress plantation into a deciduous forest.
On October 30, 2002, we donated 12.7 ha of the green area around the museum to Kanagawa prefecture as "Green Trust".
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Beech tree is deciduous tree that grows in high sea level mountains from parts of Hokkaido to the main land and Kyushu. Since the trees normally form communities in the area above 800 meters of sea level, the community is rarely seen around the museum which is located at 700 meters above sea level. Also, due to the decrease of beech trees in the area of the Pacific Ocean side, caused by global warming, the beech tree community around the museum is very precious. The bark is gray-white and covered with moss. The leaves are alternate and the edges are wavy. It is said that the beech tree life is about 250 years, however some of the trees are over 400-years-old. The height is 20 to 30 meters and the trunk diameter is about two to three meters. Although one beech tree has more than several tens of thousands seeds once in seven or eight years, the germination rate is extremely low since insects and small animals eat the seeds. Moreover, even the germinated young trees can barely grow in the thick Hakone-bamboo grass. |
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Hime-syara stewartia is deciduous tree seen in Hakone and to the west areas of the main land, Shikoku and Kyushu, and is a part of the beech forest. The cinnamon brown bark has smooth luster and peels off. The wood surface after rain is especially beautiful. Its white flowers bloom in June and July. The flowers bloom in the morning and fall off in the evening, therefore it is written in The Tale of the Heike as a symbol of uncertainty of life - "The hue of the flowers of the stewartia tree declares that they who flourish must be brought low." |
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Kousa dogwood is deciduous tree seen in the main land, Shikoku and Kyushu. The bark is yellowish cinnamon brown and the surface is smooth. The trees have white flowers that have four involucres in May to July. This tree is called "Yamaboshi" in Japanese since the white involucres look like a Yamaboshi (Buddhist priest) with his white hood on. Red strawberry-like fruits are on the trees in autumn. |
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