Show TREE DIES AT AGE f 11 Ii 1 I II i I Japanese Love of Ancient Pine Almost Worship I TOKIO Jan 14 The H.-The The famous old I pine tree of Karasaki on the shore pf I Lake famous in song and legend i and visited by thousands of pilgrims I each year as one of the eight beautiful scenes of Lake is dead says the Japan Advertiser This ancient pine was said to be 1200 years old having lived from the time of the Nara Kara epoch During the last year ear it has withered and died Recently there was held on the shores of Lawe a ceremony to transfer the spirit of the ancient tree into a younger tree that will succeed to the honor and worship near-worship which has been bestowed on the no matsu The youthful successor of the Veteran which has passed is only years old and is claimed to have I sprung seed cast by uy the me ola old tree The solemn ceremony was held under the direction of Kasal Kasai priest of the Hiyoshi Hi- Hi yoshi shrine in the presence of moro more than of the highest dignitaries of or Shiga prefecture The ancient pine was of or that low spreading variety often seen in this country Although only thirty feet in I height its branches c covered v a span If i if of f foot feet f from east t to west e and I feet from north to south The area shadowed by its wide wille spreading I branches was square feet The new tree of smaller dimensions I Is twenty feet in height and eleven feet i I five Inches in the circumference of its I trunk The area covered by its branches Is Is only 1500 square feet But ButI this tree is still a youngster and has years in which to reach the di dimensions dimensions dl- dl I of the ancient pine of Karasaki Karasaki Karasaki Kara Kara- saki that has just passed |