The Izu Pine

Let us step, for a time, out of Enayra, and into another land, on another world: the land of Yamato. A land of the kami, spirits both minor and divine that not only walk the earth, but infuse it with their power. A land of four realms tethered to one another.

In the middle of the four realms, the Middle Realm of Reed Plains, the realm of the Children of the Kami, now mortal descendants of the Heavenly and Earthly Kami (more commonly known as humans),

While the poetically inclined upper classes of the Imperial court in Ise have no shortage of symbolic uses for a multitude of flowers and plants across the land, the Izu Pine is a particularly symbolic piece of flora, known by most across the land despite social class.

The Izu Pine takes its name from the region of the same name, where it is most abundant. However, it is also found in neighbouring Izumi, Settsu, Ise (not to be confused with the Ise Region, analogous to the western half of the central island of Yamato), and Shima.

The Izu Pine is a very resilient tree. It can withstand extreme fluctuations in temperature, drought conditions, wind, earthquake upheaval, and if some stories are to be believed, several have been known to have survived a particularly deadly tsuami in the 8th year of the Tenryu era (483 Common Year). One of the oldest specimens of pine is said to date from the days before the Heavenly Kami descended the Bridge Between Worlds to claim the land from the Earthly Kami.

For it’s hardiness and longevity, playwrights and poets long ago used the pine as allusion when discussing love, relationships, or even the reigns of Emperors and Empresses.

Phrases such as “our love shall be like the pines of Izu”, “may your reign be as stable and long-lived as the Izu Pine”, and “we have been married for as long as pines have grown in Izu”, and so on and so forth, are commonplace among folks of all walks of life in Yamato.