tsubaki-trees

Updated: May 22, 2025

There is, however, a strange superstition, about tsubaki-trees; and this sacred tree of Yaegaki, in the opinion of some folk, is a rare exception to the general ghastliness of its species. For tsubaki-trees are goblin trees, they say, and walk about at night; and there was one in the garden of a Matsue samurai which did this so much that it had to be cut down.

Lafcadio Hearn - Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan : First Series