“Gajumaru”, a Tree that walks where a Holy Spirit lives.

Gajumaru can be seen in many parts of Okinawa.
The big green leaves and the wide spread branch of this tree gives us the taste of a Southern tropical island.

Gajumaru is a type of evergreen tree which is also the family of mulberry (moraceae). Many of these trees can be located in tropical areas such as Okinawa, Hawaii, India, and Southeast Asia.
A full grown Gajumaru will be high as 20 meters tall, and the tree is sometimes represented as the area’s symbol. In a rare case, this Gajumaru can live up to more than 800 years, and grow into a humongous tree.

A very particular characteristic of this tree is the aerial root that grows from both the trunk and the branch.
A huge Gajumaru grows numerous of these aerial root waving them in the wind.
These aerial root will eventually grow into a thick trunk that will support itself.

Gajumaru is known as the tree that “walks”.
This comes from the fact that the aerial root grows into a trunk and gradually moves itself from its original position over a long period of time.

The Gajumaru is also known as the “Chinese Banyan”, “Banyan Tree”, or the “Tree of Happiness”. This mystical tree is treated as a numinous wood inside and outside of the country.

A lot of times, the Gajumaru is planted for windbreaks and residential use. However, there is an old saying that saids that a Kijimuna (tree spirit) lives in the Gajumaru, and still up to this day, there are areas in Okinawa where people burn incense and pray under the tree.

As you can see, the Gajumaru is closely related to the Okinawan people.