This tree in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, cultivated according to the traditional practice of niwaki, inspired Rod Hardingham so much he has tried to grow a similar one in his B&B in Kent
Rod Hardingham’s favourite tree, a black pine in Tatsuno, embodies not only his love of gardens and nature, but also a decades-long affinity with Japan and Japanese culture. “My wife, Etsuko, is Japanese,” says Hardingham, 69. “She was working for an American company in Tokyo, but her English was awful, so they sent her to the UK to improve.” Hardingham’s brother Stephen was her English teacher. He made the introduction and, before long, Rod and Etsuko were married.
It was on Hardingham’s first trip to meet Etsuko’s parents that he visited Tatsuno, in Hyōgo Prefecture, and saw the sloping black pine. “My wife’s family live in a town called Himeji in the west of Japan. Her sister suggested we drive about 20 minutes over to Tatsuno because it still has a large number of samurai houses and other architectural remnants.”