Japan is home to an exceptional diversity of tree species for its size.
The archipelago covers less than 0.25% of the world's land, yet harbors roughly 1,000–1,200 native tree species. Around 100–150 of these are endemic to the Japanese archipelago, found nowhere else on Earth.
To this day, some 70% of Japan is still mountainous, and a similar proportion remains forested — much of it preserved not by policy, but by terrain too steep to farm or settle, on seismic islands that lie directly in the path of Pacific typhoons.
Yet, Japan's uniqueness lies not in diversity itself. What makes Japan truly distinctive is how, for millennia, different woods have been carefully appreciated and used in Japanese craftsmanship, with each species recognized, named, and valued for its own character.
This section introduces some of the woods traditionally used in Japanese craftsmanship.
