Famous for its lush green Cedar forest, Oguni town is located in Kumamoto prefecture in southern Japan. For two hundred and fifty years, the residents of the area have been running a sustainable project to plant Cedar trees and sell its wood, because of this Cedar wood being the main source of timber to build homes in Japan. Each cedar tree has registered number and a documented date of planting. The story of Oguni Cedar began in the Edo period, when a samurai leader distributed twenty-five seedlings of cedar trees to every farmer in the area to plant them, so their children and grandchildren would benefit from its wood in the future. Now there are more than one million Cedar trees in Oguni. Oguni residents live in the bounties of cedar trees. In order to emphasize their strong relationship with Cedar, the residents use its wood for construction of buildings, as one can see the extensive use of wood and metal joints here in this municipal complex. Houses in the town are built using local Cedar wood for their flexibility and strength. The unique and beautiful coloring of the Cedar grain enhances harmony in the design of Japanese-style room. Every year about thirty-eight thousand Cedar trees are cut in Oguni, but forty thousand seedlings are planted too. This way of preserving trees has become an example of sustainability throughout Japan and the world.
