YAMAGATA, Nov 15 (News On Japan) –
Zao’s iconic snow monsters, the frost-covered timber often known as ‘juhyo,’ face an existential menace. These towering, snow-laden timber have lengthy been a winter spotlight within the area, famously resembling monstrous figures lined in snow. However, their survival is now underneath extreme menace.
A specialist in juhyo, Yamagata University Professor Emeritus Fumitaka Yanagisawa, warns of the approaching threat: “If things continue this way, the snow monsters will eventually cease to form.”
Comparing the identical interval in 2012 and 2023, current juhyo formations seem noticeably thinner. Contrary to what one may anticipate, the trigger isn’t a scarcity of snowfall.
Yanagisawa explains, “What we’re seeing is a complete die-off. When the leaves disappear, only the branches are left. Then, as the branches snap off, all that remains is the trunk.”
The branches, important for accumulating and retaining snow, have been dying off, rendering them incapable of forming juhyo.
Photographs evaluating the identical timber from 13 years in the past reveal that lots of the branches have vanished, leaving solely the tree trunks. The offender behind the die-off seems to be a pest infestation, influenced by local weather change.
Yanagisawa notes, “With rising temperatures, insects find it easier to survive and reproduce, likely contributing to what we’re seeing now.”
As world warming permits pest populations to thrive, the timber that kind juhyo are extra weak than ever. Still, Yanagisawa believes that there could also be options to revive these snow monsters, equivalent to replanting younger timber on the mountainside and cultivating seeds to encourage future development.
Source: ANN