Around the world, there exist extraordinary trees celebrated for their mythological origins, auspicious meanings, and spiritual significance.
Some are real, living giants; others belong entirely to legend—yet all have names and stories that leave a lasting impression.
The following is a selection of impactful trees and legendary woods from around the world.
Baobab (The Tree of Life)
The baobab, native to Africa and Madagascar, is known by many names: “The Tree of Life,” “The Tree of Mysteries,” and even “The Upside-Down Tree.”
Its massive, bottle-shaped trunk can store up to ten tons of water, allowing it to survive months without rainfall.
Some baobabs live for over 2,000 years and are revered as symbols of longevity. In Madagascar and Senegal, they are also recognized as national symbols.
Because its branches look like roots reaching toward the sky, legends arose that “the world was turned upside down and the tree was planted the wrong way.”
Some stories say the gods planted it upside down as punishment; others claim demons ripped it out and thrust it back into the earth.
Across Africa, baobabs have long been considered sacred trees inhabited by spirits.
Their nutrient-rich fruit and seeds have supported human life for centuries, so the baobab is widely known as a tree that quite literally sustains and protects life.
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the immense ash tree that supports all creation as the World Tree.
Its branches spread across the Nine Worlds, and a single tree is said to connect the heavens, the human world, and the underworld, embodying the cosmic order.
Sometimes called “The Tree of All Things” or “The Eternal Tree,” its ever-green canopy symbolizes the life force that envelops the universe.
There is a famous tale in which the high god Odin sacrifices himself upon Yggdrasil to gain deep wisdom and receives the secret knowledge of the runes.
It is honored as a symbol of great self-sacrifice that leads to wisdom, rebirth, and transformation.
Even today, Yggdrasil appears frequently in games, novels, and fantasy works, and its mysterious name and grand imagery continue to fascinate people worldwide.
Bodhi Tree
The Bodhi Tree is revered as the sacred tree under which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment and became the Buddha.
The word “Bodhi” is a transliteration of the Sanskrit Bodhi, meaning “awakening” or “enlightenment,” so “Bodhi Tree” literally means “Tree of Enlightenment.”
The original Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya in northern India (the sacred Ficus religiosa, also called Pipala or Ashvattha)
is venerated as one of the Three Great Sacred Trees of Buddhism and has come to symbolize both enlightenment itself and the Buddha.
After the Buddha’s passing, saplings from the Bodhi Tree were carried to many regions, and in Buddhist countries, these trees are commonly planted at temples as living symbols of wisdom and peace.
(In Japan, the tree commonly called “Bodai-ju” is a different species that shares the same name, but it has inherited the symbolic meaning of enlightenment.)
The image of “meditating beneath the Bodhi Tree” is widely recognized as a symbol of awakening and insight, and its name carries an auspicious resonance closely tied to Buddhist spirituality.
Kalpavriksha (The Wish-Granting Tree)
In Hindu mythology, the Kalpavriksha (also known as Kalpataru or Kalpadruma)
is the legendary tree that grants all wishes and fulfills every desire.
It is said to grow in the heavenly garden of the god Indra (the forest of Nandana),
rising to a height of ten yojanas (about 144 kilometers) and bearing golden, fragrant fruit.
Those who pray to this tree are believed to have any wish they hold in their hearts granted.
According to myth, Kalpavriksha emerged as one of the fourteen treasures during the great “Churning of the Ocean of Milk,” a foundational Hindu creation story.
When Indra brought this treasure-tree back to the heavens, the gods, blessed by the Kalpavriksha, were freed from anxiety, scarcity, and lack.
In the ancient epic Raghuvaṃśa, the tree is praised as a symbol of generosity, abundance, and freely given wealth.
To this day, Kalpavriksha lives on in Indian culture as a powerful symbol of prosperity, fertility, and long life, and the phrase is still used in everyday language to mean “a tree that makes wishes come true.”
Peaches of Immortality
The Peaches of Immortality (蟠桃, bantao) are legendary fruits in Chinese mythology that grant eternal life.
They grow in a celestial orchard on Mount Kunlun, ruled by the Queen Mother of the West.
The peach trees are said to bear fruit only once every 3,000 years, and their extremely rare fruit is also called “Queen Mother Peaches” or “Immortal Peaches.”
It was believed that a single bite of this peach would grant everlasting youth and immortality.
In the classic novel Journey to the West, the Monkey King secretly slips into the divine peach orchard, steals these fruits, and becomes immortal by eating them.
From ancient times, peaches have been regarded in China as sacred fruits that dispel evil and bestow long life.
Sages and immortals are often depicted carrying peach-wood staves, and peach motifs are cherished as auspicious symbols of good fortune.
Even today, there is a custom of serving peach-shaped birthday buns (shoutao) as a blessing for longevity.
The peach remains a beloved symbol of long life and prosperity throughout East Asia.
Dragon Blood Tree
The Dragon Blood Tree, native to Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen,
is a strange and striking tree known for its dark red sap, which resembles “dragon’s blood.”
Its crown spreads out like an inverted umbrella, creating an unforgettable silhouette against the sky.
When the trunk is wounded, thick crimson resin seeps out, and since medieval times this resin has been prized as a medicine and dye.
Historical records suggest that this “dragon’s blood” resin was even used as a coloring agent in violin varnish during the Roman era.
Local legend tells that a dragon, once slain, transformed into this tree,
and the red sap is believed to be the lingering life force of the dragon itself.
On Socotra, the Dragon Blood Tree is a powerful symbol of the island,
and plant enthusiasts around the world often describe it as looking like “a tree from another planet.”
Ceiba (The Maya World Tree)
In the cosmology of the ancient Maya, the Ceiba (kapok tree) was revered as the sacred World Tree.
According to Maya belief, the Ceiba’s roots reach deep into the underworld of Xibalba,
its trunk supports the earthly realm, and its branches extend upward into the heavens.
Stone monuments and carved reliefs from Maya sites depict a stylized Ceiba in the form of a cross, representing the Tree of Life that marks the center of the universe and the authority of kings.
Even today, Ceiba trees are planted in village centers and ceremonial plazas across the Yucatán Peninsula.
They serve as living symbols of growth, vitality, and protection, standing beside the everyday lives and spiritual practices of the people.
Reaching heights of up to 60 meters, the majestic form of the Ceiba embodies the power of life and expansion,
and as a tree that connects earth and sky, it remains an object of reverence throughout many cultures of Central and South America.
Fusang
Fusang is a legendary divine tree said to stand at the far eastern edge of the world in ancient Chinese lore.
Every morning, the sun was believed to rise from this tree.
According to texts such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas, a great double-trunked mulberry tree called the Fusang Tree towered over the land of Fusang beyond the eastern sea,
and in its branches lived the three-legged crows that served as embodiments of the sun.
At dawn, these sun-birds would leap from Fusang’s branches, circle the sky, and return to rest there at dusk.
In ancient times, people are said to have prayed, “May we live long like the immortals of Mount Penglai,
and regain youth again and again like the rising sun climbing the Fusang Tree.”
Thus, Fusang became a revered symbol of immortality and rebirth.
Later, the name Fusang and the Land of Fusang were used poetically as alternative names for Japan,
imagined as an ideal land to the east across the sea.
Even today, “Fusang” appears in classical-style poetry as an elegant epithet for the eastern world,
and the beautiful characters evoke images of eternal youth, dawn light, and auspicious new beginnings.
Conclusion
While researching mystical trees around the world under the simple theme of “wood,” I discovered many names and stories for the first time, and I was deeply drawn to their diversity.
In particular, the fact that the Dragon Blood Tree’s sap is bright red was astonishing, and it made me want to see it with my own eyes one day.
Recently, I visited Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai (Designing Future Society for Our Lives).
In one exhibition space, more than one hundred pieces of 6,500-year-old “Jindai Oak” (subfossil wood preserved underground since the Ice Age) were displayed in rows.
The sight had both the eerie strangeness and solemn beauty of black cacti standing in a barren desert.
Even though we call them all simply “trees,” their forms, histories, and cultural meanings are completely different.
Somewhere in the world, there are surely still more remarkable trees that have not been introduced here.
If you know any unique trees or stories connected to them, I would be delighted if you would share them.
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*Please note: Jindai Oak itself is not available.
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The individuality of each tree appears again in the grain, figure, and fragrance of the wood.
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At Manako no Oto, we explore and experiment with ways of expressing the character of fine hardwoods,
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