A tree that spent roughly 260 years in Hirosaki is getting a smaller, more portable second life. The Japanese city is offering 0.5 mm mechanical pencils made from red pine and cherry trees brought down by heavy snow in Hirosaki Park.
The pencils became available through the city’s hometown-donation program on October 13. An October 19 announcement explains the project: retain something of the park’s trees by turning their timber into useful objects, including writing instruments, tables and apple boxes.
The estimated 260-year age belongs to the pine. The city does not give an age for the cherry wood used in the other pencil.
A piece of the park, down to the barrel
Wooden pencils often invite attention to the grain, the species or the finish. Here, the most interesting detail is where the wood stood. These barrels have a documented connection to a particular park and to trees lost there, rather than simply a decorative association with a place.
The city says the trees fell during the heavy snow of fiscal 2024. Its release describes a decision to treat the fallen wood as a resource instead of disposing of it. A mechanical pencil is a particularly fitting use: the lead is consumable, while the wooden barrel can remain in daily service.
The cherry pencil and pine pencil have the same listed specifications. Both take 0.5 mm lead, use a push-button mechanism and include an eraser. Each measures 134.6 mm long, with a 10.9 mm barrel diameter, and weighs approximately 20.2 g.
How they are available
Each pencil is listed for a ¥15,000 donation through Hirosaki’s furusato nozei program, with the pencil supplied as a return gift. That amount is the required donation, not an ordinary retail price for the pencil.
The cherry and pine listings on the city-linked ANA donation portal showed availability when checked on October 19. Both are described as limited in quantity. The listings give an approximate dispatch period of ten days, excluding closure days, and warn that busy periods can cause delays. They do not state a pencil-only production total.
The listed provider is Hirosaki City’s Tourism Department, Parks and Greenery Division. The private manufacturer is not identified. Ordinary retail sales and shipping to the United States have not been confirmed.
The choice here is as much about provenance as wood species: a cherry or pine barrel tied to a known place, with its source documented by the city.
