Human-Faced Tree（neen-MEN-joo）

Based on Edo-period natural history notes and shaped by Toriyama Sekien’s pictorial intent. It is a tree that grows thick in mountain valleys and bears blossoms at the tips of its branches that resemble human faces. The flowers do not understand human speech, but are said to smile at calls or sounds. When laughter overlaps, the petals lose strength and eventually wither and fall. In Japan it was received as a tale of foreign curiosities, lacking specific local toponyms or anecdotes. The faces vary from old to young, often depicted grinning with teeth as they sway in the wind. Its true nature is unclear—treated either as a plant spirit or a rare anomalous tree—and it was recorded more as a curiosity than a source of fear.