Principal Investigator（PI）: Dr. Suyako Tazuru 

Being a material of cultural relics that have been handed down over centuries, wood reflects people’s ideas, thoughts, and even the history and environment in which humans and trees have lived together.
Studying wood from cultural and scientific perspectives thus provides data to infer the way ancient people used different types of woods according to applications and how the past humanosphere was. Especially in East Asia, where cultures had much in common, comparing and analyzing relics with common features enables us to understand the various aspects of the area at that time, including intercultural relations, vegetation, usage of wood, and the regional differences of religious beliefs.

Despite the exponential progress in technology and our society today, reexamining wood evokes our ability to grasp the essence of things that humans have acquired in our long cohabitation with trees.
In this unit, we aim to deepen those new and old knowledge that is needed for future pioneering through interdisciplinary research on wood, and what is reflected in it.