About Himekomatsu

睡眠に良いヒメコマツとはどんな木なのか

木工家・樹木効能研究家（27年）　牧野泰之 Yoshi-yuki Makino

マツ科マツ属のヒメコマツ。北海道から九州の冷温帯や亜高山帯に自生する。別名ゴヨウマツともいう。漢字で’五葉松’と書くとおり、5本の針状の葉が束になってつく。樹皮は浅く裂け、地衣類がつきやすく銀白色の印象を受ける個体も多い。幹は比較的、通直に育ち、樹高30メートルにも達する。工房にあるヒメコマツの一枚板は幅が910mm（樹齢は約140年）あり、かつては大径木がかなり存在したと想像する。

A pine tree of the family Pinaceae, Pinus. It grows naturally in the cool-temperate and subalpine zones from Hokkaido to Kyushu in Japan. It is also called "Goyoumatsu" (meaning "five-needle pine"). As written by the Chinese character for "five-leaf pine," it has five needle-like leaves that grow in bunches. The bark is shallowly split, and many individuals have a silvery-white appearance due to lichen attachment. The trunk is relatively straight and can reach a height of 30 meters. A single board of Himekomatsu in our workshop is 910 mm wide (about 140 years old), so one can imagine that there used to be quite a few large-diameter trees in the area.

　材はマツ特有のヤニ分を含むが、ヤニ溜まりを避ければ白木で使用してもヤニで困るようなことはない。材は狂いが少なく、昔は鋳物木型の材料に重宝されたと聞く。「木材ノ工藝的利用」によれば、欄間や建具等の彫刻材として利用されたり、他にはない使用としてはバイオリンの甲板などに使われ音響伝導に優れていると書かれている。今ではそのような需要もなくまた各地で減少傾向にあって、木材として流通している量は少ない。

　The wood contains a resinous substance peculiar to pine, but if you avoid resin accumulation, you will not be troubled by it even if you use the wood without painting. The wood is not prone to distortion, and it is said to have been useful in the past as a material for casting wooden molds. According to "Industrial and Artistic Uses of Wood," it is used as carving material for balustrades and fittings, and as a unique use, it is used for violin decks, etc., and is said to have excellent acoustic conductivity. However, there is no such demand today, and the number of Himekomatsu trees has been decreasing in many areas, so the amount of Himekomatsu distributed as lumber has become very small.

参考：農商務省山林局編　「木材ノ工藝的利用」　/　林 将之著「樹木の葉」　/　「COLLINS　COMPLETE GUIDE TO BRITISH TREES」　/ 　阿部蔵之「木の大学特別講座2019　フィールドレクチャー飛騨高山一之宮」