Hazenoki - Hazenoki

Japanese: ハゼノキ - はぜのき

A deciduous tall tree of the Anacardiaceae family (APG classification: Anacardiaceae). It can reach a height of 10 meters. The leaves are clustered near the ends of the branches and are odd-pinnate compound leaves consisting of 4 to 6 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are egg-lanceolate, 6 to 8 cm long, entire, sharply pointed, and hairless. The leaves turn a beautiful red in autumn. Dioecious. In May and June, panicles are produced in the leaf axils near the ends of the branches, and many small yellow-green flowers bloom. Both female and male flowers have five sepals and five petals. Male flowers have five stamens, while female flowers have five degenerated stamens and one pistil. The drupe is white, flattened, kidney-shaped, and about 1 cm in diameter. The peel contains wax, which is used to make wood wax, so it is also known as wax tree. It is very similar to the closely related Yamahaze, but can be distinguished by the hairs on the undersides of the Yamahaze leaves.

Native to China and Indochina, it was first introduced from the Ryukyu Islands, so it is also called Ryukyu goby. The ones currently growing wild from Honshu to Kyushu are believed to have escaped from plants that were planted there in the past to extract wax.

[Kyoshio Furusawa September 17, 2020]

Cultural history

The ancient name of the haze is Haji, and in the "Nihon Shoki" it is written, "Shi, this is called Haji" (volume 2, first generation, lower part). Haji bows made from Haze can be seen in the "Kojiki" (volume 1) and the "Manyoshu" (volume 20.4465). The ancient Haze was Yamahaze or Yamaurushi. There are various theories about how the modern-day Hazen tree (Ryukyu haze) was introduced to the mainland by Kamiya Sotan (1553-1635) in Karatsu, Hizen (Saga prefecture) and Chikuzen (Fukuoka prefecture), to Ogawa, Nejime village, Osumi (Kagoshima prefecture) during the Eiroku period (1558-1570), and to Sakurajima in 1645 (Shoho 2). Candles began to be made from wax from urushi and Yamaurushi during the Muromachi period, and haze wax from Ryukyu haze stabilized candle production, but the amount produced was still small and expensive, and it was not used regularly throughout the Edo period.

[Hiroshi Yuasa September 17, 2020]

[Reference item] | Yamahaze

Autumn leaves of the Hazenoki tree
The leaves grow in clusters near the ends of the branches, and the leaflets are egg-shaped, lanceolate, and sharply pointed. The leaves turn a beautiful red in autumn. The flowering season is from May to June. Also known as wax tree and Ryukyu haze. ©Shogakukan Photo by Masatoshi Hirose ">

Autumn leaves of the Hazenoki tree

Urushi, Hazenoki (tree form)
©Junzo Fujishima ">

Urushi, Hazenoki (tree form)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

ウルシ科（APG分類：ウルシ科）の落葉高木。高さ10メートルに達する。葉は枝先近くに集まってつき、4～6対の小葉からなる奇数羽状複葉。小葉は卵状披針(ひしん)形で長さ6～8センチメートル、全縁で先は鋭くとがり、毛はない。秋、美しく紅葉する。雌雄異株。5～6月、枝先近くの葉腋(ようえき)に円錐(えんすい)花序をつくり、小さな黄緑色花を多数開く。雌花、雄花ともに萼片(がくへん)、花弁各5枚。雄花は雄しべ5本、雌花は退化した雄しべ5本と1本の雌しべがある。核果は白色、扁平(へんぺい)な腎臓(じんぞう)形で径約1センチメートル。果皮はろうを含み、これから木ろうをつくるので、別名ロウノキともいう。近縁種のヤマハゼによく似るが、ヤマハゼは葉裏に毛が生えるので区別できる。

　中国、インドシナ原産で、琉球(りゅうきゅう)から最初に渡来したので、リュウキュウハゼの名もある。現在本州から九州に野生しているのは、古くからろうをとるために植栽されていたものが逸出したものとされている。

［古澤潔夫　2020年9月17日］

文化史

ハゼの古名はハジで、『日本書紀』には「梔(し)、此をば波茸(はじ)と云(い)ふ」と出る（巻2・初代下）。ハゼでつくったはじ弓は『古事記』（上巻）、『万葉集』（巻20.4465）にみられる。古代のハゼはヤマハゼあるいはヤマウルシである。現名のハゼノキ（リュウキュウハゼ）の本土への渡来は、神谷宗湛(かみやそうたん)（1553―1635）が肥前（佐賀県）唐津(からつ)や筑前(ちくぜん)（福岡県）に導入、永禄(えいろく)年間（1558～1570）大隅(おおすみ)（鹿児島県）根占(ねじめ)村雄川(おがわ)に、1645年（正保2）桜島に伝来など諸説がある。室町時代のころからウルシやヤマウルシのろうでろうそくがつくられ始め、リュウキュウハゼによるはぜ蝋はろうそくの生産を安定させたが、それでも量は少なく、高価で、江戸時代を通じ、普段使用されることはなかった。

［湯浅浩史　2020年9月17日］

[参照項目] | ヤマハゼ

ハゼノキの紅葉

ウルシ、ハゼノキ〔樹形〕

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

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