Sometimes trees choose to grow on a wall. Despite having been repeatedly asked, the trees have not elucidated their reasoning. Maybe it’s just fun. (More likely, it’s that birds stash seeds in the crevices between rocks and forget them because birds are stupid.) Two good places to observe this phenomenon are the castle walls south of Gebabashi and the northern bank along Shirakawa between Meigobashi and Taikobashi (which was left as is during restoration precisely to preserve the trees). Our friend Shiiba Michiko has provided a photograph of the former location. - William