Zelkova Wood

Zelkova serrata grows in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and in Korea and China, and is sometimes planted; it does not grow naturally in Hokkaido. It grows at relatively low elevations in Japan and is often planted as a street tree, such as the well-known zelkova avenue in Fuchū, Tokyo. Flora of China records it in valleys and beside streams at 500–2000 m in many Chinese provinces and Taiwan, as well as in Japan, Korea and the Kuril Islands.

Keyaki is ring-porous: large vessels line up in a ring at each growth-ring boundary, so the rings are clearly visible and the texture is coarse. Well-grown wood has wide rings and is heavier, harder and more lustrous, while slow-grown wood is lighter, softer and duller. Large old trees with burls give irregular grain and many kinds of figure (moku), which greatly raise the decorative value. The heartwood is durable, the wood is moderately easy to work, and it can be steam-bent.

Large keyaki timbers have been used for temple and shrine buildings and formerly for castles; the wood has also been used for furniture, mortars and pestles, drum shells, carving, everyday utensils and, because of its strength, once for utility-pole crossarms. At Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, the famous stage, rebuilt in 1633, is supported by 18 pillars of zelkova more than 400 years old, the largest about 12 m long and about 2 m in circumference, joined with tie beams and joints without a single nail.