The saplings the author felled one day included shikimi, biwa, hinokim, kashi, and kozo. Each had once been closely tied to people’s lives: as building materials, as raw materials for paper, for Buddhist ceremonies, as farming tools, and for medicinal or edible purposes. Though human intervention ended these small lives, he wondered if he could transplant the stories inherent in each one. He printed each sapling at its original size, attempting to replant the trees beyond space and time.