Tree House Classroom

Tree houses are excellent places for exploration and play and for the children of Sendai, Japan, one beautiful tree house is also a site of healing and education. Takashi Kobayashi, known as the ‘Tree House Guru’ has built over 120 arboreal abodes over the past 2 decades.

He created a house for the kids of Higashi-Matsushima inspired by a dragon in an effort to help them cope with the devastating tsunami that occurred in 2011. The ‘Tree Dragon’ is intended to serve as an extension of the woodland classroom and an area for children to feel safe and secure.

Kobayashi wanted the children who experienced the tsunami to have positive memories of their childhood. Like the dragon it was modeled after the tree house stands as a symbol of resilience, strength and luck.