Tokyo’s Olympic Rings Were Made From Trees Planted at 1964 Games

The Olympic Games have begun and the opening ceremony today was truly magical. With inspiration all around, the Olympic ring for the games’ opening ceremony had an extra special meaning. These iconic rings in Tokyo were created using trees planted by athletes more than 50 years ago.

In 1964 was when the last Olympics was held in Tokyo. During these Tokyo Games, athletes were asked to bring seeds and plant trees to commemorate the competition. Now, 57 years later, these trees were harvested and used to create the Olympic circles. How cool is that?

The wood came from 160 pines and spruces grown from seeds that came from the countries of Northern Europe, Canada, and Ireland. The New Zealand team tweeted, these magnificent rings were constructed in the traditional Japanese woodworking style of Yosegi-Zaiku — a marquetry technique that dates back to Japan’s Edo period and uses different grains, colors, and textures of wood to make mosaic designs.