Daimaru Fukuoka's 2026 Christmas tree is woven from Mt. Aso grassland reed
Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin's 2026 Christmas tree, named Sprout, is built from chigaya reed grown on the Mt. Aso grassland and co-created with a Fukuoka university and a grassland-conservation group -- a small but concrete example of sustainability messaging reaching the most visible retail set-piece of the department store's year.
Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores said its Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin store will display a Christmas tree named Sprout at Elgala Passage Plaza (エルガーラ パサージュ広場) from November 7 to December 25, lit daily from 10:00 to 23:00 except on the opening and closing days. The tree is made with chigaya, a silvergrass harvested from the Mt. Aso grassland, chosen to evoke the grassland itself, the company said.
A lighting ceremony on November 7 opens at 16:00 and lights the tree at 18:30, with a programme that includes a stage performance by Fukuoka Women's University students, a talk session with operators certified under Japan's Nature Symbiosis Site scheme, and gospel and dance performances, emceed by Koji Nakajima (中島浩二). The tree was co-created with Fukuoka Women's University's environmental science department and the Kyushu Explorers (九州探検隊, floortok's translation) project, with grassland-conservation body Aso Green Stock (阿蘇グリーンストック) and the non-profit Karatsu Farm and Food (唐津ファームアンドフード) also named as collaborators.
Its ornaments carry the same theme: one set is shaped to resemble the Higotai (ヒゴタイ), a thistle-like flower native to Kyushu's grasslands, rendered in deep blue; the other is made from wool sheared from sheep raised on the Aso grassland. Both were handmade by university students and local children from designs the students proposed, and some ornament parts use plastic waste upcycled by Karatsu Farm and Food. A panel beside the tree introduces other Nature Symbiosis Sites across Kyushu and Okinawa.
A department store's flagship Christmas tree is its single most photographed set-piece of the year, and tying its materials to a named university partnership and a certified conservation scheme is a visible way to put a sustainability message where the most shoppers will see it -- even if, on the scale of one grassland's reed harvest, the environmental impact itself is modest.