Amazing Japanese Kindergarten Circles Around a Mythic Tree

This gorgeous new "Ring Around a Tree" addition to an existing building celebrates a Japanese Zelkova tree at the Fuji <a href="http://inhabitat.com/timayui-kindergarten-looks-like-stone-teeth-jutting-out-of-the-earth-in-colombia/" target="_blank">Kindergarten</a> in Japan. Designed by <a href="http://www.tezuka-arch.com/english/" target="_blank">Yui and Takaharu Tezuka</a>, the glass and wood structure wraps around the 50 year old tree, creating a lovely <a href="http://inhabitat.com/startts-poppy-filled-exhibition-at-the-maxxi-museum-will-be-recycled-after-its-dismantled/" target="_blank">interior garden</a> and play space. The circular shape joins and complements the innovative oval-shaped kindergarten.

The perimeter of the cylindrical building is lined with <a href="http://inhabitat.com/shipping-container-transformed-into-a-temporary-kindergarten-classroom-in-slovenia/" target="_blank">classrooms</a> and waiting areas, so that children can daydream while looking out the window and gazing at the old tree.

The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/6-high-flying-treehouses-for-the-true-escapist/" target="_blank">tree</a> itself has a storied and inspirational history -- it was almost uprooted during a typhoon, then it dried out from the subsequent trauma.

It miraculously recovered from the damage, and became a favorite tree for local children to climb, long before the school was built. It's truly a mythical tree to build a kindergarten around!

The tree remains a favorite climbing tree, and is now equipped with climbing ropes for the students to play on during recess and after <a href="http://inhabitat.com/airy-chu-hai-college-campus-in-hong-kong-will-be-cooled-by-sea-breezes/" target="_blank">school</a>. Each floor gradually builds up on the spiral.

In actuality, there are only two usable floors, but for children there are an additional four floors that are only one meter high- for inspired playing, exploring and crawling. The play areas are lined with soft rubber mats, to protect <a href="http://inhabitat.com/timayui-kindergarten-looks-like-stone-teeth-jutting-out-of-the-earth-in-colombia/" target="_blank">little bodies</a> from rambunctious climbing.