Did one line in a Leonardo codex anticipate yakisugi?

Yakisugi, a traditional Japanese method of charring wood, has gained traction in modern bioarchitecture for its ability to enhance the durability of timber. By carbonizing the surface, this technique offers protection against water, fire, pests, and fungi, significantly extending the wood's lifespan. While the formal documentation of yakisugi emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries, intriguing evidence suggests that Leonardo da Vinci, the renowned Italian Renaissance thinker, may have hinted at the benefits of charring wood over a century earlier. According to a recent paper published in Zenodo, an open-access repository for EU-funded research, da Vinci’s extensive notes could contain early references to this practice. Leonardo's notebooks, which encompass more than 13,000 pages—of which only a fraction have survived—are a treasure trove of visionary concepts. They reveal his foresight into various technologies, from flying machines to innovative weaponry, and even designs resembling an “unsinkable” ship. Notably, in the Codex Atlanticus, he contemplated the creation of a telescope, describing the idea of “making glasses to see the moon enlarged” long before the actual invention. In a fascinating twist, Italian scholar Alessandro Vezzosi discovered mysterious recipes in Leonardo’s notes in 2003. His experiments with these mixtures resulted in a substance reminiscent of Bakelite, suggesting that da Vinci might have pioneered the concept of synthetic plastics. Leonardo’s notebooks also document his meticulous anatomical research. His sketches of the human heart, which detailed the function of heart valves in controlling blood flow, predated William Harvey’s foundational work on the circulatory system by 150 years. This remarkable insight was further validated in 2005 when British heart surgeon Francis Wells developed a groundbreaking heart repair technique inspired by Leonardo’s anatomical illustrations, leading to his publication, The Heart of Leonardo.