Plant respiration (R) is a key determinant of the carbon cycle in forest ecosystems. In general, it has been anticipated that plant R will increase in response to climate warming since R is highly dependent on temperature (T) and the T response of plant R is assumed to be static. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the R-T response is seasonally dynamic and, thus, plant R can acclimate to ambient air T. The present study examined vertical and seasonal variations in the short-term T response of leaf R in a young hinoki cypress canopy, Kumamoto, Japan. We found that leaf R in hinoki cypress is able to adjust to seasonal changes in ambient temperature, and that the variations in leaf R can be predicted by relatively simple parameters, namely light and temperature (Araki et al. 2017). Based on these results, we developed a model that included seasonally variable R-T response to estimate total canopy R. Responses of canopy R to temperature increase according to the RCP scenarios were predicted and compared with another prediction by a model with static R-T response. Consequently, incorporating temperature acclimation of leaf R into the simulation model considerably reduced predictions of increase in CO₂ release from hinoki cypress canopy in response to climate warming.