1991 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Formation and Development of Forestry in Upper Basin of Kitsu River
| Project/Area Number |
01560162
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
林学
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| Research Institution | Mie University |
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Principal Investigator |
KASAHARA Rokuro Mie Univ. Faculty of Bioresources, Professor, 生物資源学部, 教授 (20024531)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1989 – 1991
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| Keywords | Forest history / Forestry in Mie Prefecture / Kitsu River |
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| Research Abstract |
In this district, woodcutters employed by Todaiji Temple were found already in the 8th century and construction wooden materials for temples were cut down and rafted through Kitsu River to Nara.
In the 11th century, wooden materials for constructing a new shrine of Ise Inner Shrine were cut down and rafted from the basin of Nabari River. In view of these historical facts, we had begun this research on the presumption that this district might have been a "developed area in terms of forestry" where forests were developed and used from old days. However, contrary to our expectation, we reached the conclusion that the district can be positioned to a "later developed area" in Mie prefecture.
That is to say, forestry in this district had been stopped at the stage of cutting down and exploiting forests and deforested places had been left to natural recovery. Moreover, woodmen of Todaiji Temple and Kofukuji Temple cleared forests for cultivation and formed a number of villages and farms. As a result, neighboring vast hills were used as common forests for collecting grass, firewood and charcoal to support peoples' life and agricultural production, and thus destruction of forests and deforestation proceeded increasingly.
It was not until the 20th century when the common forests were divided among farmers who had the commonage and afforestation by farmers was started that forests in this district showed a sign of recovery.
In this research, we have : (1) studied positively the above-mentioned development process of forestry ; (2) obtained the conclusion that this district can be positioned to a later developed forestry area in Mie Prefecture ; and thus (3) achieved approximately the purpose at the start to fill up a blank of Mie Prefecture's history of forestry and make it more complete one.
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