Yoshino Town, Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture. Located just above the center of the long, vertically elongated prefecture, Yoshino River flows through the town, enveloped in lush greenery. The town is famous for its cherry blossoms, which bloom at different times—Shimo Senbon, Naka Senbon, Kami Senbon, and Oku Senbon—and we visited during cherry blossom season. While the cherry blossoms in the city center were in full bloom, Shimo Senbon had finally begun to blossom in their most splendid form. One of our reasons for visiting here was to meet the "Yamamori," or forest guardians, and learn the story of the cycle of trees. First, let's explore the deep mountains. ■We want to tell you about the mountains, the trees, and Yoshino
The damp earth after the rain. We entered the deep forest, where the moss looked even more vibrant. Our guide was Shota Nakai of Nakagami Lumber. Yes, this was the "Yamamori" we had been hoping to meet. Have you heard of the profession of yamamori? Yoshino forestry has a history of over 500 years. Yamamori manage and protect the forests that cover most of Yoshino on behalf of absentee owners. There were once many yamamori, but now there are only about 50 of them in Yoshino County. The position of yamamori is hereditary, and Nakai is the seventh generation to hold the position. In addition to running a Yoshino lumber production business, he develops products using Yoshino lumber, such as furniture and cutting boards, and hosts "yamamori monitor tours" to spread the word about the work of yamamori and the benefits of Yoshino wood.
Mountains of Yoshino
■100 Years of Yoshino Forestry, No Pains of Tenderness
"The trees around here are only just about 40 years old. They're still thin, aren't they? Yoshino's forestry is densely planted with 12,000 trees per hectare, which is about three times as dense as in other regions, and thinning is done frequently. This allows the trees to grow straight and with dense, uniform annual rings."
Thinning is the process of thinning out trees to prevent them from growing too thick. One of the mountain guardians' jobs is to identify these "good trees" and thin out the others. They thin out about 10 times over the 100 years it takes for a tree to grow and be cut down.
■Work to preserve forests for three generations to come
"What we're doing is creating forests for three generations to come. The 40-year-old trees we see now need to grow for another 50 years. But if we don't have the mindset to pass them on to the next generation, our work will be sloppy. There's a job called 'tree lifting,' where we use ropes to return trees that have been bent by snow back to their original position. It would be easier to just give up and cut them down instead. But if we do that, the remaining trees won't grow straight and beautiful. The price of sloppy work will come back to haunt us in the future."
This idea applies to other things as well. If we continue to focus on what's good now, the price will inevitably come back to haunt us someday. The mindset to pass on the legacy to the next generation is important. Nakai repeatedly mentioned the phrase "three generations into the future."
A place where mountain guardians used to take a break between forestry work
■ A spirit of gratitude to the mountain gods for giving us life
Finally, we were shown a "yoki" used in forestry. It is an axe used to cut trees, and it is said that in the past, it was the only tool used to cut trees. The three lines represent "miki," or sacred sake, and the four lines on the back represent "yoki," or the four elements of sun, earth, water, and air.
"On the first day of entering the mountains, you offer sacred sake. But since you can't do that every day, this Yoki mark becomes the sacred sake. Nowadays, there are axes that don't have this line. The job is to cut down the life of the tree, so if you don't understand that properly, it could lead to a major disaster."
The "Yoki" used by Nakai
Living trees and the gods that dwell within them. There is something divine about the job of a mountain guardian, who gives thanks to the mountain gods and protects the mountains for three generations to come.
Next time, we will trace the journey of cut trees from the log market to the sawmill.
[Nakagami Wood]
988-1 Nishitani, Yoshino-cho, Yoshino-gun, Nara Prefecture
http://purewoods.com/
The damp earth after the rain. We entered the deep forest, where the moss looked even more vibrant. Our guide was Shota Nakai of Nakagami Lumber. Yes, this was the "Yamamori" we had been hoping to meet. Have you heard of the profession of yamamori? Yoshino forestry has a history of over 500 years. Yamamori manage and protect the forests that cover most of Yoshino on behalf of absentee owners. There were once many yamamori, but now there are only about 50 of them in Yoshino County. The position of yamamori is hereditary, and Nakai is the seventh generation to hold the position. In addition to running a Yoshino lumber production business, he develops products using Yoshino lumber, such as furniture and cutting boards, and hosts "yamamori monitor tours" to spread the word about the work of yamamori and the benefits of Yoshino wood.
Mountains of Yoshino
■100 Years of Yoshino Forestry, No Pains of Tenderness
"The trees around here are only just about 40 years old. They're still thin, aren't they? Yoshino's forestry is densely planted with 12,000 trees per hectare, which is about three times as dense as in other regions, and thinning is done frequently. This allows the trees to grow straight and with dense, uniform annual rings."
Thinning is the process of thinning out trees to prevent them from growing too thick. One of the mountain guardians' jobs is to identify these "good trees" and thin out the others. They thin out about 10 times over the 100 years it takes for a tree to grow and be cut down.
■Work to preserve forests for three generations to come
"What we're doing is creating forests for three generations to come. The 40-year-old trees we see now need to grow for another 50 years. But if we don't have the mindset to pass them on to the next generation, our work will be sloppy. There's a job called 'tree lifting,' where we use ropes to return trees that have been bent by snow back to their original position. It would be easier to just give up and cut them down instead. But if we do that, the remaining trees won't grow straight and beautiful. The price of sloppy work will come back to haunt us in the future."
This idea applies to other things as well. If we continue to focus on what's good now, the price will inevitably come back to haunt us someday. The mindset to pass on the legacy to the next generation is important. Nakai repeatedly mentioned the phrase "three generations into the future."
A place where mountain guardians used to take a break between forestry work
■ A spirit of gratitude to the mountain gods for giving us life
Finally, we were shown a "yoki" used in forestry. It is an axe used to cut trees, and it is said that in the past, it was the only tool used to cut trees. The three lines represent "miki," or sacred sake, and the four lines on the back represent "yoki," or the four elements of sun, earth, water, and air.
"On the first day of entering the mountains, you offer sacred sake. But since you can't do that every day, this Yoki mark becomes the sacred sake. Nowadays, there are axes that don't have this line. The job is to cut down the life of the tree, so if you don't understand that properly, it could lead to a major disaster."
The "Yoki" used by Nakai
Living trees and the gods that dwell within them. There is something divine about the job of a mountain guardian, who gives thanks to the mountain gods and protects the mountains for three generations to come.
Next time, we will trace the journey of cut trees from the log market to the sawmill.
[Nakagami Wood]
988-1 Nishitani, Yoshino-cho, Yoshino-gun, Nara Prefecture
http://purewoods.com/
![[Sustainable Social Studies Field Trip] The work of forest guardians to protect forests for three generations to come. The story of wood recycling --vol.1](https://wrqc9vvfhu8e.global.ssl.fastly.net/api/image/crop/200x200/images/migration/2016/05/d15097345a35932a0d8efc03822e1b71.jpg)
![[Sustainable Social Studies Field Trip] The work of forest guardians to protect forests for three generations to come. The story of wood recycling --vol.1](https://wrqc9vvfhu8e.global.ssl.fastly.net/api/image/crop/200x200/images/migration/2016/05/64598cdf131ce7bbb55f9dcd2baeb89d.jpg)
