Hist 381 Satoyama
Satoyama Woodlands and Satoyama Landscapes in Japan
( From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4132462/)
Originally, the term Satoyama—from sato = village and yama = upland—was used for forested, often hilly areas situated beside farm villages—this definition has been traced back to the eighteenth century (Tokoro 1980). Shidei (1973, 2000) has been credited for introducing this name to science and for emphasizing that Satoyama woodlands and grasslands were important for the cultivation of dry-field vegetables and rice. Wet-rice cultivation dependent on irrigation was carried out in the plains and valley bottoms. Today, the terminology has been changed so that Satoyama woodland refers to hilly uplands, often with some croplands, outside the village and Satoyama landscape to the entire area around the village—not only the hilly woodlands but also valley areas, plains with farmlands, settlements, water reservoirs, and all elements belonging to the agrarian land use system (Yamamoto 2001; Takeuchi 2003). In remote mountain areas, rather untouched forests, named Okuyama, occurred. Concepts as well as the public view related to Satoyama are described in a concise manner by Morimoto (2011, Table 1). See Satoyama scheme and map excerpt in Fig. 3, photos in Fig. 4. In addition, Satoumi (from sato = village and umi = sea) is a coastal area where people are dependent on sea fishing (Yanagi 2006). Satoumi is extremely important, traditionally as well as today, as Japan is a large archipelago with a long open-ocean coastline as well as inland sea.
Photo collage based on Satoyama field studies in Honshu, Japan. a Harvested rice field with Satoyama forest on the hill slope behind, Yumoto-Onsen, Tenei valley, c. 60 km W Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture (Oct. 2008). b Vegetable field nearby ...
Before the introduction of commercial fertilizers in the mid-twentieth century, gathering of litter in the Satoyama woodlands was very important. Open grasslands in the uplands were laid out and harvested for compost litter and grass thatching. It has been calculated that a village with 50 ha of rice paddy fields needed 5–600 ha of Satoyama woodlands for litter gathering (Mizumoto 2003). Trees were coppiced in order to get more tree trunks for timber, fuel, and charcoal production. This meant a rotation time of about 15–20 years. Coppicing occurred even in distant mountainous areas. Even today, large areas of coppiced woodlands are to be seen, but in general these are overgrown woodlands as large-scaled coppicing ceased in the mid-twentieth century. Food products were gathered, such as shoots of bamboo, ferns and herbs, nuts of chestnut (Castanea crenata) and horse chestnut (Aesculus turbinata), berries, mushrooms, game, etc. Gathering of chestnuts is still practiced in mountain areas.
Animal husbandry has been quite different from Europe. The staple food for common people was vegetables and seafood. Cattle (oxen) were mainly used as draft animals, even horses to some extent. When Buddhism became a national religion in the seventh century, the cattle meat was regarded unchaste. In the year 676, the emperor prohibited consumption of meat from cattle and horses which lasted until 1871 (Harada 1993). In contrast, rice had a special meaning in Japanese myths, “rice as deities”, and, therefore, authorities favored rice instead of meat production (Ohnuki-Tierney 1995, unpubl.). However, archeological investigations in Kyoto and other places have shown that carcasses of cattle and horses were butchered for several purposes including meat consumption (Matsui 2011). In general, cows were not kept for milk production as Japanese people have difficulties digesting milk products (Yoshida et al. 1975). Because of this, only restricted numbers of oxen were kept in each hamlet and these were kept in cowsheds. Local small-scale milk production did occur, but traditionally, farming cows were kept indoors. Cheese production was rare until the Meiji period (starting 1868), when the government did support cheese production as an element in the national nutritional strategy (Otani 2007). Altogether, it was not important to use woodlands as pastures (with the exception of horses important for military needs), and so there was no need to have fences around the hamlets. Sometimes, stone fences were built as protection against wild animals like boars and deers. Modern ranches for meat production were introduced only 50–60 years ago, mainly in northern Honshu and on Hokkaido. Sheep and goats have been present temporarily and locally since the fifteenth century, but more frequently at the end of the nineteenth century (Nakagawa 2003). Today, sheep are less frequent and goats are quite rare. Except for Hokkaido, sheep and goats did not have any important impact on the landscape in contrast to the situation in Europe.
Farming and settlement expanded within Satoyama woodlands during certain periods (Totman 2005). In some mountain areas, dry-field cultivation occurred together with swidden fields and some rice paddy fields (see Barnes 2010, Fig. 20.10). Silk worms were produced in areas where mulberry trees (native in Japan) were growing, and silk production was carried out from the Late Yayoi period 2000 years ago (Nunome 1979, 1988). There are mountain areas where mulberry trees have been cultivated for local silk worm production until recently, e.g., Shiramine Mountains in Ishikawa Province. ...
Restoration and Revival of Satoyama Woodlands
Over the last 30 years, there has been a growing concern about the deterioration of Satoyama due to, firstly, destruction by human activities such as urban development and, secondly, under-management by decreasing and aging population in the local communities of the Satoyama areas. People in Japan have a strong interest in restoration of the Satoyama landscape because of its nature as well as culture values, in modern terminology “ecosystem services.” Scientists as well as common people have rediscovered the social and economic importance of Satoyama in Japan’s history.
There is a growing interest in preserving and managing Satoyama landscapes as nature reserves or recreational areas, particularly close to cities and villages (Kobori and Primack 2003; Iwata et al. 2011). Citizens have organized associations for voluntary woodland restoration by clearing and coppicing woods, making joint excursions, etc. People are also invited to rent small field lots for cultivating rice, vegetables, etc. (example in Fig. 12). Some nature areas have designed walk paths with instructive posters for school children and other interested parties. A national movement named Mura-Okoshi, Village Reactivation, is growing with the aim to integrate rural areas with cities (Iguchi 2002). In Sweden, there is a related interest for the traditional farming landscape reflected in excursions organized by nature organizations, voluntary activities like hay making of traditional meadows, nature schools organized for school children, etc. The medical importance for active recreation in easy accessible nature areas has also been realized. In Japan, this is sometimes named forest therapy (Kuramoto 2003; Takeuchi 2003) and in Sweden practiced as nature and garden rehabilitation (Grahn 1994; Grahn and Stigsdotter 2003).
Ecologists and environmental engineers have also emphasized the value of forest products when coppiced woodlands are restored (Tabata 2001). One research group linked to Tokyo University (Terada et al. 2010) has developed a model for “refueling Satoyama woodlands” by producing carbon neutral energy based on large-scaled, industrial coppicing. A project at Tohoku University (Ikegami and Niitsuma 2006) has studied the traditional energy system in the Tenei mountain valley at Yumoto-Onsen, west of Fukushima, northern Honshu. With this background, they propose the local communities should utilize the wood biomass energy, creating new employment for local people (Ikegami and Niitsuma 2008).
The Japan Satoyama–Satoumi Assessment
In Japan, much attention has been drawn to the traditional Satoyama rural landscape because of its destruction and deterioration due to societal changes since the end of World War II. In response to these trends, The Satoyama and Satoumi Assessment (JSSA) was initiated as an international project from 2007 to 2010, led by the Institute of Advanced Studies of United Nations University (UNU-IAS) and the Japanese Ministry of the Environment (Duraippah et al. 2012). It is an assessment of the current state of knowledge—a critical evaluation of information on the interaction between humans and Satoyama-Satoumi landscapes in Japan. More than 200 authors, stakeholders, and reviewers from Japan and abroad were involved. It aims to provide scientifically credible and policy-relevant information on the significance of ecosystem services provided by Satoyama and Satoumi landscapes and their contribution to economic and human development for the use of policymakers. In an international context, JSSA defines Satoyama and Satoumi landscapes as dynamic mosaics of managed socio-ecological systems producing a bundle of ecosystem services for human well-being. Later, it has been named socio-ecological production landscapes (SEPLs) and used as a key concept in the Satoyama Initiative (SI, Takeuchi 2010). The study also identifies plausible alternative futures of those landscapes in the year 2050, taking into account various drivers such as governmental and economic policies, climate change, technology, and socio-behavioral responses. The concept of modern Satoyama is illustrated in Fig. 13.
In line with JSSA, Yumoto and colleagues (Yumoto 2012a) carried out a big project entitled “A New Cultural and Historical Exploration into Human-Nature Relationships in the Japanese Archipelago” from 2003 to 2010. Their project has provided the most comprehensive information on historical changes of Satoyama in Japan published in a Japanese encyclopedia (Yumoto 2012b). Important conclusions and messages have contributed to the report “Japan Satoyama-Satoumi Assessment 2010” for the Convention of Biodiversity (COP10) in Nagoya 2010 and for Duraippah et al. (2012).
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