Control of distribution by Edo government procurement merchants dealt a blow to local forest resources
Updated by Kotaro Nagasawa on June 18, 2025, 2:43 PM JST
Kotaro NAGASAWA
（Platinum Initiative Network, Inc.
Born in Tokyo in 1958. （Engaged in research on infrastructure and social security at Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. During his first few years with the company, he was involved in projects related to flood control, and was trained by many experts on river systems at the time to think about the national land on a 100- to 1,000-year scale. He is currently an advisor to Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. He is also a part-time lecturer at Tokyo City University. Coauthor of "Introduction to Infrastructure," "New Strategies from the Common Domain," and "Forty Years After Retirement. D. in Engineering.
I amBooks by Conrad TatmanI learned the story of the establishment of cultivated forestry, in which our ancestors gathered their wisdom and revived the forests nationwide. I heard that the trajectory of this process is extremely valuable in terms of world history. I would like to know a little more about it. One book that answers this desire is "Forestry of Edo Studies" by Tokugawa Forestry History Institute (Tokyo Do Publishing, 2012).
The Tokugawa Forestry History Institute, as the name suggests, is a private research institute established in the Taisho era by descendants of the Owari Tokugawa family. The institute collects and manages a wide range of materials related to forestry policy in the Edo period, and uses them to research and present the history of forests throughout Japan from the Edo period to the present from the perspective of industrial history or policy history. The writer Shimazaki Toson frequented the institute and wrote "Before Dawn" using the materials in its collection.
Edo Gaku of Forests" is composed of two parts: an "Introduction," which serves as a general introduction, and a "Basic Knowledge," which can be read as an introduction to each topic or a dictionary. The overview section, written by Naohiro Ota, is organized into three parts: "Overcutting and Suppression in the 17th Century," "Afforestation and Cultivation in the 18th Century," and "Conservation and Utilization in the 19th Century," which is not very different from Tatman's book. The book is a highly impassioned essay that also takes into account the issues of modern forestry. In the following, I would like to introduce some of the passages that made a strong impression on me, focusing on the "Introduction" section of the book.
The unification of Japan by Hideyoshi and Ieyasu promoted the development of a nationwide distribution network for goods. The same was true for lumber, and in the 17th century, the development of castle towns, population growth, social infrastructure such as temples and shrines, and the frequent occurrence of fires in wooden cities all contributed to the expansion of lumber distribution throughout Japan.
The industry responsible for distribution also developed. Lumber merchants appeared in the major consumption centers of Edo, Osaka, Nagoya, and other areas, and developed close relationships with the shogunate as "merchants who procured materials for large-scale public works projects (e.g., new construction of temples and shrines). A representative example is Kinokuniya Bunzaemon (Kibun), who established a relationship with the shogunate through loans to shogunate VIPs and undertook the procurement of materials for the repair of Edo Castle and the construction of temples and shrines. During the Genroku period (1688-1704), which could be described as a bubble economy, these activities seem to have reached their zenith. However, the book points out that there was a major downside to the control of forest resources by the distribution capital.
One example is Kibun's contracting of work on the upper reaches of the Oigawa River (Shizuoka Prefecture) from 1692 (Genroku 5). At this time, Kibun hired all of the "soma" (loggers) and "hiyou" (timber carriers), who were in charge of logging and timber production, from other companies, and did not return any of the profits to the local community. This book points out that the soma and hiyou, who were unaware of local conditions, may have cut down not only old giant trees, but also young trees needed for the future maintenance of the forest.
Another Edo lumber merchant was contracted to cut down trees in the Hida region, but the local villagers were adamantly opposed. In response, the Edo lumber merchant cut down not only the timber for his own use, but also trees for sale that were not included in the contract, and he cut down and discarded all the small trees and saplings. The book states that the forest resources in Hida were so severely damaged that the mountains after the contracts were completed had to be designated "toreyama" (logging was forbidden).
It is important to recognize that the behavior of these unscrupulous merchants during the development of a nationwide distribution network for lumber resulted in a major loss of Japan's forest resources.
The "forestry books," which are technical books on afforestation compiled in each region, were instrumental in the nationwide spread of cultivated forestry.
After the Genroku period (1688-1704), a number of "agricultural books" were published describing cultivation techniques for agricultural products with the aim of improving small farmers' management. Many of the authors were former farmers. Forestry was also included in these books in the beginning. A representative example is Miyazaki Yasusada's "Nouzensho (Complete Book of Agriculture).
Subsequently, "forestry books" dealing solely with forestry emerged, but they are few in number. Examples include the Hagi Clan's "Nyanbangsan Goshotsuke" that discusses logging in detail, the Ryukyu Kingdom's "Rinsei Hachosho" that deals with natural renewal of subtropical forests, etc., the Morioka Clan's "Sanrin Zoshi" that describes cedar planting methods in cold regions, and the Kuroba Clan's "Taisan no Zachi" that details methods for raising seedlings. Each of these clans systematically described techniques for afforestation and planned logging that were tailored to local natural, social, market, and other conditions. The location of the Kurobane clan is in the area around present-day Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture. The Kurohane Clan is said to have referred to the techniques of Yoshino (Wakayama Prefecture), an advanced afforestation area, while aiming to establish techniques suited to regional characteristics without easily imitating them.
The compilation of mountain forest books was thus exclusively the responsibility of the local administration (clan). This was an admirable regional industrial policy, and if the result was a nationwide revival of mountain forestry, the bottom-up approach would have been a great success. The Tokugawa Forestry History Institute's research focuses on cases of "fiefdom forestry zones," specifically in the Tohoku and Chubu regions, which were under the control of the shogunate and clans for the production of official timber. The "Hashashiki" notes that there are few descriptions of "peasant forestry areas" such as Yoshino, Owase, Ome, and Nishikawa, where "mountain peasants" were responsible for forestry. This point may need to be kept in mind. (Kotaro Nagasawa, Director, Platinum Initiative Network)
■Related Sites
Rediscovering the History of Tokugawa: Edo Studies in Forestry (Tokyo Do Publishing Co., Ltd.)
