"Japanese spirit, Western learning" felt in the forest of Meiji Shrine
Updated by Kotaro Nagasawa on September 12, 2025, 9:12 AM 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 an auditor of Jumonji Gakuen Educational Corporation and 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.
The Meiji government sent many foreign students to Saxony (Taranto), and as a result, it is said that Taranto forestry became the basis for the management of national forests. Tsutsui 窶廸夫窶「日本林政史研究序説」 (Introduction to the Study of the History of Japanese Forestry), along with the eye-opening observation that Japan窶冱 national forests were born together with the Meiji government, states that the Meiji government sought management policies for national forests from German forestry and based its theory on a model called "Hosho Shinrin (≒ a form of large-scale, simultaneous simple forest that provides a fixed amount of harvest every year). Although it took some time for the Hosho Forest concept to spread, "once it took root, it governed the management of the national forests with firmness and firmness.
Mr. Murao gives a harsh assessment of the Hosho Forest approach. He says that the assumptions of the Hosho Forest model are too far removed from reality, such as equal area for each forest age, no impact on neighboring land when harvested trees are removed, and nearly equal growth rates for each forest segment. There are also various theories on how to determine the age of the harvest (i.e., how old the trees are to be cut). As we have seen with the felling age problem," he writes, "Tarrant forestry tries to govern real forestry not from reality, but from the formulas and the formulas, numbers, and tables that it uses to determine the realities of the forestry industry.
For example, in his book "Forestry and Forestry Science" (1909), Honda Seiroku, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University of Agriculture who had studied in Taranto, acknowledged that the Hosho-rin forests were "nothing more than an ideal model," and argued that "in actual practice, it is necessary to determine a perfect forest form that is also a model. In the same breath, he argues that "in actual practice, it is necessary to determine a perfect forest form that can be used as a model.
Professor Shiguroku Honda is also the author of the famous "Theory of the Exile of the Red Pine. The "Theory of the Exile of the Red Pine" is a paper that Honda published in 1900, in which he pointed out that only red pines would grow if over-forestation continued (and that we should therefore stop over-forestation), but on the contrary, the misunderstanding that red pines were destroying the land became widespread. The original paper is regarded as "the first case in which ecological research by forestry scientists was applied to forestry" (Sadamoto Watanabe, "Forest Ecology and the History of Relations with Forestry and Forest Science"). In other words, the situation is not so simple.
Murao also wrote in his postscript, "Japanese forestry scholars may object to the inclusion of Shiguroku Honda, the first professor of the Second Department of Forestry (silviculture) at the University of Tokyo, in the Taranto group. It is true that Honda spent more time in Munich than in Taranto." "He transferred to the Department of Economics at the University of Munich, not to the Department of Forestry. He studied under Luyo Brentano, a leading figure of the left wing of the Social Policy Society and a representative of pulpit socialism. He is a curious figure.
He suggests that Honda could not have been unaware that at the University of Munich, where he studied, the Department of Forestry was in the Faculty of Economics, and Geier's successor was lecturing on silviculture.
Although the author is not able to further analyze and critique this issue in a professional manner, a single episode has stirred a certain imagination. It is a description of the forest of Meiji Shrine in Tsukasa Fukushima's "Forever Preserving Japan's Forests. The following is an excerpt.
Shigenobu Okuma, one of the committee members, insisted that the shrine be surrounded by a cedar forest to create a majestic atmosphere. He insisted on the creation of an evergreen broadleaf forest of mainly shii and oak trees, which suited the climate and land conditions of the site. As a result, Honda's proposal, with ecological support, was accepted."
A three-stage forest map of the Meiji Jingu forest has been prepared, showing the expected changes in 50, 100, and 150 years from the time of construction. The model is Emperor Nintoku's Mausoleum, which is an artificial forest at first, but over time it will become a stable forest that is close to nature. Does this not resonate with the Prussian idea of a permanent forest? It is also a forest for relaxation in the heart of the city and may have something in common with the multifunctional forest theory of the Munich-Zurich Alliance.
Considering the situation in Meiji Japan, large-scale forest resource management for lumber production is essential, regardless of the problems it may cause. Therefore, large-scale simple forestry must also be done. On the other hand, multifunctional forests based on an ecological approach are also important. It is not one or the other.
According to Mr. Murao's book, in Germany, there seems to be a competition among schools of thought, each claiming its own ideology. On the other hand, although this is only the author's imagination, it seems that among the pioneers of modern Japanese forestry, such as Shizuroku Honda, there are those who, while seeking a model from Germany, learned techniques rather than ideas from there and tried to apply them in the Japanese situation.
Their "Japanese spirit" is both a return to history (the Hengshu Forest modeled after Emperor Nintoku's mausoleum) and an orientation toward industrial society (national forest management based on the Hosho Forest concept), which is reminiscent of the Meiji era. We in 2025, who have access to far more technology and techniques, differ from them in that in addition to valuing history and aiming to promote industry, we are also strongly conscious of the environment and the earth. (Kotaro Nagasawa, Director, Platinum Initiative Network)
About the Author
Yukikazu Murao (1934-2020): Born in Dalian, China. Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Agriculture. After working as a researcher at the National Institute of Forestry and Forest Products Research and as a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Munich, he became a professor at Ehime University.
■References
Karl Hasel, A History of Germany as Told by the Woods.(Translated by Mitsuaki Yamagata, Tsukiji Shokan 1996)
Katayama, Shigeki, "Deutsches Forestrischer Gesellschaft der Deutschen Forestrischer Gesellschaft," (Institute of Forestry Economics, 1968).
Tsutsui, Michio, "Introduction to the Study of the History of Japanese Forestry Policy.(University of Tokyo Press 1978)
Tsukasa Fukushima, "Forests of Japan I want to Leave Forever" (Lyon-sha 2005)
