The past 10 days were spent in a rural Japanese village on the northern side of Mt. Fuji. We lived in a nearly 200-year-old farmhouse and spent the evenings swimming in nearby Lake Sai, one of the region’s famous five lakes. During our time there we conducted a research project at a number of sites on three recent lava flows: the Kenmarubi, Takamarubi and Aokigahara.
Each site was picked because it represented an intriguing change of land use. Two groups examined the biological and geological characteristics of each site, while the history group looked for significant changes due to human intervention. To find sites, the history group examined aerial photographs and chose locations that had significant changes in land use after WWII. Most of the sites we visited showed signs of humans logging for timber, selecting trees for aesthetic purposes, or thinning forests to allow for easier access to certain areas. Due to the rise of foreign imports in the 1970’s, Japan’s timber economy could not compete with the global timber market and it was, oftentimes, not profitable to harvest Japanese trees. Because of this, there was a change in land use in areas previously used as plantation forests. We visited one site that was previously plantation forest but, following the decline in the Japanese timber industry, had been thinned and converted into a public park with an aesthetically pleasing red pine forest.
Public park neighboring old red pine plantation
In addition to our research project, we studied the rich common land, or iriaichi, tradition on the northern slope of Mt. Fuji. Historically, local villages have had the land use rights to the iriaichi areas neighboring them. At the end of the 19th century, however, the Japanese Imperial Army wanted the grasslands as a training ground. Following WWII, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces also needed an area to train and began renting a large part of the Nashigahara grasslands from the Onshirin Kumiai, the association that manages the common lands. Because of the Self-Defense Forces’ presence and the historical conflict over the land, each year the local people burn the grasslands in order to assert their continued right to the land (Bernstein, 2013). While the Nashigahara area has changed—both in ownership and usage over time—the assertion of rights to the land seems to be constant.
Iriaichi used by Japanese self-defense forces
Our visit to the Onshirin Kumiai’s headquarters was very different than I had imagined. My “American” perspective of common lands led me to assume that we would be meeting with young, casually dressed, yuppie-type environmentalists who democratically decided how to use the common lands. The leaders of the Onshirin Kumiai could not have been more different. These venerable men were very formal, dressed in suits, and had an aura of power. When describing the process of making decisions about using the common lands, they explained that although each municipality had representatives for the decision-making process, there were really two main decision makers.
This illuminated a culturally specific relationship to common lands. So long as the Japanese villagers continue to have the right to use the land, they appear happy to grant the Onshirin Kumiai the power to decide how to manage it. Perhaps the history of conflict over common land in Japan, and the continued right of the population to access the land, has led to strong faith in the way the Onshirin Kumiai operates. People are content with a system of strong leadership so long as the Onshirin Kumiai keeps the land in the hands of the people and maintains the common lands in a profitable fashion.
Bernstein, Andrew. 2013. “Guns and Grass: The Militarization of Fuji’s Common Lands.” IASC Annual Meeting.