Examples of Agro-Forestry in the Warm-Temperate Zone of Japan

Abstract

Shifting cultivation was practised in the mountain areas of southwestern Japan for over 2,000 years, until a few centuries ago when it was gradually replaced by terraced agriculture and timber production. On the islands of Oki-no-shima a shifting cultivation system, Maki-hata, is still practised. This refined system of ley farming, in which pasture and grain cultivation rotate, is described. The main reason for the change from shifting agriculture in Japan is economic and highland people now generate forest products for sale to the increasing population of the lowlands. Commercial forestry has replaced former agro-forestry and agricultural systems. RESUME Exemples d'agro-foresterie dans la zone temperee chaude du Japon. La divagation des cultures s'est pratiquee dans les regions montagneuses du sud-ouest du Japon pendant plus de 2.000 ans. Neanmoins, depuis plusieurs siecles elle a ete progressivement remplacee par l'agriculture en terrasses et la production de bois. Un systeme de divagation des cultures, denomme Maki-hata, est encore pratique dans les iles Oki-no-shima. Ce systeme ameliore de cultures en assolement, caracterise par une rotation du paturage et de la cerealiculture, est decrit dans cette etude. La raison principale de cet abandon progressif de la divagation des cultures au Japon est d'ordre economique, et les habitants des regions montagneuses fournissent maintenant des produits forestiers pour satisfaire aux besoins d'une population croissante dans les plaines. La sylviculture commerciale a remplace les systemes precedents d'agro-foresterie et d'agriculture. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Beispielefiir Agro-Forstwirtschaft in der warmen-gemassigten ZoneJapans. Uber 2000 Jahre lang wurde in den Berggegenden des siid-westlichen Japans Wanderhackbau betrieben. Vor ein paarJahrhunderten wurde diese Anbauform jedoch durch terrassierte Landwirtschaft allmiihlich ersetzt. Auf der Oki-no-shima Inselgruppe wird Wanderhackbau, Maki-hata, immer noch betrieben. Diese weiterentwickelte Art laienhafter Landwirtschaft (ley farmnning), bei der Weideland und Getreideflachen sich abwechseln, wird beschrieben. Der Hauptgrund ffir ein Aufgeben des Wanderhackbaus in Japan ist 6konomischer Art, denn die Bewohner des Hochlandes erzeugen jetzt Holzprodukte zum Verkauf an die wachsende Flachlandbevolkerung. Friiher uibliche Agro-Forstwirtschaft und landwirtschaftliche Nutzung wurden durch kommerzielle Forstwirtschaft ersetzt. Over two thousand years before rice cultivation in paddy fields was introduced into Japan, shifting cultivation (Yakihata or Kirikae-bata in Japanese) was practised in the mountainous regions of southwestern Japan where evergreen broadleaf forests are dominant. This agro-forestry system on steep mountain slopes continued until the later part of the nineteenth century and extended to the northeastern regions where deciduous broadleaf forests are dominant. During the past hundred years, however, it has rapidly died out; the size of the area cultivated and the number of people engaged in agriculture and forestry have decreased. Shifting cultivation, which was an important agricultural method in mountainous regions of the warm-temperate evergreen forest zones and was distributed widely throughout East Asian countries, was first introduced into Japan by people who immigrated from Southeast Asia. These immigrants at first produced food only for their own consumption. As the domestic trade between highland and lowland people began to develop, the kinds of products and the system of production under shifting cultivation gradually changed, and the immigrants, influenced b the lowland people, tended to produce more goods for sale and barter. Yam, taro, beans, millet, and some kinds of grain had been cultivated, but after markets were established the plant species grown changed to those that were marketable, including Amorphophalus konjac, a form of taro which had been introduced into Japan from India through China, and Edgeworthia papyrifera which has a strong bastfibre used for producingJapanese paper. In some districts shifting cultivation practices declined and small terraces for permanent farming were constructed on steep slopes. The cultivation of sweet potatoes is still common on such terraces. In other districts some coniferous species, such as Cryptomeria japonica and Chamaecyparis obtsusa, were planted before a field was abandoned. Formerly, the abandoned fields were left to natural regeneration by broadleaved tree species which produced a forest of limited value, mainly large logs used for domestic fuel. Twigs and branches, scattered over cleared areas, were burned before cultivation. In contrast, however, logs produced from planted conifers were valuable for the domestic market. About 300-400 years ago, at the beginning of the Edo era under the Tokugawa shogunate, peace was restored and This content downloaded from 157.55.39.149 on Wed, 07 Jun 2017 17:53:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 406 / MOUNTAIN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT construction began to boom in every large lowland town. In consequence, the consumption of timber reached a high level. Due to such prosperity in the lowland towns, the system of shifting cultivation in the highlands changed from farming to the planned cultivation of timber for the new