Page 137 - Changing Living Spaces

Utilization of Grass and Wood in Common-Use Imperial Land

Water Source Area by Land Category
Since the ledgers prepared for tax collection did not show the actual area
by land category for the Midai River water source, a new general 20,000:1
scale general map was first prepared based on the 200,000:1 and 20,000:1
maps of the General Staff Office. Then the boundaries and topography
were drawn on the map by field survey, and each area was simply deter-
mined with a planimeter. As a result, although the ledger showed 20,000
ha for the entire water source area, the actual area was about 7,000 ha.
The 36-hamlet CIL with 16,666 ha in the ledger was actually 4,103 ha,
while the Ashikura CIL with 1,351 ha in the ledger was actually 1,184 ha. It
became clear that these two CILs accounted for 75 percent of the total wa-
ter sources. The rest were privately owned forests and fields in Ashiyasu
and Minamoto villages.

Forest Condition (Vegetation and Degree of Degradation)
First, the forest conditions of the 36-hamlet CIL are shown in table 2. The
‘grassy mountain’ was not only easily accessible, but also a completely dev-
astated area where only karishiki and grass were collected for manure and
fodder. The ‘deciduous broadleaf forest’ adjacent to the grassy mountains
was a degraded forest area, most of which had been overcut. Karishiki and
bushes were harvested near the grassy mountains, and firewood was cut
in inconvenient places in the back of the deciduous broadleaf forest, ad-
jacent to the grassy area. A small amount of building material was har-
vested in the ‘native conifer forest’ near the summit. The ‘newly plant-
ed area’ where villagers had planted under the guidance of the prefecture
was only four or five years old. Overall, more than 90 percent of the area
was considered devastated or semi-devastated by the prefecture.
Next, the forest condition of Ashikura CIL is presented (table 2). First,
‘grassy or bare mountain’ accounted for 10 percent. ‘Broadleaf forest on
the verge of devastation’ and ‘coniferous forest on the verge of devasta-
tion’ accounted for 48 percent and 13 percent, respectively, for a total of
over 60 percent. ‘Coniferous forest in natural condition’, ‘newly plant-
ed coniferous forest’, and ‘coppiced broadleaf forest’ (karitate-rin) to-
gether accounted for nearly 30 percent of the total area. In the ‘coppiced
broadleaf forest’ (karitate-rin) conceived by the village head, a fire line
was established by prohibiting fire in the conventionally used grass cut-
ting area. In the first year, an area with many broadleaf trees that sprout-
ed and grew back, such as chestnut and oak, was selected, and the better

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