Page 139 - Changing Living Spaces

Utilization of Grass and Wood in Common-Use Imperial Land

price of 52.09 yen/year (average for 1895-1902). Residents paid a total of
104.61 yen/year, or 2.73 sen/cho (the total area of the 36-hamlet CIL was
4,103 cho) to the BIe. The amount/cho paid to the BIe by the 36-hamlet
CIL and the Ashikura CIL was extremely low, considering that the Survey
Report found that good forest land at that time brought in a net income
of 40–50 yen/cho/year.

Implementation of the Regulation on Conservation
and Supervision
The ‘Regulation on the Disposal of Grass and Wood’ [Soumoku harai-sage
jouki] of 1883 (Meiji 16) was the prefectural government’s first codification
regarding resource extraction in the iriai commons. In accordance with
this regulation, the prefectural government forced the 36-hamlet iriai com-
mons in 1885 (Meiji 18) to each establish a ‘Regulation on Conservation
and Supervision’ for grass and wood. However, the Survey Report showed
that the prefecture did not conduct on-site inspections and left the matter
alone, and that many of the agreements were not respected. In 1889 (Meiji
22), the iriai commons were incorporated into imperial ownership, and the
following year the new ‘Rules on the Disposal of Grass and Wood’ [Soumoku
harai-sage kisoku] were issued. After remaining untouched for some time,
the ‘Regulations on Conservation and Supervision in the 36-hamlet CIL’
were reinstated in 1899 (Meiji 32). However, it was still not enforced be-
cause there was no on-site inspection or supervision. In the Ashikura CIL,
the regulations were also introduced, but again they were not followed.
After 1899, however, each of the five sub-hamlets in Ashikura began to
take responsibility for creating coppiced broadleaf forests (karitate-rin).
For the 36-hamlet CIL, the amount of forest resources used by resi-
dents was surveyed. It is a case study of a mountainous area in western
Yamanashi Prefecture in the middle of the Meiji period; therefore, it is
limited by location and time. However, it is unique, accurate, and detailed
data on the use of sanrin resources.

Amount of Wood and Firewood Collected by Residents
Firstly, the frequency of wood use by the residents and the amount of
wood collected in each village were studied. Nine of the 13 total villag-
es in the 36-hamlet CIL collected wood. The villages can be roughly divid-
ed into five villages (Iino, Minamoto, Hyakuta, Zaikezuka, and Nishino)
that primarily used the 36-hamlet CIL and four villages (Asahi, Tatsuoka,
Ookusa, and Ashiyasu) that also took wood from other locations (table 3).

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