Yoshitaka KOSHINA, Graduate school of letters, Kyoto university, Japan
In the plains of Japan, farming families have arranged small forest-like woodlands in their yards and villages; these woodlands are called “Yashikirin.” Yashikirin has been utilized in various ways, for example, windbreaks, blindfold hedges, timber forests. Geographers, particularly climatologists, have traditionally been interested in their windbreak functions. Since these woodlands were usually arranged on the windward side of their house, many studies have estimated the direction of the local prevailing wind in scattered settlements by investigating the arrangement relationship between the house and its woodlands. On the other hand, recent forest research in Japan has analyzed the ownership of forests with regard to sustainable maintenance. In agglomerated settlements, these woodlands, aggregation of Yasikirin, area is wider than that of in scattered settlements. This is why Yashikirin in agglomerated settlements can be treated as if it were a normal forest. As these woodlands are located adjacent to residential spaces, there is potential for tremendous damage during treefall events. Thus, it is necessary to analyze forest ownership for the purpose of sustainable maintenance as normal forests. In this study, I investigated area variation and ownership of woodlands using aerial photography and interviews with reference to agglomerated settlements in Honjo city and Kamisato town, Saitama. These areas experience cold, dry, and strong winds during winter. Many residents recognized these woodlands as windbreaks. When the woodland owner was different from the owner of the house in front of the woodland, the woodland tended to be left as is and continue to exist.
Mots clés : woodland of farmyard|woodland in agglomerated settlement|climatic landscape|bamboo forest|the local prevailing wind
A103740YK