Modern Japanese English Translations and Content Analysis of 'Operational Affairs of the Forest Administration Bureau Yamabugyousho Kujichou' from the 'Eight Volumes on Forest Administration'

摘要

This Yamabugyousho Kujichou (Operational Affairs of the Forest Administration Bureau) consists of 87 articles in total and contains provisions related to aspects such as the duties of forest officials, the procurement of limber and forest products, the management of goyouboku (official-use trees), lumber for ship construction, forest buyaku (labor exacted instead of taxes), the care and administration of somayama and afforestation. It is far and away the longest of the documents within the Rinsei Hassho (Eight Writings on Forest Administration). In terms of the articles within Yamabugyousho Kujichou, when we extract and examine the main keywords the structure of the content is as follows. Out of a total of 87 articles, 30% deal with office regulations for forest officials, 24% with rules and regulations for lumber and forest products, 11% with provisions for goyouboku, 10% with both rules for farmer buyaku (labor exacted instead of taxes) and lumber for ship construction, 8% with regulations for somayama administration and 7% with provisions for afforestation. The main points related to the primary content of Yamabugyousho Kujichou are summarized below. The first content area is the establishment of hattoki, or trees prohibited from being cut down without explicit permission. In Article 57 there are 21 tree types designated as prohibited. These include types such as Kashiki (Inumaki/Podocarpus macrophyllus), Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica), Kouyouzan (Cunnighamia lanceolata), Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa), Momi (Abies firma), Kusunoki (Cinnamomum camphora) and Kashinoki (Okinawa Urajirogashi / Quercus miyagii). Among these there are native species and species that have been introduced. Others have special applications such as materials for dyes, medicines and candles. Of these prohibited trees, the native Matsunoki (Ryuukyuu Matsu / Pinus luchuensis) is not included but because large Matsu lumber is used in the construction of ships it is designated as a goyouboku (official-use tree) and its use is strictly controlled. The second content area is related to prohibited trees but concerns the procurement of trees in the production areas and the process followed through to transportation and delivery of lumber or forest products to the consumption areas. A thorough monitoring system has been set up to cover these processes. Within Yamabugyousho Kujichou the names of record books such as the Shobokuhon Suusouchou and Goyoubokuchou appear frequently. Since these books have not survived to our present day it is impossible to analyze their contents with any certainly. All we have are the explanations and descriptions about both books in the Yamabugyousho Kujichou. The Shobokuhon Suusouchou would appear to be a record of tree planting areas as well as tree names, the number of trees, tree dimensions and the locations of areas where particular trees can be cut down in each magiri. Because the Goyoubokuchou is a ledger for the specific purpose of administering government-use tree types it is thought that the content is a record of species names, tree locations, the number of particular trees as well as sizes and information about whether logging activities are taking place or not. It is probably the case that the aforementioned hattoki, or trees prohibited from being cut down, are recorded in the Goyoubokuchou. These and other ledgers were kept at the Royal Government's Yamabugyousho (Bureau of Forest Administration) as well as at the bansho (county offices) at each of the magiri. They seem to have been used as a ledger when there was a need to record receipts and disbursements as well as for the management of useful trees.