(video2) School kids perform ritual dance for legendary princess

Nov. 28, 2012

(video1) School kids perform ritual dance for legendary princess

Nov. 28, 2012

Youngsters try to inherit centuries-old ritual dance in southwestern Japan village

Youngsters try to inherit centuries-old ritual dance in southwestern Japan village

Nov. 28, 2012

Residents of Yabe Village, a mountainous area in Kyushu, southwestern Japan, turn out for one of their biggest festivals in November, enjoying or personally taking part in performances, shows and other programs. A highlight of the 28th two-day Yabe Festival this year was the “Furyu” ritual dance and music performed by school children aged from eight to 15.
The Furyu dance, whose origin dates back to 600 to 700 years ago, is a rite dedicated to Yametsuhime Princess, a legendary figure venerated by local residents. It has been played every five years in front of the 1,300-year-old Yametsuhime Shrine in the Kaminoiwaya district. The event will not be formally performed until 2014. Students of Yabe Junior High School, joined by some elementary school pupils, play a slightly modified version as part of the Yabe Festival. They learn the traditional dance and music from people in the district who take care of the shrine every year.
The students practiced playing their respective roles very hard from summer, Hiroyuki Nagamizo, the school principal, said in an opening remark to the audience, most of them family members and school-related persons. For this year’s performance, the 22nd of its kind, “all our 39 students are here today,” the principal said. “The Furyu performance is important because they will be able to better understand our culture and nurture their passion for our homeland” by striving to inherit the tradition, he said.
The number of students at the junior high had been once far over 100, but it has decreased to one-third amid depopulation in rural areas throughout Japan. Yabe Village, with a population of about 1,400, became part of Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, in February 2010. About 90 pct of its 80-square-kilometer area is covered with forests. (A related story can be found in the post dated October 30, 2012.)
The Furyu dance was planned to be performed in the open air, but the venue was changed to a gym because of chilly rain. The performance began on a slow, gentle rhythm when a procession of 57 persons, including drummers and gong and pipe players, entered the center of the gym, led by the “shinbochi” conductor wearing brown robes and a hood.
The performance opened with an oral statement by the conductor praying for a good harvest and continued around the two drummers bearing swords on their back, who played the drums while dancing to the accompaniment of gongs, pipes and voices of kimono-clad girls with floral hats and big fans. The boys and girls played the 20-minute performance in earnest in a rather tense atmosphere, but when they posed for photos after the end, they looked happy with beaming smiles and resolved to endeavor to inherit the centuries-old event.

Japan’s aging forests demand broader efforts for better use and rejuvenation by owners, traders and citizens

Oct. 30, 2012


Japan’s aging forests demand broader efforts for better use and rejuvenation by owners, traders and citizens

A team of five woodcutters was demonstrating their unique “sakubari” lumbering method before about 30 visitors in Yabe Village in southwestern Japan on a weekend in mid-October. The technique is used to carry felled trees down with overhead wires in steep areas, where heavy machinery cannot be brought in to gather woods cut down. One of the workers operates a line of wires, 18 millimeters in diameter, extended from a pillar tree to another pillar tree up on the slanting slope, while others tie the felled cedar trees,  60 years old and about 15 meters in height, to the wires one by one and let them go 50 to 60 meters down to the foot of the slope.
Unlike the widely used vehicle-based method, the sakubari technique is difficult to learn, because the direction and the angle for stretching the wires over trees to be cut must be carefully decided in view of the situation of a specific lumbering area.
Young fellers long to obtain the technique, which is friendlier to forests, according to Hironori Kurihara, the head of a local forest leaders and workers’ study group. But the technique is becoming less common because of its low productivity. This is just one of numerous challenges facing forest owners and related parties in Japan, at a time when Japan’s forest business is economically infeasible by and large.
The difficulties for Japan’s forestry industry reflect structural reasons. Japanese forest owners have been mostly small and their business remains to be modernized. In addition, Japanese house builders prefer to use imported woods, which can be procured in bulk at lower costs. As demand shifts to foreign woods from domestic woods, cedar trees sell only about 7,000 yen a cubic meter, one-fourth to one-fifth of 30,000 to 35,000 yen until the 1970s, Kurihara says.
Lumber mills in Japan have a processing capacity of 300 to 2,000 cubic meters each a year, far smaller than 10,000 to 100,000 cubic meters in major foreign lumbering countries, estimates Toshihiko Fukushima, a veteran forester who is well versed in the situation in Fukuoka Prefecture, including Yabe Village, and neighboring regions. He also notes that foreign woodcutters fell an average 50 cubic meters of trees a day, about 10 times that for their Japanese counterparts.
Japan’s forests cover an area of about 25 million hectares, two-thirds of its total land. Of this, artificial forests account for 40 pct or 10 million hectares. Japan’s forests in terms of area are unchanged over the past four decades, but their volume has more than doubled during the period.
Trees which are 40 to 60 years old, the ages which are suitable for felling, remain to be cut in many areas throughout Japan. The foremost reason is that if trees are felled, money can be hardly left for forest owners when woodcutting, reforestation and other expenses are drawn from their revenue. This makes them reluctant to fell and sell their trees. But if the situation is attended, Japan's forests will get older, warns Fukushima, 71.
His prescription calls for felling 40 to 60 year old trees, mainly cedars and hinoki Japanese cypresses, at an annual pace of about 40 million cubic meters, about double the current pace, and continue afforestation for a period of 150 years. Then, Japan’s forests should be rebuilt to an ideal condition, he says.
Fukushima, who joined the guided tour of Yabe Village as an adviser, says that Japan’s forests should be properly used and kept in a good condition. This is necessary also in order to attain a target for Japan to reduce its CO2, or carbon dioxide emissions by 6 pct from the 1990 level, he says. Of this target, 3.8 pct must be covered with CO2 absorptions by forests. If forests get old, their CO2 absorptions will decline, making it harder for Japan to achieve the internationally pledged target.
Kurihara’s study group, formed in 1962, cooperates in guided tours and workshops organized by nonprofit organizations in recent years to increase citizens’ awareness about the various roles of forests. The tour to see lumbering sites and plantations in Yabe Village, in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, was organized by the Fukuoka Citizens’ Forest Building Network, inaugurated in 2003.
The group’s activities are supported by a subsidy provided by the prefecture from its revenue collected in the form of the forest environment tax, as it is so called. Fukuoka Prefecture uses the revenue from the tax, estimated at 1.3 billion yen, with 500 yen to be collected from each taxpayer a year, primarily to finance projects to rejuvenate devastated forests, but a few percentage of the tax is provided as subsidies to NPOs to support their programs to enhance public awareness of various problems facing Japan’s forests.
Kota Komori, a key activist of the group, admits that the subsidy system is important, because “we have to increase the forest literacy among people” through various activities. But he is concerned that the tax may be only a temporary solution to the problems facing Japan’s forests.
The tax is used to revitalize forests which are devastated or poorly maintained for 15 years or longer. Komori, 36, says that the definition of forests which are eligible for the subsidy must be studied more carefully so that the tax may be used in an effective manner.
Japan’s domestic forestry business has been threatened mainly by an influx of cheap spruce woods in recent years. Their white laminated products have spread among domestic house builders since they were authorized in Japan in 1995, according to Fukushima. Compared with domestic cedar and other needle leaf woods, laminated spruce woods are used for various purposes because they are stronger and easier to use. But this problem will be solved if domestic wood traders and house builders use Japanese laminated woods actively for wide purposes, he says.
While admitting his simulation aimed at achieving an ideal forest in Japan is rather difficult to implement, Fukushima warns that if Japan fails to properly deal with the situation, it should not only see its forests in an even harder condition but also invite criticism from foreign countries that Japan is damaging foreign forests by continuing to import cheap foreign woods while keeping its forests intact. Japan should make serious efforts to encourage an appropriate use of domestic woods in order to overcome these problems, he says.
Kurihara, 54, who has his own forests, and his group receive guided tours of citizens once or twice a year. Their difficulties, particularly low domestic wood prices, are unlikely to be solved at least immediately. Their works sometimes do not pay, even including subsidies from the national and prefectural governments. But conversations with people through workshops and guided tours “encourage us to continue our jobs,” he says. "We can have a lot of information and hints about our business from them," Kurihara says.

Former coal town pinning hopes on historical assets to attract more tourists

Sept. 25, 2012

Former coal town pinning hopes on historical assets to attract more tourists

Iizuka, located in the central part of Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, stages a series of autumn festivals demonstrating its prosperous days linked to the defunct Nagasaki Highway, but organizers this year are more serious than ever about attracting tourists as two stations had been built on the road exactly 400 years ago in the area.
The former Iizuka and Uchino stations, both in the current Iizuka City, were among the six stages established in the Chikuzen region as part of the highway in 1612 by the Kuroda clan, which ruled the area during the Edo era.
Iizuka was once the core city of the Chikuho coal field, but Japan’s energy revolution from the 1960s to 70s triggered shifts to cheap imported coal and oil, forcing the city to find a new means of life. Since then, tourism has been a key resource for the city to earn money.
The Uchino stage used to have an officially appointed hotel for the use of “daimyo” warlords, two inns for samurai and about 50 inns for ordinary travelers. The stage consisted of a 600-meter main street hemmed by the east and west gates and a branch street extending from a T-shaped junction in the middle of the main street. The old Iizuka stage was much larger, about twice as large as the Uchino stage, but the landscape in those days is better preserved in Uchino, said a staffer at an exhibition hall in Uchino. After the end of the Edo era, the Iizuka stage became a shopping area as Iizuka flourished with an influx of people related to the coal mining industry, while Uchino was left out of development after the Nagasaki Highway was deserted toward the end of the 19th century.
Nagasaki was at the western end of the 228-kilometer highway, which linked it to regions in the main island of Honshu through the northern part of Kyushu. Nagasaki is known as one of Japan’s two A-bombed cities, but it also has a history as the sole “window” open to the Western world in the years of the Tokugawa shogunate government’s isolation policy from the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century. The highway was also dubbed “the Sugar Road,” because various sweets and other imports spread from Nagasaki to the rest of Japan via the road. Items conveyed through the road were not limited to foods. Westerners traveled with many kinds of technology, books and documents from Nagasaki to Edo, currently Tokyo. A record says a Dutch emissary passed Uchino with an elephant as a gift to the Tokugawa shogun in Edo.
The highway had been partially paved with stones. “There used to be stone pavements at two places, but they were washed away with a flood which hit this town in 1953 when I was a high school student,” a local old man said.
Visitors can find a few preserved houses on the highway in Uchino. Nagasakiya Inn, which accommodated samurai travelers, is one of the preserved houses. The current building of the inn, which was built early in the Meiji era, is open to tourists, who can enjoy the same dishes as those served to travelers in the Edo era. Visitors should be recommended to try menus with “shiro-okowa” glutinous, white steamed rice, a local specialty, among other things.
The old man, who introduced himself as Mr. Ohba, formerly worked as a public employee. At present, he visits a local elementary school from time to time and talks about the history and culture of Uchino for pupils. When the Kuroda clan was ordered by the Tokugawa government to lay a road toward Nagasaki, the apparently easiest way was considered to be a route through the twin city of Fukuoka-Hakata, the home to the Lord of Kuroda. But this was not adopted and instead, the highway was built through a remote mountainous area so that Tokugawa spies may not infiltrate into the city, said the old man. It is unknown if this is true or not, but this kind of oral traditions is no doubt expected to make the time-honored town and the whole of Iizuka City more attractive to today’s travelers.

Volunteers join efforts to preserve scenic highland moor in Oita

Aug. 30, 2012

Volunteerｓ join efforts to preserve scenic highland moor in Oita

Bogatsuru is a highland moor on a basin surrounded by the Kuju Mountains in the western part of Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, southwestern Japan. The 53-hectare moor is also one of the 47 internationally protected wetlands under the Ramsar Convention in Japan.
In early spring, local people burn off dead grass to preserve the floras in Bogatsuru, but they are not the only persons who maintain the ecological system in the area, which has an elevation of about 1,200 meters. Citizens volunteer to pick up introduced species mainly in summer so that inherent species in the moor may not be expelled by foreign plants.
“We come here a few times in the summer season to remove introduced species,” a volunteer said while working in the grass with his friend. Their efforts make it possible for hikers and campers to enjoy the beauty of wild azalea, gentian, dandelion, polygonum and other small flowers in the moor throughout the year, except the winter when the surrounding areas are covered with snow.
Foreign species, actually seeds, are carried in mainly by being stuck to visitors’ clothes and shoes. "Because they (introduced species) can spread quickly, they have to be eliminated to preserve the original plant community here,” the volunteer said.
The Bogatsuru moor is watered by Naruko River, which meanders through the wetland north to south. The river is one of the headwaters of Chikugo River which cultures broad farming areas in the northern part of Kyushu . Wood trails extend to both sides from a main road in the middle of the moor, enabling people to have a close look at the floras there.
The natural beauty of Bogatsuru is depicted in a song which had been originally sung among mountaineers. The moor became famous across the country in the 1970s when the song was nationally aired on TV.

When everyone is charmed by spring flowers,
the woodsman enters the mountain
longing for the remaining snow.
Then he sheds tears and
sees melted snow that tells him the arrival of spring.
(A personal translation)

Hokkein Spa Sanso is a mountain villa which stands on the northwestern edge of the basin. The building, which becomes a "base camp" for those climbing the Kuju Mountains, has about 20 guestrooms, but its hall can be converted to accommodate up to 120 people when the rooms are occupied.
An employee at the villa, in his 30s, was repairing the base of the signboard built in front of the villa. Topsoil around the signboard was washed away by heavy rain in July, he said. “We will restore the base and the signboard, but we also hope to place big, stone-made mountain climbing boots as an object here to better welcome mountaineers,” he said.

Preciousness and awfulness of water to Japanese confirmed in waterfall tour

July 30, 2012

Preciousness and awfulness of water to Japanese confirmed in waterfall tour

Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, southwestern Japan, attracts tourists for its beautiful mountains and hot springs, notably the Beppu and Yufuin spa resorts, but not a few scenic waterfalls can be found at valleys in the mountains or on the riverside.
Some of them are designated as part of Japan’s 100 most beautiful falls. While enjoying various types of falls, visitors can obtain fresh air, cooling their heated body. The Higashi-shiiya Waterfall stands in a dynamic landscape in the deep forests. The fall has an elevation of 85 meters down to the basin while its vertical point is on the top of a lava cliff. The Fukino Waterfall entertains viewers with its gentle shape as they watch long white streams falling straight down into a valley far from an observatory. The Ryumon Waterfall is a cataract with a broad two-tier stream, while the Jion Fall is unique as its backside can be seen from beneath the cliff.
The most parts of Japan are abundant in water, but sometimes, droughts occur, and conversely, floods triggered by typhoons and rain fronts damage rice paddies and fields every year. The series of natural disasters tells its habitants about the preciousness and at the same time, awfulness of water in their life.
Actually, heavy rains played havoc with rural areas in Oita and in the neighboring prefecture of Kumamoto from early to mid-July. Floods and landslides washed away hundreds of houses and claimed about 20 lives in the areas. Precipitation in a certain remote village reached about 1,500 millimeters in less than a week, almost matching the annual precipitation in Tokyo.
A party of about 40 mostly senior tourists one time considered canceling their tour of seven waterfalls in Oita following the heavy rains. But, as it was clear on the day of departure, they decided to carry it out. “As we can be here today, they all look happy,” a guide said. Because of the heavy rain in the past few weeks, the amount of water has rather increased and this has made the falls look more dynamic, the guide said.
Some paths, trails and facilities for tourists in the affected areas remain to be repaired. But at a time when small towns and villages in Japan pin hopes on eco-friendly tours, more people are hoped to visit rural areas, not only helping the local economy but also reconfirming the importance of the nature for themselves.