森林利用の諸形態 : ジャワと日本における焼畑の比較試論(<特集>東南アジア海域世界の森と海)

Abstract

This is a comparative study of forest exploitation in Java (Central and East Java in this article) and two mountain villages in Japan, focusing on shifting cultivation. Rapid deforestation in Java, especially from the late nineteenth century, inevitably caused the decline of shifting cultivation in favour of more intensive agriculture on permanent farm land. In contrast to Java, forest still occupies two-third of Japan's area, and shifting cultivation could be seen in many parts of mountain areas until the early 1950s. How should we understand these circumstances? It is easy to attribute the situation in Java to a rapid population increase which forced people to open up forests. However, this is not persuasive when we think that Japan also experienced a rapid population increase but still retains a much larger proportion of forest area. In fact, population increase itself can be considered to be a result of historical processes and natural conditions. In the case of Java, three points require special attention. First, in order to increase rice production, the Javanese rulers consistently tried to open up forest as permanent farm land, in part because exportable forest products were not greatly abandant in Java. Second, Dutch colonial policies, especially the Cultivation System and the subsquent Liberal Policy, were directed to the use of land in Java in the form of permanent farm land, not as forest. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the high fertility of soil in Java has made it possible for peasants to convert forests into more productive farm land without causing serious erosion provided water would be secured. This natural condition supported the population increase. Japan has quite different historical and natural conditions from Java. Mountain villages in Japan have much less favourable natural conditions than those in Java : poorer soil, lower temperature, and often steep slopes. Under these conditions, there were two alternatives open for forest exploitation. One was shifting cultivation coupled with hunting and gathering activities. The other was to set up artificial forests for timber. Because of the constantly high demand for timber for housing in Japan, this latter course was also advantageous. In neither case did people in mountain areas in Japan convert forests into permanent farm land like in Java, but preserved them for shifting cultivation and growing trees for timber. We will examine these two mountain villages as examples of these two types of exploitation.