SAYAMA HILLS Coppice Woods Returning to the Wild

Sayama Is Satoyama You might have heard the word "satoyama" if you are familiar with environmenatal conservation of rural areas of Japan. But Sayama is not etymologically a related word to "satoyama". (If you understand kanji characters you know the difference). But confusing though it may be, Sayama Hills are charactrized by typical saytoyama elements. Let me explain a little bit about the word satoyama. Precisely it means "village-side wooded hills". But recently this word became so papular that it is often used to imply almost everything in the traditional rural village environment. Sayama is rich in such environmntal elments both in the proper meaning of satoyama (i.e. village-side woods) and in its recent improperly expanded meanig (i.e. rural area in general).

Sayama Hills lie south of Tokorozawa. They stand out clearly like an island when viewed from the meteorological satelite. Sorrounded by gray suburban environment, they are sometimes called a "green island". Geologically, they are isolated hills in the vast Kanto Plain. Several decades ago, two villages in two valleys were evacuated and two reservoirs were created. The sorrounding area is now off limits for protection of reservoirs, so that the entire area is covered with preserved woods. Sayama Hills became better known when Hayao Miyazaki's animation movie "Totoro" became popular. If you are an anime fan, you might be familiar with the scenery to the right. The fantastic "cat bus" ran along the power lines.

Changing Coppice Woods The vast preserved area is covered with woods. The type of woods found here are coppice woods called "zokibayashi", meaning miscellaneous woods. Zokibayashi is actually not supposed to be a deep forest. It is a half-natural, half-artificial, agriculturally-utilized deciduous woods. Famers used the woods for collecting leaves and firewood. They did this work scrupurously, so that woods' floor was usually clear and the trees did not grow very tall. But the coppice woods nowadays are full of big old trees, and dense and dark. This is because farmers do not make use of the woods anymore and the plants grow free. The woods are changing, going through an ecological succession, into deep evergreeen woods, the potential vegetation in south Kanto area.

One yardstick to see whether the coppice woods are still in good condition or not is the presense of so called "spring ephemerals". Spring ephemerals are those herbaceous plants that grow rapidly in the early spring, bloom quikly, produce seeds, and go into dormancy until the next spring. They perform this feat in such a short period of about 2=4weeks. This performance is possible only in the decedious woods, since tall trees above do not yet spread leaves, so that the ephemerals can receive sunlight even on the forest floor. Typical of these plants is "katakuri"(dogtooth violet), much cherished because of its beauty and edibility. Its root was used for katakuri starch, much valued food material today.

Sayama Hills overlies on Saitama and Tokyo. The two governments provide two different approaches each to the area. North entrance from Saimtama is usually better accessible. Shown to the left is the visitor center. The structure is grass roofed: a specimen of ecosystem friendly house.

On Tokyo side, you find a large traditional farmhouse. This is not an old remnant moved from some other place. It was newly constructed in 2000. These kinds of old houses are not rare in themselves. But, note that this house is brand-new. It is a very rare opportunity to see a brand-new traditonal farmhouse. The reason is the construction cost: Total cost for this farmhouse complex was 240 million yen. See how costly a real natural thing can be in today's mass-production era. Sadly, people in the rural areas prefer modern houses and they go on abandoning these old masterpiece structures.

Sayama area is known for tea production. The green rows of tea plant are pleasurable to the eye, especially at the time when the new green leaves are fresh in May, the time of tea harvest.

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