22 Chen and Nakama: Old Fukugi Trees in Okinawa, Japan ment. In many cases, old houses fell down but the grounds are still used as farm land. Only the still-standing Fukugi trees in- dicate that a family once lived there. The inhabitants left the house but the trees remain untouched around the premises. In contrast, people moved to more convenient places (e.g., Hama), and replaced old style thatch-roof houses with concrete houses. Table 1 shows that Bise, Imadomari, and Yae have a Figure 2e. A huge tree line with the traditional stone fence of coral reef, which were moved inside for the spreading roads. The stone fence was around 1m away from the tree line. had the fewest, totaling about 500 trees (Table 1). Yae has more Fukugi trees in excess of 100 years old than the other three sur- vey sites, and five times as many as in Hama. About 333 houses in Yae were found to have Fukugi trees older than 100 years, but only 85 houses in Hama. According to statistical data from Aguni Village (Anguni Village Stat 2009), in March 2003, the number of registered households and the population were 302 and 615, respectively, in Yae, and 131 and 298 in Hama. The fact that the surveyed house number is larger than the registered household number in Yae suggests many houses lay vacant. The field surveys also found that Fukugi trees have been better pre- served in proximity to vacant houses which were always the older houses and used for family rituals, particularly on Aguni Island. Vacant houses also include abandoned houses whose owners have moved out, leaving the premises without manage- Table 1. The Number of remnant Fukugi trees in selected villages. Area of Village Number of Remnant Fukugi Trees Houses (m2 )z Bise Tonaki Imadomari 191,143 134,723 263,378 Yae (East & West) 384,254 Hama 137,602 have been built approximately 100 years ago. y 964 0 1,293 0 2,561 0 541 0 17 2 15 16 3 larger number of large trees in excess of 200 years old than the other two sites, Tonaki and Hama. The former three sites have a similar number of Fukugi trees older than 200 years, totaling about 100. In contrast, Hama and Tonaki only have about 10 remaining trees older than 200 years. The oldest trees were approximately 300, 268, 294, 296, and 281 years in Bise, Tonaki, Imadomari, Yae, and Hama, respectively (Table 1). The biggest trees found in Bise and Imadomari in the north of Okinawa were larger than those on small isolated islands. This suggests that Fukugi trees might have been promoted in an earlier age in mainland Okinawa. The mean tree heights of old Fukugi trees were 994, 842, 900, 723, and 713 cm in Bise, Tonaki, Imadomari, Yae, and Hama, respectively (Table 1). The fact that Fukugi trees in Bise, Imadomari, and Yae were found to be bigger and taller can be attributed to the local inhabitants’ consciousness of the cultural importance of tree conservation. A survey in Bise vil- lage by Nakama and Koki (2002) found that about 94% of the surveyed villagers wanted to preserve house-embracing Fukugi trees. More than 70% of the surveyed villagers had high regard for Fukugi trees since they protect the houses from typhoons; provide them with shade, and make up a pleasant landscape. The oldest trees were in the southern part of Bise, in the south- east of Imadomari, and in Yae, Aguni Island. The biggest trees were in the eastern part of Tonaki Island, which is the narrower part of the flat area between two high mountains. Hama is much nearer to the ocean than Yae in Aguni (Chen and Nakama 2010). According to the renowned statesman and also a Feng Shui master, Sai On, close surroundings are needed to achieve the Estimated age of Total ≥300 yrs 250–299 yrs 200–249 yrs 150–199 yrs 100–149 yrs biggest tree 1,075 1 89 9 85 82 6 360 111 307 486 65 609 842 886 1,977 467 300 268 294 296 281 Mean tree height (cm) 994y 842y 900 723 713 z The areas of all village houses is a rough value, calculated based on the residential map published by ZENRIN. The area only includes the houses that were assumed to Mean tree heights in Bise and Tonaki was derived from the survey data from 2005–2008. Table 2. Distribution of Fukugi trees around the house courtyard. Surveyed Total number of Bisex Tonaki Imadomari 165 155 Yae (East & West) 333 Hama 85 1075 918 1293 2561 541 - 276 299 714 184 z The trees were classified according to their location relative to the house courtyard. y Refers to the proportion of trees found in one direction in relation to the total surveyed Fukugi trees inside the village. x Bise was surveyed with the help of students in the lab in the summer of 2008. The tree stand by the side was not recorded. ©2011 International Society of Arboriculture Fukugi in the eastz house number Fukugi ≥ 25 cm (dbh) Tree Number %y 99 Fukugi in the west Fukugi in the south Fukugi in the north Tree Number % Tree Number % Tree Number % - - - - - - - 30.1 157 23.1 323 27.9 294 34.0 59 17.1 174 25.0 278 11.5 357 10.9 85 19.0 311 21.5 393 13.9 1148 15.7 213 33.9 30.4 44.8 39.4
January 2011
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