Forest of the God Killer - Yakushima, Jyotake Period (17th Century)

Forest of the God Killer - Yakushima, Jyotake Period (17th Century)

In the 17th century, Yakushima Island was under the control of the Satsuma Clan, and forest resources were being managed, with Yakusugi cedars attracting attention as an important economic resource. To the islanders, Yakusugi was a sacred tree and cutting down the trees was forbidden. However, Jochiku Tomari, a Confucian scholar from Awa, broke the prohibition and presented a logic that justified the felling of the trees. He taught that one could stay on the mountain for 17 days and if the axe did not fall over, then the tree could be cut down. This act of examining the divine will as a phenomenon was an attempt to introduce rationality without denying faith, and was an ideological experiment that stood between folk society and the modern state. Thereafter, Yakusugi cedars became the basis of the clan's finances, and the landscape of the island changed drastically. The author calls this "Kami-slaying," but it was not the destruction of faith, but the translation of faith by r
eason. The modern era of Yakushima began on the basis of a dialogue between God and rationality, and the wisdom of this dialogue is also reflected in later environmental thought. Instead of killing God, God and reason are still talking to each other in the forest.