The Generation of Imagined "Homeland" Landscape along with the Changes of Forest Scenery after the End of the Meiji Period

Abstract

"Landscape" is a phenomenon between external world and human being. The generations or changes of landscapes are caused by not only the changes of physical aspects of external world, but also the changes of the factor of peoples way of seeing. This study aims to discuss the change of landscapes of rural forest in Japan that is often described as the Japanese Homeland landscape. What historical processes have generated such kind of landscape images among Japanese up to the present days? On one hand, changes of the visual features of forest in Japan were investigated based on the statistics of the government. On the other hand, governments policies regarding images of landscape recognitions were also examined. It is supposed that after the end of the Meiji era, a policy so called Local Improvement Movement held by the government, have strongly affected the generation of Japanese Homeland landscape. This kind of landscape could be described as some institution, that seems not to be used easily for landscape design without any consideration.