2017 Volume 80 Issue 5 Pages 473-478
In Hakodate City, since 1869, many historical conflagrations have occurred, particularly during 1907, 1921, and 1934. They have resulted in massive damage, including damage by air-raids during WWII. Approximately 80 to 100 years have passed since the last conflagration; therefore, only a few physical and archived historical reminders in the form of photographs and books remain. Additionally, few old residents still personally remember the war. Thus, damaged trees are now valuable historical relics; however, their number and distribution are unknown. Therefore, we conducted research to address this concern and obtained the following results.1) We identified 10 conflagration-damaged trees, 17 requiring more evidence, and one war-damaged tree, mainly concentrated in public parks, roads, and on the edges of past burned out areas. Conversely, temple precincts contained few such trees. 2) The established method of identifying war-damaged trees also applies to conflagration-damaged trees. 3) Due to very little remaining physical evidence to guide the identification of damaged trees, regional historical books helped with identification. Thus, it is important to record, store, and manage plant regional historical databases, and we believe that providing open public access can facilitate the preservation of urban histories.
