Vegetation of the Mountainous Area around Kyoto in the Middie Edo Period through a Study of the Pictures by Okyo

Abstract

Old pictures are sometimes used as references to tell the past vegetation. But it is not easy to show the accuracy of the depictions in most cases.
In this paper, “Megane-e (optical pictures) ” and “Yodogawaryoganzumahi (the rolled view picture of the Yodo river and its vicinity)” by Okyo were studied to tell the past vegetation of the mountainous area around Kyoto.
The results suggest that the vegetation there in the middle Edo period (around late 1750's and early 1760's in this case) was largely different from today: low or little vegetation area was so common there that the area with no or few forests was large, and relatively good forests were often seen in those area owned by temples and shrines.