History of Policies Related to the Supply of Large Timber in Japanese National Forests

Abstract

At present in Japan, there is a scarcity of large, high-quality timber that is required to construct and repair traditional wooden buildings. This study revealed the history of the policies regulating the production of large timber in Japanese national forests, detected characteristics of the history, and detected future issues of the policy. The basic need of large timber for industrial modernization and armaments in Japan was recognized between the 1870 s and 1890 s. Consequently, a basic guideline for large timber production was established in 1899, and specific measures for sustainable production were established in 1919, but these collapsed in 1940 under the wartime regime. In 1955, a new policy was proposed which changed the purpose of large timber production to the supply of “high-quality timber”, and limited the forest area for production to a “minimum” of approximately 36,000 ha. However, in 1967, the area decreased to < 5,000 ha because of the political pressure on national forests to harvest more timber. A new system was proposed in 1974, but it was abolished in 1991 with the revision of the National Forest Management Regulation, and large timber production was conducted under the general management scheme. Since the fundamental reform of the national forest management system in 1998, large timber production is currently conducted according to each National Forest Regional Office. The government has designated national forests as producers of large timber throughout the modern age, but the nature of large timber production policy has been changing frequently due to the change in the management policy of the national forest. It has also become obvious that some National Forest Regional Offices have not preserved policy documents regarding large timber production. It is important to examine the policy for large timber production that includes non-national forests.