Wood tribute - Kinengu

...The name of cedar lumber from Shingu, the mouth of the Kumano River in Wakayama Prefecture, as a transportation base, but the main production area is the Kitayama area upstream (present-day Kamikitayama Village and Shimokitayama Village in Yoshino County, Nara Prefecture). Forestry development in the Kitayama area, which is rich in natural cedar and cypress forests, began in the early modern period when the area became the territory of the Edo Shogunate. From that time on, the Shogunate imposed a "wood tax" system on the 14 villages of Kitayama, and in addition to cedar and cypress lumber (three and a half ken long, 1 shaku 2 sun square lumber) to be collected in lieu of the annual tax, it also provided loans of "borrowed silver" as a lumber advance payment, and required the submission of more than 800 good lumber pieces per year. This lumber was sent down the Kumano River to Shingu along with other ordered lumber, and the sea transport from Shingu to Edo was handled by lumber dealers who later formed the powerful Kumano lumber wholesaler in 1723 (8th year of the Kyoho era).

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "wood tax" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…和歌山県熊野川河口の新宮を輸送基地とする杉材の称であるが，主産地は上流の北山郷(現，奈良県吉野郡上北山村，下北山村)である。杉，ヒノキ天然林の蓄積豊かな北山地方の林業開発は，同地方が江戸幕府領となった近世初期に始まるが，その当時から幕府は北山郷14ヵ村に〈木年貢〉制を敷き，本年貢代りに収納する杉，ヒノキ材(長さ3間半の1尺2寸角木)のほか，材木前渡金に当たる〈拝借銀〉を融資し，併せて年800本を超える良材を上納させた。この上納材は別の注文材とともに熊野川を新宮へ流送され，新宮から江戸への海上輸送は，のち1723年(享保8)に有力な熊野材木問屋を結成する木材業者が受け持った。…

※「木年貢」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報