Farmers' Forest - Hyakushobayashi

Private forests owned by individual farmers in the Edo period. Sometimes it refers to village-owned or village-shared forests. In some areas, they are called peasant-owned forests, land-attached forests, ikune forests, kakaeyama, funin forests, peasant-owned forests, etc.

Most peasant forests were used to support agriculture and the lives of farmers, such as for fertilizer, feed, and fuel, but with economic development, in areas with favorable geographical conditions, such as being close to consumer markets or being in an area with easy transportation, there were also cases where forest products were commercialized as timber for civil engineering and construction, firewood, and other forest products. However, even in privately owned forests, if there were large, good-quality trees, they were registered in the lord's forest register, and the owner could not cut them down without the lord's permission, and it was common for some kind of restriction to be imposed, such as a prohibition on cutting down particularly large trees or certain species of trees designated by the lord, such as cedar and cypress.

[Masatake Iioka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代の農民個人の私有林。また、ときには村持ちもしくは村々共有の入会(いりあい)山をさすことがある。地方によっては、百姓持林、地付(じつき)林、居久根(いくね)林、抱(かかえ)山、符人(ふにん)林、百姓証文山などととなえる所もある。

　百姓林の多くは、肥料、飼料、燃料など農業および農民生活を支える目的に供されたが、経済の発展とともに、消費市場の近くや搬出至便な地域などの地理的条件に恵まれた所では、土木建築用材および薪炭材などの林産物の商品化を図る例もみられた。しかし、私有林であっても、良大木のある場合は領主の山林台帳に登録され、持ち主は領主の許可を得たうえでなくては伐採できず、また格別の大木や、領主の指定した杉・檜(ひのき)などの特定の樹種は伐採を禁止されるといったなんらかの制限を課せられるのが通例であった。

［飯岡正毅］

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