Once upon a Time in War Zone: Forests and Odawara Castle Sogamae I 小田原城総構

 

Now thanks to the advancement of global communication tools, we are bombarded with the images beamed from war zones. Everywhere with bombs, the scenery is barren with rubbles and charcoaled somethings. It’s not rocket science to see huge environmental problems … Tons of heavy metals from weapons seeping in the barbecued soil, forests are disappearing after air strikes, people left in the battle zone are surviving in dusty “former” towns probably inhaling microparticles of hazardous substances wafting from the destroyed buildings. I really hope nukes won’t come … There, I guess greenery does not have meaning except for covers of soldiers. They are aggressively destroyed to kill the enemy … And that’s the reason why yesteryear warlords in Japan preserved forests. Let me explain.

Japan is registered as a nation of forests whose forested area is 66% of the entire territory. We are situating ourselves at the third position among OECD countries for this rate (; the first, Finland, the second, Sweden). The reason why we are so is at least partially owed to the history. The most famous historical figure who aggressively protected the nation’s forest was Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1543-1616), the founder of Tokugawa Shogunate. He ordered “not to deforest” in the area around Edo = Tokyo. If somebody violated his order, the person was subject to death penalty. Before Ieyasu, Japan was suffering civil wars and warlords everywhere in the archipelago took the same strategy for defense. The reason? Japan is mountainous and our climate is ideal for deep temperate rainforest. Before tank battles and airstrikes, encircling one’s territory with deep forest was the best strategy to build security walls. In Japan we do not have large scale walled cities as historical (aka tourists’) towns, like in Europe and Continental Asian places.

The forest around Mt. Takao.
This is one of the most famous examples
Ieyasu preserved 300 years ago.

When the civil war was settled, the strategically protected forests began to provide materials for constructions and other services such as herbal medicine. i.e. Keeping the forest was profitable. People did not have reason to destroy the gainful forest coverage for quite some time … Those were the days. The 1960s came when international trade of cheap imports annihilated Japanese lucrative forestry industry. Petrol started to dominate the material for many things. Many forests, especially in main cities and towns, where Prefectural Offices and the other modern-day utilities located, were bulldozed to build offices and suburbs for workers. In Japan, almost all such towns have history as a castle town for warlords. They once had deep forest. They are gone. It would be a good thing as we no longer had to think about civil war. But … sad for disappeared forests.

Yokosuka City in Miura Peninsula.
Now this is a port town for
 Japanese Defense Force and the US 7^th Fleet,
i.e. strategically important location for the defense of Tokyo.
 When Tokugawa Shogun governed Japan,
the area was off-limit for ordinary forks and
 Shogunate Guard stationed to watch
 any ship entering into the Tokyo Bay.
At that time, the scenery of this photo must have been
 massively covered with green forests.

Even though, some places show the memory of forest-fortress for those who know it. One of the most famous historical places in Japan in this regard is, well, Tokyo. The castle for Tokyo is Imperial Palace, and the forests of surrounding areas including Kanagawa Prefecture acted as a protective wall for the Capital. It’s too big to dig in casually the structure of this megalopolis … Rather, to experience the historical Japanese fortress-forest, we have a compact sized example nearby. It’s the area around Odawara Castle 小田原城. This week I begin to tell you my adventure in the forest, existing or remnants, of previous centuries’ war zone; that is Odawara City.

The Donjon for Odawara Castle

Let me begin with Japanese lesson. The city planning for defense of a castle in yester-centuries is called Sogamae 総構え. To translate this word, I would say “Everybody Ready to Defend Castle City.” The most basic elements for Sogamae are mort and fort. The mort for Imperial Palace is constructed with elegant stone walls built by Tokugawa Ieyasu. But this is the most inner mort for defense. Normally, a castle is protected by multiple layers of morts. For Japanese castle, they are often built utilizing our mountainous geology (more to it next week). Fort is the same. The most inner parts of the design are of stone walls preventing intrudes come in to the castle. But fort is also a system of layers which is designed according to the geographical characteristics for the area surrounding a castle. When the town to be protected was in a plain (which was rare in this country), the mort tended to be deep and wide with not so high forts with gates. The most famous example in this category was Sakai Town 堺 that was once an independent self-governing town of merchants, just like the medieval towns in Europe. When a thing to be protected, like a castle, was on the top of a hill, Sogamae system fully utilizes the geographical features for morts and forts, which we can observe in Odawara City.

The stone-walled inner mort
for Odawara Castle

Probably another unique feature of Japanese Sogame defense system is, it incorporates the existence of rice paddies surrounding up and down towns of a castle town. In time of emergency, the paddies would be intentionally inundated by the attached irrigation system. The paddy became the most outer layer of morts’ system which was expected to hinder the advancement of enemy troops. Do you remember, to the north of Kozukue Castle (; my post on July 3, 2015) there are farmlands called Akata Yato, or Red Rice Paddy. In 1478, a battle made the rice paddies-mort protecting Kozukue Castle became a blood-bath, and hence its name. You may notice Sogamae defense system is not only for protecting a castle situated in the center of a city, but also for the entire castle town including its suburbs. Next week, I tell you an itinerary for Odawara Sogame. It’s about 6-7 hours of town walk. Odawara Castle was BIG. For noticing how big it was, please stay tuned!

Once, here was a blood bath.

For enquires about sightseeing in Odawara City,

General Incorporated Association, Odawara Tourism
一般社団法人 小田原市観光協会

250-0042 350-1, Hagikubo, Odawara City
〒250-0042　小田原市荻窪350番地の1 小田原合同庁舎内2階

TEL:0465-20-4192 

FAX:0465-20-4194