After thought: Odawara Sogamae to defend Odawara Castle, VI 小田原総構

Come to think of it, forest as a defense system can be found in other parts of the world. The most recent and famous should be Ho Chi Minh Trail of Vietnam. At that time the only way Americans could think of breaking the line was massive usage of air force. Intensive bombardment and agent Orange ... Were they effective? Nope. Probably, the role of forest, especially rain forest of tropical or otherwise, is VERY important … If there were dense rain forest in Ukraine, Palestine, Iran, … the history of the planet would be different … sigh*

Temperate rain forest of bamboos in Sogamae

Saying such thing as a Japanese would be hypocritical. During Sino-Japanese War, Japanese army was loathed by Chinese people not only by their cruel killing, but also massive deforestation. Recently, I’ve read a book reporting that Emperor Akihito, now retired, studied very well for such matters under his father’s reign. The author of the book is Masayasu Hosaka 保坂正康 who during the 2010s “chatted” unofficially with the Emperor and Empress and allowed to make some contents of the conversation public. Mr. Hosaka and another “tea-friend” of the Emperor, Kazutoshi Handoh 半藤一利, told the Emperor the episode of Colonel Kizoh Yoshimatsu 吉松喜三 who operated in China during Sino-Japanese War. The Emperor eagerly requested to hear the story. It goes like this. After the troop of Colone Yoshimatsu cut down one tree, the Colonel ordered his troop to plant seedlings as a sort of compensation before advancing. His troop even ended up with constructing several parks in Inner Mongolia with trees such as cherries and poplars. His subordinates loved their boss. And even Chinese people evaluated his deed positively. After August 1945, he was interned in China for a while and ordered “to continue commanding his afforesting troops.” The Chinese Government issued a thank-you letter to him for his troop’s activity. Wow.

Well, we don’t have to be the Emperor to be impressed by the episode. Forest has power for peace!

For enquires about sightseeing in Odawara City,

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