Emergency: Naomi broke a bone

Hi there.

Last Saturday, I joined Niiharu Lovers to thin trees, and slipped down small stream. I tried to stabilize myself on a slippery rock, and broke my right wrist …

And so, Olympians are my guide now. Like Shaun White or, Yuzuru Hanyu, I will come back to forestry very soon!

Meanwhile, it hurts, really. Please take care, all the outdoor lovers …

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: the largest Citizen Forest of Yokohama, Doshi Forest 道志村水源林

So, about silver lining after the voting incident in 2003 for Doshi 道志村 and Yokohama. In 2004, Doshi Village and the City of Yokohama established an official “Agreement regarding Friendship and Exchange 友好・交流に関する協定書” between the two, and Doshi Village became “Our Home Village for the Citizens of Yokohama 横浜市民ふるさと村.” The municipal budget of Yokohama has beefed up its grant for the welfare improvement of Doshi villagers. In 2006, Doshi Water Source Forests Fund 水のふるさと道志の森基金 was inaugurated by the Yokohama Waterworks Bureau. The fund is to solicit donations from the citizens and corporations to sustain further the exchange of people of two communities. The Bureau also sells bottled water “Hamakko Doshi the Water はまっ子どうし the Water” from Doshi River 道志川 to augment the Doshi Forests Fund. In 2014, two municipalities created a system to help each other in case a mega-natural disaster hit and the offices could not function to support the residents of each community. In 2016 Doshi Village has opened a café named Mizu Café Doshi 水カフェどうし in Yokohama’s downtown. The place is to introduce the village and numerous products from Doshi including fresh watercress harvested daily. Now the two municipalities jointly hold PR events about Doshi Water Source Forests year round. Yokohama Board of Education makes special programs for grade schoolers to learn Yokohama’s waterworks and the role of Doshi Village. When the people of Yokohama can show an ID mentioning our residency in Yokohama, Doshi Village offers numerous “Home Village” discounts for tourism attractions, such as hotels, meals, spas, sports facilities, etc. etc. And, the scheme introduced forest volunteers to help forestry in Doshi Village.

After the Agreement was signed
the City of Yokohama is actively involved with
utilization of woods produced in Doshi Village.
This is the decorative wall for Asahi Ward Office of Yokohama,
using the cedars of Doshi forests.

Water Café Doshi.
They serve beverages using Hamakko Doshi Water,
and hot meals with veggies and meats from Doshi.
There we can also purchase veggies,
smoked trout, jam, wood crafts, etc. of Doshi.
The place also provides tourism information.
Or, if you plan to start business or move in Doshi Village,
the café connects you with the village office
that can help you for paper works.

Matsubara Shopping Street 興福寺松原商店街where the café operates.
It is really in downtown Yokohama.

The land owned by Yokohama in Doshi is surrounding privately owned forests nearer to human settlement. These two areas form the system of water source that creates the amazing Doshi River 道志川. If private forests become a sorry state, even if Yokohama’s forests are healthy (which is unlikely; you know, the land is continuous), Doshi River cannot provide good water. Many of the private forests are afforested area whose coniferous trees require constant human engagement. Though, landlords alone cannot handle the works anymore. As Doshi Village faces aging and decreasing population, man-power to sustain the forests is in short supply. So, the City of Yokohama invites citizen volunteers who can help such grandpas and grandmas of Doshi for thinning and weeding. The City of Yokohama gives generous grants to forest volunteer organizations in Yokohama who can go to Doshi Village at least twice a year to do forestry. Moreover, in 2008 the city helped to establish the Association of Forest Volunteers for Doshi Water Source Forests 道志水源林ボランティアの会. The group is now engaging in forestry works in Doshi Village about 10 times a year. All the funding for the volunteer forestry comes from the Water Source Forests Fund together with a heavy involvement of Administration Office for Doshi Water Source Forests 水源林管理所. The policy is an amalgam of welfare measures for Doshi pensioners and water management projects, all funded by the City of Yokohama.

A part of forests where volunteers operate
had a colony of baby Lindera umbellate.They produce very fragrant oil.
It’s rare to find it in forests near population centers.
This was a kind of testimony about the environment of Doshi forests.

Actually, the Association for Niiharu Lovers 新治市民の森愛護会 is receiving the funding yearly. So, last fall I joined Niiharru Lovers’ activities in Doshi Village, paid completely by the Water Bureau of Yokohama. That was a gorgeous late summer vacation! We’ve been there by cars drove by the members of Lovers, and entered one of those privately owned forests of Doshi. We did thinning for 2 days with chainsaws to cut roughly 100 cedars of about 30 years’ olds. We stayed in an old traditional inn which was a house of a village chief decades ago, enjoyed open-air spa in a forest, and had delicious meals … sukiyaki with Koshu beef 甲州牛, BBQed freshly caught trout from Doshi River, tempura of mountain vegetables, etc. etc. I was knocked out, and on a sort of “the spur of the moment,” became a member of Association of Forest Volunteers for Doshi Water Source Forests.

Niiharu Lovers are ready for action in Doshi forest.

Lunch. I was a particular partisan for omelet.

Niiharu volunteers are in action.

Hikari-so Inn 光荘 where we stayed.
The house is equipped with a traditional Japanese hearth,
called Irori 囲炉裏.

Look!
The forest floor is receiving sun light after our work!

The Association goes to Doshi Village from April to October by charter buses hired by the Water Bureau of Yokohama, and engages in forestry works mainly by non-powered tools, like handsaws and sickles. In case you consider joining volunteer works for Doshi Water Source Forests of Yokohama, you can send an email to the Association from here. The forestry activities are basically for members only, but the Association allows visitors to try it once. RSVP. Any activity with the Association is free, including transportation to the Village. (Remember? It costs about USD 100 for a return ticket.) On the activity day, you have to come to the north exit of Kan’nai Station 関内駅 by yourself to catch the chartered bus, don the attire for forestry, and bring your lunch + water + snacks. I could slip in myself for one of their last activities of 2017, sweated in thinning within a clean and calm autumn air of Doshi Village, and enjoyed shopping for mountain products at their main shopping venue. … After this fun in Doshi, I did a little study whose result was reported during the last several posts of this blog … So, here I confess. Though I told you the story like I have known the relationship with Doshi Village and Yokohama for years, I did not. I was one of those city rats skeptically hearing the requests from the people of Doshi to be a part of the city of Yokohama. … Now, when the new fiscal year begins in coming spring, I will visit Doshi Village regularly as a forest volunteer. I know I’m a minuscule in front the Doshi Water Source Forest, but I think my saw-works would be better than nothing for the people of Doshi and the water for our community. 2873ha Doshi Water Source Forest is the largest Citizen Forest of Yokohama.

Association of Forest Volunteers for Doshi Water Source Forests
can use the facilities Yokohama’s Water Bureau has
in Doshi Village.

Cut somewhere here.
Oh, by the way, Japanese way is conventional face notch.

Doshi Michino-eki Shopping Lodge 道の駅どうし.
Michino-eki is roadside stations providing
resting places and shopping opportunities for drivers.
It’s a part of rural development project funded by
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.

… A postscript: last November, I have completed the course for becoming Kanagawa Forest Instructor, and received from the Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture a letter of appointment to a forest instructor. Now one of my missions is to let the people like me know Doshi Village has sacrificed so much for us in the city, really.

Doshi Village Office 道志村役場

6181-1 Doshi Village, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi, 402-0209

〒402-0209 山梨県南都留郡道志村6181-1

Phone: 0554-52-2111

FAX: 0554-52-2572

http://www.vill.doshi.lg.jp/

Mt. Fuji, falcon, aubergine

In Japan, there is a saying 一富士二鷹三茄子, meaning,

After going to bed on January 1^st if you have a dream of Mt. Fuji, and/or falcon, and/or aubergine, you will have a lucky year.

(But, WHY!?)

I hope the above photo might be a help for all of you.

Season’s Greetings from Yokohama

Landslide! A very short story for water source forests in Japan

On 11 July 2004, a slope near the peak of Mt. Gozen-yama 御前山 in Okutama 奥多摩, Tokyo, collapsed. At that time it rained heavily for sure, but the place had sustained itself till then with down-pouring. Nonetheless, the landslide of 2004 was huge and damaged the weir beneath the slope. It seriously affected the community of Okutama Town where the water from the weir was their life-line. Metropolis Government of Tokyo paid hundreds of millions of yen for the restoration. They also called for experts to investigate the reason why formerly stable mountain slope collapsed that time. Among the civil engineers for the study group, there was a zoologist, i.e. Dr. Seiki Takatsuki 高槻成紀who was then for Univ. of Tokyo. Reason? He is a leading expert for Japanese deer, and everybody knew the forest of the collapsed slope was eaten up by deer. The afforested coniferous forest had tall damaged trees only where starving deer gnawed at even the barks of such unappetizing stuff. There was no undergrowth or litter that could carry rain to the underground water system.

According to Dr. Yoshiharu Ishikawa 石川芳治 of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, when deer gobble up the ground vegetation, the fallen leaves from the tree canopy can be easily washed away by rain, especially on a steep slope. Once litter has gone, the soil beneath can be swept away rapidly, 1000 times more in volume than a place with 200g of fallen leaves covering 1m². It’s the recipe for landslides. Moreover, even when a slope holds somehow, the rain water running down the mountain slope pushes down anyway the soil and debris into streams that are often water source for metropolitan area. River water becomes muddy at best. In worst case scenario of the most fortunate no-landslide situation, the stream collects lots of fragments from forests, like fallen trees and unfortunate deer swept away by the torrent. Purifying such water for safe human consumption requires lots of work and, hence, money. … Huh, it’s really Minimax. Game theorist must rejoice to have a practical example for their equations ... That’s why there is a kind of silent consensus among forest volunteers around me: if you want to attract lots of public fund for forest maintenance, it’s better persuading Water Authorities, rather than Environmental Protection Offices.

After rain in Tanzawa, sometimes we can find petit Cappadocia
where a collapsing slope has lots of tiny soil pillars with a stone on each top.
If there is something to hold on its head,
soil resists to be washed away completely,
as famously found in Cappadocia.

I’ve sensed that the offices for water have unspoken power within any governmental buildings in Japan. Even though, aging Japan cannot provide enough man-power to sustain optimal management for water source forests. Kanagawa Prefecture, including the City of Yokohama, is damned happy to work with forest volunteers. I suspect it’s one of the reasons why the Kanagawa Forest Volunteer training course can provide us such a generous grants … Yeah, Kanagawa Green Trust works closely with Nature Conservation Society of Japan, but we have almost equal lecture hours for the maintenance of water source forests and for nature conservation. Some of my class mates who are more inclined to the nature protection seem like a bit frustrated … “Well, so, we have to thin that forest for water management, don’t we?” At the other end, there are veteran forest volunteers who are not satisfied with prefectural policy of water source management with forest volunteers. “OK, we are enthusiastic volunteers happy to enter deep forests to preserve mountain soil for water. But, it’s obvious our effort is not at all enough to achieve the better conditions for the forests. There must be larger fiscal measure to deploy professionals who can do the job more efficient than we.”

I personally support prefectural policy of water source management that works with civil society volunteers. For one thing, I’ve learned Japanese forest has been for millennia a place of collaboration between government and civil society. The reason would be technical difficulty in Japanese forests. Japan is a relatively substantial archipelago that can be covered by deep forests unless humans concrete the ground and maintain it as such with continuous mowing. Our ancestors knew it, or I would say far better-understood the situation than we do in the 21^st century. There is a book written by Dr. Conrad Totman of Yale, “The Green Archipelago; forestry in preindustrial Japan” (University of California Press, 1989). It’s a book written by an academic for general public, almost for the first time, about historical forest management in Japan. Certainly, 30 years later now from its first publication, there have been accumulated counter-evidences against Totman’s description. Even though, the basic conclusion of him looks robust.

According to Totman, for ages Japanese government had to find ways to mobilize commoners for physically demanding long-term jobs in mountainous forests. Quasi-slavery of 1500 years ago may have been able to harvest trees for massive temple constructions in Nara and Kyoto. It denuded the forests in Kansai Area, but soon people in ancient cities had to think how to manage the soil erosion and devastating floods during seasonal monsoons. They always returned to the same conclusion: planting and nurturing forests for generations is the MUST. Coercion did not work for jobs in steep mountains requiring 100 years as one unit time. There is no better way than asking long-term commitment from communities near forests, which demanded attractive policy incentives. That’s the conclusion Tokugawa Shogunate government reached in the early 17^th century. Hmmmm … yeah, Japan is not suitable for palm oil plantation of shorter time span. Our forest is not on a flat semi-arid land like in Europe or America … Even today, mechanization of Japanese forestry is not much practical as for Germany. Man-power is needed as before. If shrinking population in mountainous community brings problems for traditional community-based water source management, why not soliciting helping hands from city folks? Thanks to very good highway systems, it does not take much time to commute between urban condos and deep mountain-forests during weekends. It’s like a present-day community can have a wider area with the 21^st century technology. Attractive incentive nowadays could be generous grant for adult-education program, and free weekend getaway to take care of water source forests. That’s not bad, at least for us forest volunteers. Then, how about the result volunteers can provide for water source forests? Is it inadequate as the frustration of our senior volunteers says?

Volunteers are learning
how to hand-mow grass in water source forest.

Simply comparing the available number of men for forests between now and 100 years ago, it’s true the forests of the yesteryears definitely had a leg-up. But, it seems to me, the consequence for the forest itself was not that simple. The concept of land ownership and user rights, established 350 years ago with economic incentives from Shogun, is still very important in the 21^st century Japan. (Oh, how difficult it is to take away goodies once it was given …) It means, when there lived more people in mountainous area, our grandpas did whatever they wanted to extract rents as much as possible from mountains and forests. According to Joe Suga 須賀 丈, Atsushi Ushimaru 丑丸 敦史, and Toru Okamoto 岡本 透 in “Grassland and Japanese: a journey of 10000 years in Japanese green field” (2012, Tsukiji Shokan,「草地と日本人―日本列島草原1万年の旅」, ISBN-13: 978-4806714347), Japanese were crazy to cut trees until very recently, say the 1950s. First of all, Japan had a long period of population growth that required more ag-land. People “developed” the forests for farms and rice paddies. Subsistence agriculture in Japan required lots of inputs from forest … leaf litters for fertilizer and logs for energy and tools. Such demand created intensive exploitation of forests. Moreover, the technology of Japanese agriculture was not much different from the present day thrush-and-burn. Even mountainous areas could not have enough time for establishing a thriving forest of lots of undergrowth. The 3 scholars had found many archeological evidences and old travelogues that showed the present day deep mountain forests were grasslands for hundreds of years. The authors said the majority of Japanese afforested area now (some 40% of the entire forests) returned to be a forest during the 1950s almost for the first time in a couple of millennia. Why people suddenly agreed to plant trees then? Government gave lucrative subsidies for afforestation, and the price of cedars and cypresses were phenomenal due to the post-war reconstruction boom. Money, money, money … The massive human intervention, being professional or not, is not necessarily useful to maintain reliable water source forests. Although juries are still out to give final evaluation about activities of forest volunteers, I think it would be better than abandoning the mountains all together as it has been so until the 1980s. Especially for securing clear and safe water from mountain forests …

A grassland
expected to be a broad-leaved forest in 20 years’ time

When we think such history of Japanese forestry, Kanagawa Prefecture scores relatively well. During Tokugawa Shogunate, 2/3 of the area was directly governed by Shogun in Edo, and the remaining 1/3 that was around Odawara City and Hakone was the domain of the Lord of Odawara who directly reported the Shogun the security situation of strategically important Hakone Checkpoint. The majority of the forests in Kanagawa were once the property of Shogun, and, after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, of the Imperial Family. The continuous protection by the central government spared many forests in Kanagawa from clear-cutting for about 500 years. We have preserved afforested areas of different ages, from roughly 450 years’ old forest of Daiyusan Saijoji Temple 大雄山最乗寺 to about 60 years’ old forest of Niiharu. (Oh, yeah, our Niiharu forest is a baby forest.) In addition, due to the proximity to many research institutes in metropolitan Tokyo, forests and mountains of Kanagawa are the most scientifically studied and monitored nature in Japan. Actually Dr. Ishikawa confirmed the importance of leaf litters from his experiments of soil erosion in Tanzawa 丹沢. Their research became the basis of collaboration between local governments and civil society in Kanagawa. Kanagawa Forest Instructor scheme is the oldest and the best in Japan with lots of public money. Admitting it is not sufficient for the entire forests of the prefecture, volunteers at least engage in responsible maintenance for several water source forests. It’s a kind of popular belief we, people of Kanagawa, do not have much water crisis as Tokyo or any other areas in Kanto Region because water source forests are relatively well-taken care of. Water system in Kanagawa does not have to go far as the other prefectures of Kanto, including Tokyo. The dams for water supply are in the forest of Kanagawa itself, and weirs are well-protected. All are at least partly because of historical reason and the measures taken from the lessons learnt. From next week, I tell you my adventure with dams and water source forests in Kanagawa Prefecture. They are beautiful nature spots worth a visit. 😊  Oh, by the way, the historical reasons for good maintenance of water source forests in Kanagawa is not exclusive for Shogun, but with international geopolitics and colonialism. I return to it in my later post. Stay tuned!

A water pipe joint once used for the City of Yokohama

Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター can follow up if you find something unusual during your hiking in water source forests in Kanagawa. The contact address is

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657

Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Harvesting chestnuts in Niinaru

In Niiharu, the last weekend of August is the start of collecting chestnuts. So, in sweltering weather, we entered the old chestnut orchard and looked down to find chestnuts in burrs. The place was once a property of local farming family, but the current patriarch is now old and could not find the way to take care of it. He transferred the deed of the place to the City of Yokohama, in exchange for tax concession. Sure enough, the trees of 30 or more years old are growing on a very steep hill … It would be difficult for a senior citizen owner alone to collect fallen chestnuts. Niiharu Lovers are in charge of managing the place including harvesting. So, we collect chestnuts there. Telling you the truth, I’ve never done serious chestnuts harvesting in my life before. It was a fun!

The place is this steep.

A Niiharu Lover is operating down there.

First, we looked around to find burrs. I learned when a burr did not have an opening, even when I pried it open, inside did not have chestnuts mature enough to be collected. So, we had to find the burrs whose mouth was open. Sometimes, when it fell off nicely, the matured chestnuts popped out from the burr and scattered around leaving the burr empty. Otherwise, we widen the opening of the burr with foot, and raked out the chestnuts from the burr. “Careful! Spikes of burrs are really prickly. Better using the pig-skin working gloves.” My seniors advised me. Usually, long metal tongs are to collect the chestnuts, but “Using biggish screw driver is easier for amateurs, you know.” It was a delicate task to be performed in a steep slope of bushy hill. We soon became very quiet and concentrate for finding good chestnuts. “Look carefully. Some have worm-hole. The blackened skin is a sign that part is damaged. Better to leave them in the forest.” “Well, I don’t think so. They are edible if you just cut the damaged part off. The place produces chestnuts certainly organic!” According to the senior Niiharu Lovers, this year’s harvests are “wow, big.” We collected about 100kg of chestnuts in just 1 hour operation. The forest of Niiharu was generous.

Hello!

Lots of chestnuts! There are normally 3 nuts in a burr.
It was difficult to find a burr containing all 3 matured nuts
… many had one huge nut and 2 flat siblings in a burr …

Then, a week later,
we could find many siblings of fat 3 nuts.
I was amazed to see what a week could do.
A burr has a 3-layered structure.
The outermost part is spikes,
then, there is a kind of skin similar to a bark of a tree.
The inner part is for chestnuts.

Some burrs are in two-toned.
When we opened it,
the nut under the browned burr is fully matured,
but the nuts behind the green burr are not at all matured.

“Hmmm, those trees are too tall for commercial cultivation of chestnuts.” “Yes, normally they are 3m high at most. But here …” “The previous owner did not manage the growth well.” I asked if it is possible to coppice chestnuts. “No. If you cut the trunk, that’s the end of the tree. Here, as the ground is too steep. We cannot bring mechanized tools to dig out the large roots. So, if we cut these old trees here, we have to leave the roots.” “Yes, the management of the ground is tricky.” “And too much pruning will kill the trees.” “Yes, yes.” “No wonder the previous owner took the deal with the City.” “Actually, cultivating chestnuts is a demanding job.” I see … I imagined our ancestors in Japan who started to plant chestnut trees around their settlement some 10,000 years ago. Properly taking care of trees is not a piece-of-cake. Collecting the nuts out of the spiky burrs sometimes hurts us. Even though, the archeological remains, such as San’nai-maruyama Remains of Aomori Prefecture 三内丸山遺跡, keeps the evidence Japanese already nurtured huge chestnuts forests in some 5500-4000 years ago. And now, some chestnuts orchards are under the management of the municipality due to maintenance issues. The relationship between the forest and us is … not simple.

Carrying one of the crates of chestnuts

A bounty!

But with sub-par nuts.
Those with wrinkles, with worm-holes,
with blackened skins were thrown in the “outlet bag.”
I brought some less-bad nuts from the bag,
and peeled the skins.
Sure enough,
I had to cut rather big damaged chunks off before cooking.

Anyway, the chestnuts from Niiharu became chestnuts pilaf next day for our family. Yammy. 😋

If you find a problem in the Niiharu Forest, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center 新治管理事務所・里山交流センター

Phone: 045-931-4947

Fax: 045-937-0898

Email: info@niiharu.jp

http://www.niiharu.jp/

Nutty fall: finding chestnuts and others in the forests of Yokohama

Ah, chestnuts … the image of Frank Sinatra and chilly early winter night in Manhattan …, or a romantic stroll along Camps Elyseés where yellow leaves of marronnier decorate the scenery … with wafting smell of roasted chestnuts … right? Whichever, I had an image of chestnuts that must come out late autumn, or early winter … Few weeks back, I posted my adventure with a hare in chestnuts orchard. That was in August, and, yeah, I noticed the trees had lots of nuts already. But their burrs were still green. I thought the bounty would be ready in October or November. I a kind of automatically felt it must have been so, otherwise Sinatra or Camps Elyseés does not make sense ...

The burrs are still very green in the middle of August …
Oh, by the way, there was a newspaper article last month
reporting Japanese hare is approaching for Red List entry.
They wrote in some prefectures including
Saitama (north of Tokyo) and Aichi (where Toyota has HDQ)
they are declared as “extinct.”
Oh my … I met a treasured resident of Niiharu …

In the morning of the last Sunday of August this year, when we cleared the dangerous branches above the trekking roads for kids, the other group of Niiharu Lovers declared they went to the chestnuts orchard to harvest. At that time, I thought it was only because Lovers come to the forest only once a week and it was a kind of measure taken under unavoidable circumstance to utilize the occasion. Then, I noticed on that same day several landlords actually went into their orchard in Niiharu and collected the nuts. I asked one of them “I thought chestnuts would be ready in October … wouldn’t they?” He looked at me with a puzzling face and said “Huh? Chestnuts must be ready in late August around here.” Sure enough, my seniors came back with a mountain of nuts. As with the bamboo shoots the bounty was shared equally among the volunteers who came on that activity day.  My family had a supper with crème de fresh marrons for dessert, in August.

The harvest from the chestnuts orchard Lovers take care of.
They are not all.
Could you see the plastic bags at the background?
Each contains a bag-full of nuts, literally.

I was honestly surprised. It was still crazy-hot, and we sweated heavily all day long. … We had fresh chestnuts in summer. Since then, I became attentive about the news for local market of chestnuts. And, YES, at least in Japanese archipelago, chestnuts are harvested by the middle of September. In order for having Sinatra-style Christmas, the nuts in Japan are not fresh but stored for at least 3 months already. I realized my notion of the chestnuts’ season has not corresponded with real lives of chestnuts in Yokohama. My brain was dominated by Sinatra and Paris … Gosh. Then, my Niiharu seniors told me, “Those chestnuts in orchards are cultivated variety. Certainly they are big, but their taste is blander than the nuts we can collect from the trees naturally grow in the forest.” “Yes, yes. The mountain chestnuts are far more delicious than the things in orchards. When we were kids, we played in the forest, and collected wild chestnuts for snacks.” ??? So, you ate the chestnuts raw? Is it possible to eat them without cooking? “Huh? Of course. Oh, here is a wild chestnut, let me see (; he skillfully peeled a tiny nut with a Swiss-army knife, and then), here, take it.” Wooooo … is it really OK without cooking? Won’t I have a stomach pain? “Of course not, try it.”

This is my another giant step for … raw chestnut.

Indeed, it was tastier than the supermarket variety. Cultivated chestnuts are … I would say, starchier. Wild chestnuts have nuttier flavor, and surely organic. This September, they took my fancy as nouveau cuisine. When I joined volunteer activities in September, I looked around and collected wild chestnuts. It was not that difficult to have another crème de marrons. It seems to me many people, who are in the end urbanites like I, do not know that tiny nuts taste better than the good-looking things in stores. To my another astonishment, the season of wild chestnuts has concluded quite quickly; at most one month only. By the end of September, they are gone. … They are precious.

This photo contains 2 giant wild chestnut trees
… I won’t tell you which. (Ha ha)

When you collect chestnuts, you don’t need scissors,
but had better wear thick-soled shoes.
They are ready when they fall off from a tree in burrs.
Often the pods open their mouth by themselves,
but sometimes they don’t.
You prise-open a husk with your shoes,
and voilà, chestnuts!
Although their covers are equally spiky,
the mountain chestnuts are far smaller
than the artificially “inflated” chestnuts.

Wild chestnuts ^.^

These days acorn cookies are baked professionally and sold as “Jomon 縄文, aka ancient, cookies” in specialty stores. Some of my forest-volunteering buddies are trying to bake, and improve, them by themselves. In high school, we Japanese kids are taught that our ancestors of 5000 BC ate lots of nuts, including chestnuts. Now it’s a sort of trendy in Tokyo area to try such almost forgotten things of daily life. Actually, the sweets made of marronnier nuts トチの実 quietly gain popularity, as many people realize it takes professional skill to create delicate treats from marronnier. (“Oh, do you know that “patisserie” where the master can create beautiful rice cake out of marronnier?” etc.)  Unfortunately, I don’t know the place with marronnier in my neighborhood, but I know another fall bounty from forests; nuts of torreya nucifera (Japanese nutmeg yew カヤ). We can find this tree often near ancient temples and shrines as they are regulars for religious rituals in Japan. A large Japanese nutmeg yew bears lots of fruits in September, falling off to the ground. We can simply collect them to bake flavorful cookies. After roasting, I freeze them for Christmas cookies. They have dense flavor of nutty oils that can match well with strongly bitter chocolate. If you find a yew tree in Yokohama’s forests, try them!

Japanese nutmeg yew
at the entrance of Asahina Kiridoshi 朝夷奈切通.
It has “shimenawa 注連縄” like sumo wrestlers,which
means people has found something sacred with this tree.

Fruits of Japanese nutmeg yew.
Their size is about 2cm long.

Inside of green meat, there is a nut.
They look like almonds.

Washed nuts.

The raw nuts of torreya nucifera taste bitter.
Some say if we harvest in late autumn
by digging them out from the soil,
the harshness can be gone.
I’m not sure about the sanitary aspects of this methodology
so that I always pick yew nuts of September
and soak them overnight with bicarbonate solution before roasting them.
The amount of baking soda is, er, “as you like it.”
I think too much of soda could overkill the nutty taste.
Here, I put, … 1 tbsp? for approx. 1.5L of water.

After soaking, roast them with 160°C for 12 minutes or so.
It’s like roasting walnuts,
but the husk of yew’s nuts are thinner
so that we have to adjust the time accordingly.

Roasted yew nuts.
We can know they’re done when some of them had cracks.

As you could see, the husks of yew nuts
(on the right of the photo) are thin, but hard.
After roasting, I always crack the nuts before they become cold,
and freeze them for winter.
Yew nuts contain lots of fat,
which means leaving them after roasting in room temperature
could ruin their flavor.
It would be wiser to prepare them promptly.

If you find a problem in the Niiharu Forest, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center 新治管理事務所・里山交流センター

Phone: 045-931-4947

Fax: 045-937-0898

Email: info@niiharu.jp

http://www.niiharu.jp/

Oh, yes, Lovers of Niiharu has changed the homepage address. The administrator told me they are welcome for comments etc.

http://niiharu.la.cooocan.jp