Present state of preservation and maintenance regarding habitat-embracing Fukugi trees (Garcinia subelliptica) in Okinawa: From the viewpoint of the landscape law

Historical landscapes based upon the concept of 'embraced enclosure (inclusive protection)' still remain in Okinawa from the late thirties of the 18th century. They were designed along with newly planned villages formed by the Shuri royal government at that time. The 'embracement enclosure' means an environmental condition in which a certain place (woodland, village or field) is surrounded by feng shui factors such as a landform, forest and wind and thus 'Chi' (the wet and dry situation of air is stabilized in harmony) is sealed. Such peculiar landscapes were formed in the modern era of the Ryukyus. However, since most of them were destroyed by war and the construction of houses and roads, they can be seen currently only in limited areas. The prototypes of historical landscapes can be identified still in Imadomari, Nakijin village in the northern area of Okinawa Island, Bise in Motobu town, Tonaki Island, Tarama Island, Shiraho of the Yaeyama Islands, etc. Fukugi trees thus formed with a historical meaning based upon landscape factors of 'embraced enclosure' are being cut down easily by autonomous communities without the significance of their existence being considered as well, and so the trees are simply turning into bonsai-like garden trees. If the present state such as this continues, the historical heritage created by our ancestors' spending a lot of time and energy will vanish without people knowing the meaning of their existence. In this paper, three places, Uchima Udun in Nishihara town, Bise in Motobu town and Tonaki Island in Okinawa prefecture, are taken as examples; and the manner of preservation of Fukugi trees, not discussed mostly, is given thought through the analysis of preservation regulations established by each autonomous community, from the viewpoint of the Japanese Landscape Law. The first regulations that made a specific mention of the preservation of habitat-embracing Fukugi trees were 'Tonaki Village historical landscape preservation regulations (September, 1999).' After that and the governmental establishment of 'Landscape law (2004),' each autonomous community in the prefecture (Okinawa) drew up a 'Landscape plan' wherein the basic policies such as 'Landscape plan guidelines' and 'Landscape regulations' to develop the plan concretely were indicated. In terms of the preservation of habitat-embracing Fukugi trees through an overview of these 'Landscape plan' and 'Landscape regulations,' two major problems could be pointed out. One problem is that the regulatory system is created not by focusing on the properties of tree colonies but by looking at only a single tree, an element of village landscapes. Regarding 'Designation of tree of landscape importance,' in 'Okinawa prefectural landscape formation guidelines,' trees such as 'symbol tree of local area,' 'tree useful for landscape formation,' or 'tree familiar to local people,' are considered to be designated, hopefully. It is explained that even a tree of landscape importance could be utilized for the preservation of an embracing forest of sacred place or habitat-embracing trees, but since only a single tree is accepted as a tree of landscape importance in principle, it shall be specified. In addition, 'tree of landscape importance' should be located in a place where inhabitants can see it and be 'a big tree with its trunk circumference more than 1m.' Although this could include the possibility to enlarge the applicable scope 'in principle,' the prefectural 'Landscape formation plan' has followed the idea regarding 'a single tree.' However, since the habitat-embracing Fukugi trees consist of a variety of small or big trees, it is meaningful to preserve these trees as a group. For this reason, the idea of focusing on a certain big tree is just like 'seeing a tree but not seeing a forest.' The discussion based upon this specific idea seems to be far away from that of the original landscape preservation and must be said to be unworkable. The other is that such regulations do not form a system of law in which cutting down habitat-embracing Fukugi trees is controlled. Even though basic policies are stated in the regulations, cutting down habitat-embracing Fukugi trees is not stopped. Why is that? Because definitely these regulations are not viable in actual work places of cutting. The background of this is based upon the strong idea of private ownership and thus the recognition of the village's common property passed down from ancestors is low. There is no system, by which cutting down trees for some personal reason is checked and guided, or advised if necessary, can be seen in the regulations. In the 'Tree regulations' of Germany or other countries, there is a system by which the owner of a tree with a diameter bigger than a certain size cannot cut it down freely. When cutting down such trees, the owner reports it to the government, and experts of trees, the government and the owner get together at the cutting site to decide whether it is acceptable or not. If it is agreed, there is an evaluation of how to do it; such the decision-making system is provided. Once the decision is made, the owner has to follow it regardless of his or her own will. That is because social consensus formation (recognition of common property), which is to prioritize the preservation of landscapes desired for the whole area even if individual private rights are sacrificed, has been formed. In the Japanese 'Landscape regulations,' the stakeholder system to give instruction to people regarding regional consensus formation and the knowhow of cutting trees for the landscape preservation, in particular by looking into individually owned habitat-embracing Fukugi trees in Okinawa, cannot be found, regrettably. The concept is good but not functional in the reality. The habitat-embracing Fukugi trees, created by our ancestors under strict legal regulation in the Ryukyu Kingdom era, is one aspect of historical landscapes in Okinawa. At that time Fukugi trees were called 'inclusive protection for dwellings.' Related to other 'inclusive protection for beaches (tide fences) and villages,' it had an important role to protect livelihood infrastructures like villages, farmlands, etc. from north winds in winter or typhoons. Nowadays, some of the habitat-embracing Fukugi trees have been passed down as protection forests. On the other hand, others have disappeared without being asked their historical and existent meaning under the present circumstances. In order to regenerate them by asking their existential meaning, there is no other way but to amend the contents of current 'Landscape regulations' so that they can be viable at actual site levels.