Old documents on forestry and forest products in Ohara, Kyoto, Japan, 3: Documents pertaining to the transfer of forest ownership to temples

Ohara is the name given to the northern part of Kyoto, which was an area that traditionally supplied firewood to downtown Kyoto before World War II. There are a few old documents covering the economic history of the forestry sector in Ohara. Previous articles have introduced documents related to (1) the production and sale of firewood from the Edo Period to the early Meiji Period and (2) Kimura Sohemon, the Governor of the forests in Ohara through the Edo Period and the beginning of the Meiji Period. This article (3) introduces documents related to forest ownership by temples. In Ohara, there were two dominant temples in the Edo Period: the Shorinin and Raigoin temples. Each temple governed large areas of forest in Ohara during the Edo Period. This paper introduces old documents related to forest ownership by the temples, especially Shorinin. These documents are divided into three groups. Documents 1 to 4 are memoranda on the forest owned by Shorinin. These four documents were bound together, and only Document 2 includes the year 1752. Document 1 shows the location of the forests that Shorinin governed, with information on the dates when Shorinin obtained the forests and who Shorinin obtained them from. It also includes the amount of forest tax by location. Document 2 shows the number of forests that Shorinin owned in 1752. Document 3 outlines gifts from both temples to Kimura Sohemon. Document 4 shows the specific trees under the scrutiny of Kimura Sohemon; these were located within the forests governed by Shorinin. Documents 5 to 25 are deeds of assignment for the forest. In these deeds, the new forest owner is primarily Shorinin or temples affiliated with Shorinin. The years recorded range from 1724 to 1842. Over this period, the area of forest governed by Shorinin increased. The documents also include the amount of forest tax paid to Kimura Sohemon. Documents 26 to 62 are receipts of the forest tax, which the Shorinin and Raigoin temples paid to Kimura Sohemon, the governor of forests, from 1731 to 1835. As the amount paid by the two temples is combined, only a trend regarding the amount paid can be identified. The total amount paid increased to about 1.5 times the starting amount over the course of 104 years. It is possible that the area of forest governed by the two temples increased proportionally during this period.