A vegetational research on the Ryukyu [Japan] Islands Feng Shui [wind-water] village landscape: A case study of Tarama Island
2009
Chen, B., Fujian Normal Univ. (China) | Nakama, Y.
In a typical Ryukyu 'Feng Shui' village, a forest belt, known as village Ho:go, was planted to curve in the front and extend to the east and the west to embrace the village along with preserved forest on the rear hill. Lines of Fukugi trees (Garcinia subelliptica) were planted to embrace the houses. Compared to the more symbolic existence of Feng Shui trees in China and other regions in East Asia, tree planting on a large scale was used as a practical means to repair defective topography with little protection from the strict natural condition on flat islands in Okinawa. This study focuses on village layout, forest composition in the front forest belt, habitat embracing trees, and forest plantations on the back hill. Garcinia subelliptica and Calophyllum inophyllum are the predominant species in the upper storey in the forest belt. Forests on the mountain in the back of the village consist of tree plantation mixed with the remnant natural forest. A large number of species are also found in the under storey vegetation in the preserved forest. Thus, a Ryukyu Feng Shui village landscape, which embodies a symbiosis of the nature and human intervention and protects the village from the winter wind from the north and typhoons from the east, is an ideal village landscape pattern which is compatible to small isolated island topography.
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