Abstract
This chapter provides a description of Yakushima Island, off the coast of Kyushu in southwestern Japan, which was designated as a World Heritage Site (Natural) in December 1993. Yakushima has an image of “pristine nature,” and the island contains several rare and relatively undisturbed geological, geomorphological, and ecological features. This perception attracts many tourists to the island, but conservation areas of Japan also contain a wealth of cultural and historical materials such as communal forestry and sacred landscapes, in addition to their natural landscapes. This chapter presents an overview of the human association on the forests in modern times and provides an account of some challenges that world heritage designation can pose for the management of heritage. The chapter also focuses on how cultural and historical remains and the customs of local communities constitute an important addition to the recognized natural heritage values.
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Notes
- 1.
The southernmost tip of Kyushu Island.
- 2.
Shirakami-Sanchi (Aomori prefecture and Akita Prefecture) is the other property listed in the same year.
- 3.
Although situated away from the main island of Kyushu Yakushima falls under the Kagoshima Prefecture and therefore its mountains are commonly referred to as in Kyushu area.
- 4.
Literally “Yakushima cedar.” Definitions of Yaku-sugi differ in various periods in history. Currently, it is common that Yaku-sugi should be aged over 1000 years, while ages of 700–800 years and over should be enough to be called Yaku-sugi cedars before World War II. In this chapter, the prewar definition will be used because history of forest policies before WWII is discussed.
- 5.
Some forest development was sporadically carried out in the area before the Edo period , but continuous forest development did not begin until the rule of the Satsuma Domain in Edo.
- 6.
Based on statistical data offered by Yakushima tourism association.
- 7.
The series of public holidays beginning from the end of April and ending in the first week of May.
- 8.
When an area is designated as a Specified Natural Tourism Resource, the Mayor of a Municipality may make such restriction as to require prior approval of said Mayor for any entry in the area where said Specified Natural Tourism Resources are located, pursuant to the provisions of Ordinance of the competent Ministry (Article 10(1), Ecotourism Promotion Act).
- 9.
Mt. Fuji, designated as a “cultural” WHS in 2013, has natural resources local people have utilized as well as prominent landscapes, and was one of the earliest Japanese national parks designated in 1936. Local NGOs and prefectures promoted Mt. Fuji to be designated as a “natural” WHS in the 1990s; however, this plan fell through partially due to overuse issues, and the promotion of the mountain as a “cultural” WHS was started in the 2000s as an alternative (Sano 2008).
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number (16H04940). The author thanks the editors of this volume for their assistance and suggestions on the manuscript preparation.
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Shibasaki, S. (2018). Yakushima Island: Landscape History, World Heritage Designation, and Conservation Status for Local Society. In: Chakraborty, A., Mokudai, K., Cooper, M., Watanabe, M., Chakraborty, S. (eds) Natural Heritage of Japan. Geoheritage, Geoparks and Geotourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61896-8_7
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