[Special Feature: 125 Years of Integrated Education] Kinji Fukuyama: Protecting and Nurturing the Hiyoshi Forest, Futsubu and Juku High School Students

2023/10/06

Beyond the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall lies a large forest of nearly 10 hectares known as the Hiyoshi Forest. Until the early Showa era, this forest was a secondary woodland maintained by farmers. Even after it became part of the Keio University campus, it has remained without being significantly destroyed.

Biological surveys to date have confirmed more than 1,200 species of flora and fauna in the Hiyoshi Forest, including endangered species. Familiar insects such as rhinoceros beetles and jewel beetles are also frequently seen. The Hiyoshi Forest is a precious forest where the nature of satoyama, often called the original landscape of Japan, remains.

The Hiyoshi Forest has served as a stage for activities where Keio Futsubu School students, Juku high school students, and university students learn about the natural environment and nurture the forest. I would like to introduce some of those activities here.

At Keio Futsubu School, third-year students take elective classes during the 3rd and 4th periods on Saturdays, which they can freely choose from various genres. The Hiyoshi Forest class was added to the electives in 2001. Since then, it has been held every year, except for two years when it was cancelled due to curriculum changes. Four faculty members who teach biology at the university guide the students through the Hiyoshi Forest.

Students learn two things in the Hiyoshi Forest. First is nature observation. They find blooming flowers, flying insects, and birds, and record them in their notebooks. Observation is not just about looking. They touch the budding trees, smell the fresh greenery, listen to the chirping of wild birds, and in autumn, they try eating roasted acorns. They experience the forest using all five senses and learn about the workings of nature that cannot be understood through classroom study alone.

The other purpose of this class is to experience the management of secondary woodlands. Secondary woodlands have been maintained by farmers through undergrowth clearing and periodic thinning. Without proper care, these woodlands deteriorate, and the number of species that can inhabit them decreases. Unfortunately, since leaving the hands of local farmers, the Hiyoshi Forest had been neglected. The maintenance of the woodland performed by Keio Futsubu School students is also the work of protecting the forest on their own campus.

Sickles and saws are used for forest maintenance. However, few students have experience cutting grass or trees outdoors, and some are even touching a sickle for the first time. First, they must learn how to use the tools safely.

At first, the students are preoccupied with just using the tools, but as they eventually master them, they begin to see the significance of what they are doing. They gradually come to understand why they are clearing grass and why thinning is necessary while they work.

Within the Hiyoshi Forest, the corner where Keio Futsubu School students are active is called the "Futsubu Forest." In fact, the sawtooth oaks and konara oaks that the students care for were planted by students who took this class in the past. The Futsubu Forest has been created by juniors protecting and nurturing the seedlings planted by their seniors. Current students are also scheduled to plant seedlings this winter. Although they will graduate, the seedlings they plant will be nurtured by the students taking the class next year. In this way, the Futsubu Forest is passed down through generations by the hands of many students.

Keio Futsubu School students were not the first to grow trees in the Hiyoshi Forest. More than 60 years ago, from 1952 to 1957, large-scale reforestation took place in the Hiyoshi Forest. The main participants were the Juku high school students of that time. They donated seedlings such as cedar to the high school as graduation gifts. However, for some reason, the plantation was subsequently neglected. Eventually, the cedar forest deteriorated and many trees fell, leading to a clear-cut in 2013.

Currently, activities to restore that site into a secondary woodland are being carried out by Juku high school students. Every year, students from five first-year biology classes use their class time to plant konara and sawtooth oak seedlings. Once a month, students from the student council protect the seedlings by clearing weeds and performing other tasks.

This year marks the 10th year since the second Juku high school forest creation began. While it has not yet reached the appearance of a full secondary woodland, the sight of sawtooth oaks several meters tall standing in a row gives hope for the future of this land.

Keio students of different generations learning together in the single "classroom" of the Hiyoshi Forest brings about various effects. Students who became interested in the Hiyoshi Forest through elective classes participate in the Juku high school forest activities after graduation, and further, when they go on to university, they sometimes help Keio Futsubu School and Juku high school students. With the forest as a mediator, collaboration between various generations is born.

On the morning of August 6th this year, Keio Futsubu School students, Juku high school students, and university students gathered in the Hiyoshi Forest. This was to clear the weeds around the seedlings during summer vacation, when the grass is at its thickest. Everyone got drenched in sweat while mowing grass, cutting away vines, and rescuing konara and sawtooth oak seedlings from the thickets. As I watched the Keio Futsubu School students and university students eating the watermelon distributed as a thank-you side-by-side after the work was finished, I felt once again how wonderful it is that Keio University is a system of affiliated schools.