The First School Forest Afforestation

2019/07/22

When you visit the Keio University school forests, you can see magnificent trees growing. Behind the creation of these school forests lies a hidden, difficult history of Keio University from over half a century ago.

After World War II, Keio University was in a predicament due to severe financial difficulties and confusion over Juku management policies, and President Shohei Takamura was caught in the middle of this. To fund the reconstruction of the campus, which had been devastated by war damage, the only options were to increase the number of students or raise tuition fees. However, Keio became the first university in the country to experience tuition fee struggles, and President Takamura was confined during collective bargaining with students. Furthermore, when the author attended a committee to decide on the President election system at the request of the Koganei Faculty of Engineering, I was astonished to hear loud, heated debates flying back and forth in the large lecture hall at Mita. Eventually, the elected President Kunio Nagasawa established a university-wide committee to deliberate on Keio University's long-term policies. While I was in a residential deliberation session with Chairman Saku Sato, President Nagasawa suddenly arrived at night, making us feel his strong sense of crisis.

Keio University managed to survive the crisis by issuing Juku bonds and other means, but former President Takamura set about creating school forests, which he had long considered as one way to stabilize the Juku finances in the long term. Thanks to the Forestry Mita-kai formed for that purpose, and the enthusiastic cooperation of the Forestry Agency and local stakeholders, the Fukuzawa Memorial Forestry Association was authorized in 1965. With support from the Fukuzawa Fund, the first tree planting took place in Nasu-Iono. This photo is overflowing with the joy of those involved. Former President Takamura took on the role of Chairman of the Forestry Association and expressed his expectations that he wanted to contribute 150 million yen 50 years later.

However, once Keio University's finances somehow escaped the crisis, the forestry business was forgotten. Chairman Takamura continued to worry about the forestry business for nearly 30 years, and the Forestry Mita-kai devotedly protected the Keio forests. In addition to the initial method of planting Keio trees in national forests, they also acquired a large Juku-owned forest in Shizugawa, Miyagi Prefecture.

As the era changed from Showa to Heisei, the role of school forests was re-evaluated for environmental protection and educational contribution, and with donations from Keio University alumni, the Keio University forests began to increase again. The Forestry Friends Association was also formed, and they protect the Juku-owned forests together with the Juku authorities and the Forestry Mita-kai. Currently, 160 hectares of beautiful Keio forests spread across areas from Tohoku to Western Japan.