JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan日本学術振興会 特別研究員（PD）
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Sacred Shrine Forests of Japan
日本の神社鎮守の森
鎮守の森の長期生態史プロジェクト
Sacred Grove Long-term Ecology Project
Uncovering the ancient history of Japan's sacred shrine forests using soil palaeoecology, tephrochronology, and agent-based modelling — and what this means for their future under climate change and rural depopulation.
208,000haTotal area of shrine forests across Japan1日本全国の鎮守の森の総面積
58%of Japan's veteran trees are found within sacred sites2日本の老齢木の約58%が社寺林に集中
~8,000 yrsof Holocene vegetation history to reconstruct復元対象の完新世植生史の年代幅
About the Project
プロジェクト概要
概要 · Overview
About · プロジェクト概要
Japan's chinju no mori (鎮守の森) — the sacred forests surrounding Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples — are among the country's most ecologically and culturally significant ecosystems. Covering approximately 208,000 hectares1 and supporting around 58% of Japan's veteran trees2, these groves harbour rare plants, insects, birds, and bryophytes, and in cities they provide habitat corridors that can exceed adjacent parks in bird diversity2,3.
Yet despite their importance, the long-term ecological histories of these forests remain poorly understood. No study has yet directly assessed vegetation change in sacred groves before and after the establishment of Shinto and Buddhism, nor whether today's biodiversity reflects legacies of ancient management or more recent climatic and land-use changes. This uncertainty stems partly from the limitations of pollen analysis — the dominant palaeoecological tool in Japan — which requires lake or bog sediments and resolves vegetation at a catchment scale far too broad to capture individual forest patches.
This project addresses that gap. Funded by a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship and hosted by Prof Jun Inoue's Palaeoenvironmental Laboratory at Osaka Metropolitan University, Dr James Hill is applying soil phytolith analysis, charcoal, carbon isotopes, and tephrochronology to reconstruct Holocene vegetation histories from sacred and non-sacred forest sites in southern Japan. Alongside the palaeoecological fieldwork, Dr Joe Hirst (University of Exeter) is developing agent-based models of late Sengoku- and Tokugawa-period settlement dynamics to simulate how past forest management reshaped these landscapes — and what this means for their future.
Do sacred shrine forests have distinctly different Holocene vegetation histories compared to adjacent non-sacred forests, as a result of cultural protection and management?
文化的な保護と管理の結果として、鎮守の森は隣接する非聖域林と比べて異なる完新世の植生史を持つか？
Do present-day biodiversity patterns in sacred groves show measurable legacy effects of past management or climate events?
How may ongoing shrine abandonment driven by rural depopulation, combined with future climate change, impact the biodiversity and ecological function of sacred groves?
The project combines field-based soil palaeoecology with computational modelling. Unlike pollen analysis, soil-based proxies can be sampled directly within a shrine grove, providing geographically precise records at the scale of individual forest patches. Kyushu's volcanic geology adds a valuable chronological advantage: tephra layers from dated eruptions act as stratigraphic anchors alongside radiocarbon dating. The empirical vegetation record is then used to parameterise agent-based models of Tokugawa-period settlement behaviour and forest use.
Microscopic silica bodies produced by plants and preserved in situ in soil. Phytoliths distinguish Japanese habitat types — grassland, broadleaf forest, bamboo — and identify culturally important species such as rice, providing proxies for both environmental and anthropogenic change at high spatial resolution.
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Soil Macro-charcoal
土壌炭化物分析（火歴復元）
Charcoal fragments in soil profiles record local fire history directly. Cross-referenced with phytolith data, fire episodes can be linked to forest clearance, agricultural burning, shrine maintenance, or climatically driven wildfire across the Holocene.
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Carbon Isotopes (δ¹³C)
炭素同位体比（δ¹³C）分析
The ratio of carbon isotopes in soil organic matter reflects the balance between moisture-requiring C3 plants and drought-adapted C4 plants. Shifts in this ratio reveal past changes in moisture availability, often linked to forest clearance or agricultural land-use change.
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Tephrochronology
テフロクロノロジー（火山灰年代法）
Kyushu's volcanic soils contain ash layers from dated eruptions — including the Aso-4 tephra (~87,000 BP) — providing precise chronological anchors for soil profiles and dramatically reducing dating costs relative to radiocarbon alone.
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Plant Inventories & Surface Samples
現存植生調査・現代表面土壌サンプル
20 × 20 m vegetation plots adjacent to each soil profile record present-day species composition. Surface samples from sacred groves, native forest, grassland, and rice fields are analysed by PCA to calibrate how land cover types appear in the fossil phytolith record.
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Agent-Based Modelling
エージェントベースモデリング（ABM）
Agents in the model represent Tokugawa-period settlements, whose collective decisions about timber harvesting, agricultural expansion, and land management accumulate over time to produce measurable change in forest cover and structure. The model is parameterised using the phytolith and charcoal record, tested against empirical vegetation histories rather than assumptions alone.
Field Sites
調査地点
調査地点 · Kyushu & Kansai
Field Sites · 九州・関西
Fieldwork is conducted at sacred grove (chinju no mori) sites across southern Kyushu and the Kansai region, selected in collaboration with Prof Inoue and Dr Hayashi at Osaka Metropolitan University. Sites are assessed for forest condition (canopy age and structure), historical continuity, and volcanic geology — with Kyushu's extensive Aso tephra deposits providing a particularly valuable tephrochronological framework for dating ecological change.
Ichinomiya of Satsuma Province, dedicated to Ōhirume-no-Muchi. The shrine's sacred grove harbours veteran camphor trees (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) in a coastal setting on the southern tip of the Satsuma Peninsula, overlooking Lake Ikeda and Kaimondake volcano. The grove and its deep leaf-litter soils represent a prime candidate for soil palaeoecological sampling.
🌿 Camphor grove · volcanic landscape · Aso tephra record
🌿 楠林・火山性地形・阿蘇テフラ記録
Kagoshima · 鹿児島県
Nitta Shrine
新田神社
Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture
鹿児島県薩摩川内市
Ancient shrine dedicated to Ninigi-no-Mikoto, set within a dense sacred grove of veteran camphor trees (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) of exceptional size. The grove represents a prime candidate for soil palaeoecological sampling.
🌿 Camphor grove · soil core sampling · Aso tephra record
🌿 楠林・土壌コアサンプリング・阿蘇テフラ記録
Hyogo · 兵庫県
Nishinomiya Shrine
西宮神社
Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture
兵庫県西宮市
Head shrine of the Ebisu cult (ebisu-jinja sōhonsha), founded in antiquity and situated between Osaka and Kobe. The shrine precinct is encircled by an extensive camphor grove (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora), providing a Kansai-region comparison site for the project.
The modelling strand, led by Dr Joe Hirst (University of Exeter), involves developing an agent-based model of late Sengoku- and Tokugawa-period Japan. Agent-based models focus on agents — their interactions with one another, and with the surrounding environment4,5. The agents in this model are designed to represent individual settlements, each with timber-related resource demands: for construction, charcoal, agricultural land, and shrine maintenance. The model simulates how these resource demands interact with local forest conditions over time, as well as how these dynamics collectively shaped the forests that survived into the modern period. This includes the sacred groves at the heart of the palaeoecological fieldwork.
Totman (1989) · The Green ArchipelagoTotman (1989) · 緑の列島
Japanese forests experienced three major periods of severe deforestation, documented in Totman's The Green Archipelago6. Historical records of timber consumption provide a quantitative basis for the modelling, contextualising the scale of pressure on forests during each period and helping to explain what sacred groves may have represented as refugia during widespread clearance.
Mass Buddhist and Shinto construction in the Kinai Basin. Tōdaiji alone may have consumed timber from 900+ ha of prime hinoki forest; total monastery construction equivalent to ~90,000 ha of clearance.
Mass castle construction. Nagoya, Chiyoda, and Sunpu castles alone consumed ~280,000 m³ of processed lumber — equivalent to roughly 2,750 ha of prime forest.
Post-war reconstruction caused widespread satoyama loss. Cedar and cypress monoculture afforestation replaced diverse broadleaf forest across much of Japan's lowland hills.
Led by Dr Joe Hirst · University of Exeterエクセター大学・ジョー・ハースト博士が主導
The second major period of deforestation described by Totman6, the Sengoku-Tokugawa period, is the primary focus of the agent-based model. During this era of political stability and population growth, forests across Japan came under intense pressure from settlements whose demands for timber, fuel, and agricultural land were largely met from surrounding woodland. At the same time, Tokugawa governance formalised the protection of shrine groves in many domains, creating a patchwork of protected and exploited forest that the model aims to replicate and explain.
Parameterised using ecological, environmental, ethnographic, and palaeoecological data, and drawing on Dr Hirst's direct experience of ABM applied to pre-Columbian Amazonian landscapes7,8, the model will provide insights into the pressures experienced by these sacred forest groves in the face of intense human demand for resources.
Osaka Metropolitan University · JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow
大阪公立大学・JSPS特別研究員
Environmental scientist and palaeoecologist specialising in soil-based proxies (phytoliths, charcoal, δ¹³C). He holds a PhD from the University of Reading, with field experience in Amazonian Bolivia and Brazil reconstructing 8,000 years of vegetation and fire history. Prior postdoctoral work at the University of Exeter focused on bioclimatic modelling of UK peatland vulnerability, and at the University of East London on the ecological and social integrity of England's Biodiversity Net Gain policy. He is now based at Osaka Metropolitan University as a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, leading fieldwork and laboratory analysis on the long-term histories of Kyushu's sacred shrine forests.
Modelling Collaborator · Agent-Based Modelling Lead
モデリング共同研究者・ABM主担当
University of Exeter · Department of Archaeology
エクセター大学・考古学部
Postdoctoral researcher specialising in agent-based modelling and palaeoecology, with expertise in simulating past human–environment interactions across complex landscapes. His published ABM research on the pre-Columbian Casarabe Culture of Amazonian Bolivia7,8 demonstrated how the collective decisions of individual settlements produce large-scale, measurable change in landscape structure — an approach now adapted to model Tokugawa-period settlement dynamics and their effects on Japan's shrine forest landscapes.
Osaka Metropolitan University · Palaeoenvironmental Laboratory
大阪公立大学・古環境研究室
Leading researcher in soil-based palaeoecology and tephra chronology in Japan. Prof Inoue's laboratory leads internationally in the application of soil tephra isochrons to reconstruct Holocene vegetation histories across Japanese volcanic landscapes. The OMU team supports field site access, tephra identification, and endemic phytolith taxonomy.
Expert in tephra chronology and soil phytolith analysis in Japanese volcanic landscapes. She collaborates on the systematic assessment and selection of Kyushu field sites, bringing particular expertise in Aso tephra stratigraphy and the interpretation of phytolith assemblages from Japanese soils.
Hirakiki Shrine main hall (honden), with the sacred volcanic peak of Kaimondake visible behind the sacred grove canopy.開聞神社の本殿。鎮守の森の樹冠越しに開聞岳（薩摩富士）がそびえる。Shrine buildings and the adjacent sacred grove, showing the dense broadleaf canopy characteristic of Kyushu chinju no mori.社殿と隣接する鎮守の森。九州の鎮守の森に特徴的な密な広葉樹の樹冠が見られる。The torii gate approach (sandō) framed by the sacred grove canopy — the transition from profane to sacred space.鎮守の森の樹冠に包まれた参道と鳥居。俗から聖への移行空間。Shrine forest understorey showing dense fern cover. The sampling tube in the foreground marks a soil phytolith sampling point within the grove.鎮守の森の林床。手前のサンプリングチューブは土壌植物珪酸体の採取地点を示す。
Historical Paintings
歴史的絵画資料
Edo-period folding screen · Ibusuki Archaeological Museum
江戸時代絵屏風・指宿考古博物館所蔵
A folding screen (byōbu) painting housed at the Ibusuki Archaeological Museum, Kagoshima Prefecture, dating to approximately 100 years ago. The painting depicts the Hirakiki Shrine and surrounding landscape in the Edo period, showing the shrine compound (keidai), the sacred grove, the approach road, torii gates, and the Kaimondake volcanic peak — providing a valuable historical record of how the landscape appeared before modern changes, and a visual anchor for the Tokugawa-period modelling strand of this project.
📜 Attribution: Folding screen (byōbu) painting, c. 1900s · Collection of the Ibusuki Archaeological Museum (指宿考古博物館), Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan · Photographs taken during fieldwork, 2026 · Reproduced for research and educational purposes.📜 出典：絵屏風（推定制作年：1900年代初頭頃） · 鹿児島県指宿考古博物館所蔵 · 2026年野外調査時に撮影 · 研究・教育目的での掲載。
Full view of the folding screen. The Hirakiki Shrine compound is visible at centre, surrounded by the sacred grove and the volcanic peak of Kaimondake to the upper left.屏風全景。中央に開聞神社の境内、周囲に鎮守の森、左上に開聞岳が描かれている。Detail: the shrine compound (keidai), showing the main hall surrounded by the sacred grove and enclosed by a red fence. The vegetation density depicted provides a reference for the site's historical forest cover.詳細：境内の本殿と鎮守の森。赤い玉垣に囲まれた境内の様子が描かれており、歴史的な森林被覆を把握するための参照資料となる。Detail: the approach road (sandō) and torii gates leading to the shrine, with surrounding woodland and the coastal bay beyond. The label 脇浦 (Wakiura) identifies a coastal settlement.詳細：参道と鳥居、その周囲の林地と奥の海岸。「脇浦」の地名が海沿いの集落を示す。Detail: the broader landscape surrounding the shrine, with coastal inlets, pine woodland, and scattered torii gates marking sacred boundaries. Labels include 宮川水源 (Miyakawa headwaters) and 王井 (Ōi).詳細：神社周辺の景観。入江・松林・聖域を示す鳥居が描かれ、「宮川水源」「王井」などの地名が記されている。Detail: the volcanic peak of Kaimondake (Satsuma Fuji, 924 m), whose tephra deposits are a key chronological framework for this project's palaeoecological work in southern Kyushu.詳細：開聞岳（薩摩富士、標高924m）。同火山のテフラ堆積物は、本プロジェクトの南九州における古生態学的研究の重要な年代枠組みを提供する。
Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima
新田神社、鹿児島県
Field Photography · Nitta Shrine, Satsumasendai City
フィールド写真・薩摩川内市 新田神社
Images from fieldwork at Nitta Shrine, Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture — a major Shinto shrine whose sacred grove (chinju no mori) harbours veteran camphor trees (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) of exceptional size and age, and forms a second candidate site for soil palaeoecological sampling in this project.
The stone stairway (sandō) of Nitta Shrine leading up to the honden (main hall), with the sacred camphor tree (goshinboku, kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) enclosed within a red wooden fence to the right — stone lanterns and the shrine precinct visible beyond.新田神社の石段参道。右手には赤い柵で守られた御神木の楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）が立ち、上方には本殿と石灯籠が見える。新田神社、鹿児島県。The base of the stone approach (sandō) at Nitta Shrine — visitors begin the ascent toward the dense camphor canopy above; subsidiary shrine structures (sessha) and a torii gate flank the foot of the stairs.新田神社参道の入口から石段を望む。石段の両脇には摂社と鳥居が配され、上方には楠の繁る樹冠が広がる。Detail of the shrine honden (main hall) — ornate carved decoration and a shimenawa (sacred straw rope) marking the boundary of the sacred space.本殿の細部。精巧な彫刻装飾と、聖域を示す注連縄。A massive veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) photographed from directly below, its gnarled canopy filling the frame — one of the sacred grove's most ancient specimens, Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima.根元から仰ぎ見た巨大な楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の老木。うねった樹冠が画面いっぱいに広がる。新田神社の鎮守の森を象徴する御神木のひとつ。A large veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) enclosed within a protective metal railing — with a person standing for scale, the immensity of this ancient tree becomes clear, Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima.金属柵で保護された楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の大木。手前に立つ人物とのスケール感から、老木の巨大さが伝わる。新田神社、鹿児島県。A veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) sheltered within a red wooden fence on the stone approach — the ben-gara-lacquered fence marks its status as a sacred tree (goshinboku), Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima.石畳の参道脇に設けられた赤い木柵に守られた楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の老木。弁柄漆の赤い柵が、その御神木としての性格を示す。新田神社、鹿児島県。Interior of the sacred grove (chinju no mori) — a veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) with massively exposed buttress roots rising from a mixed-fern understorey, Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima.鎮守の森の内部。大きく露出した板根を持つ楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の老木が、シダを主体とする下生えのなかに立つ。新田神社、鹿児島県。Fieldwork in progress within the sacred grove — soil sampling equipment and field materials laid out on the forest floor, with a veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) rising beyond, Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima.鎮守の森での野外調査の様子。土壌採取機材と野外調査用品が林床に並べられ、奥には楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の老木が立つ。新田神社、鹿児島県。A soil auger planted in the leaf litter floor of the sacred grove — used to extract soil cores for palaeoecological analysis; ferns colonise the understorey around the sampling point, Nitta Shrine, Kagoshima.鎮守の森の落葉に覆われた林床に立てられた土壌オーガー。古生態学分析のための土壌コアの採取に使用される。採取地点の周囲にはシダが茂る。新田神社、鹿児島県。
Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo
西宮神社、兵庫県
Field Photography · Nishinomiya Shrine, Nishinomiya City
フィールド写真・西宮市 西宮神社
Images from fieldwork at Nishinomiya Shrine (西宮神社), Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture — one of Japan's most celebrated shrine forests. Nishinomiya Shrine is the head shrine of the Ebisu cult and home to an extensive chinju no mori (sacred grove) that encircles the precinct. Photographs document the shrine architecture and ceremonies, the precinct layout as shown on the illustrated map board and scale model, and fieldwork surveys of the veteran camphor trees (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) of the sacred grove.
A rock garden of moss-covered granite boulders within the shrine precinct, with a wooden torii gate and shimenawa (sacred straw rope) rising from the centre — a tall pine tree behind the gate, the red haiden (worship hall) visible to the right, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.西宮神社境内の岩石庭園——苔むした花崗岩の大石が積み重なり、中央には注連縄をかけた木造鳥居がそびえる。鳥居の後ろには松の大木がそびえ、右手には朱塗りの拝殿が見える。兵庫県西宮神社。Shrine priests in white shozoku and pale teal hakama walk past a large inscribed stone lantern on the sandy gravel of the precinct courtyard — pine trees and shrine buildings in the background, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.白い装束と水色の袴を身につけた神職たちが、境内の砂利敷きの参道に立つ大きな石灯籠のそばを歩いてゆく。背景には松の木と社殿が見える。兵庫県西宮神社。The illustrated precinct map board (えびす宮総本社 西宮神社境内図) displayed within the shrine grounds — showing the full layout of the honden, haiden, sub-shrines, gardens, and the surrounding sacred grove (chinju no mori), Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.境内に設置された「えびす宮総本社 西宮神社境内図」の案内板。本殿・拝殿・摂末社・庭園、そして鎮守の森の全体配置が鳥瞰図形式でわかりやすく示されている。兵庫県西宮神社。Close-up detail of the illustrated precinct map — the honden (本殿) and haiden (拝殿) labelled at centre, subsidiary shrines including 火産霊神社, 百太夫神社, and 六甲山神社 visible to the left, and the dense canopy of the sacred grove illustrated rising behind the main buildings, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.境内図の拡大部分——本殿・拝殿を中心に、火産霊神社・百太夫神社・六甲山神社などの摂末社が配置され、社殿群の背後に鎮守の森の鬱蒼とした樹冠が描かれている。兵庫県西宮神社。A miko in white kimono and red hakama crosses a stone bridge (its balustrades inscribed 奉献) over the garden pond — a large pine tree and subsidiary shrine building visible behind, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.白衣に緋袴の巫女が、欄干に「奉献」と刻まれた石橋を渡ってゆく。背後には大きな松の木と摂社の建物が見える。兵庫県西宮神社。The haiden (worship hall) of Nishinomiya Shrine — its red-lacquered pillars and gold-trimmed ornate curved roof dominate the frame, flanked by a stone komainu guardian and a bronze votive horse; a white egret passes in flight overhead, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.西宮神社の拝殿——朱色の柱と金色の彫刻で飾られた優美な唐破風屋根が存在感を放つ。手前には石造りの狛犬と奉納馬の銅像が並び、空には白い鷺が翔ぶ。兵庫県西宮神社。A scale model (mokei) of the Nishinomiya Shrine precinct displayed in a glass case in the shrine museum — the buildings, sandy courtyard, garden pond, and the dense encircling sacred grove rendered in miniature, conveying the spatial relationship between the shrine and its forest, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.神社の資料館に展示されたガラスケース入りの西宮神社境内の精巧な模型——社殿群・砂利敷き広場・庭園の池、そして周囲を取り囲む鎮守の森がミニチュアで再現され、神社と森との空間的な関係を視覚的に示す。兵庫県西宮神社。A researcher stands at the base of a large veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) in the sacred grove (chinju no mori), looking up at its gnarled, multi-stemmed trunk — an information board stands to the left, and mixed shrub vegetation fills the understorey, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.鎮守の森の中で、研究者が巨大な楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の根元に立ち、節くれだった多幹の幹を見上げる。左手には解説板が設置され、周囲には多様な低木が茂る。兵庫県西宮神社。Looking directly up at a veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) in the sacred grove — two massive stems diverge from a single base, the deeply fissured bark partly exposing the pale heartwood where the stems divide; the mixed canopy closes overhead, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.鎮守の森の楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）を真下から見上げる——一本の根株から二本の大幹が分かれ、樹皮は深く割れ、幹が二股に分かれる箇所には淡い心材が露出している。頭上には混合樹冠が広がる。兵庫県西宮神社。Looking up through the layered canopy of the sacred grove (chinju no mori) — a tall camphor trunk (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) rises through the foreground into the dense mixed crown above; patches of blue sky visible through the interlocking canopy, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.鎮守の森の重層した樹冠を見上げる——手前の楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の幹がまっすぐに伸び、混交林の樹冠へと続く。樹冠の隙間から青空がのぞく。兵庫県西宮神社。A massive veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) trunk fills the frame, photographed from directly below — the deeply plated, heavily textured bark tapering upward into the canopy; the sheer scale of this ancient specimen is palpable, Nishinomiya Shrine sacred grove, Hyogo.楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の巨大な幹を真下から見上げて撮影——深く鱗状に割れた樹皮が上方の樹冠へと続き、この古木の圧倒的なスケールが伝わってくる。兵庫県西宮神社鎮守の森。A researcher navigates the narrow gap between the shrine's green plastered compound wall and dense shrub vegetation pushing in from the sacred grove, looking up at a large veteran camphor tree (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora) whose canopy extends above the wall — testament to the grove pressing right against the shrine's boundary, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.研究者が神社の緑色漆喰の塀と鎮守の森から押し寄せる密生した低木植生の間の狭い隙間を進み、塀の上方に広がる楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の樹冠を見上げる——森が神社の境界まで迫っていることを物語る一枚。兵庫県西宮神社。A researcher in green field clothing points upward into the dense camphor canopy of the sacred grove (kusunoki, Cinnamomum camphora), surrounded by tall grasses and herbaceous vegetation — surveying the veteran tree layer above the dense understorey, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.緑色のフィールドウェアを着た研究者が、丈高い草本植生に囲まれながら鎮守の森の楠（クスノキ、Cinnamomum camphora）の樹冠へと指を指し示す——茂る低層植生の上に広がる老木層を調査している。兵庫県西宮神社。A formal shrine ceremony (matsuri) in progress — priests in lavender-lilac formal robes (kariginu) move across the precinct courtyard beneath the overhanging canopy of the sacred grove, with shrine buildings on either side and worshippers gathered to the right, Nishinomiya Shrine, Hyogo.正式な神社祭礼の場面——紫色の狩衣を纏った神職たちが、鎮守の森の樹冠が覆いかぶさる境内を横切って進む。両脇には社殿が並び、右手には参拝者が集まっている。兵庫県西宮神社。
Publications
論文・成果
学術論文 · Outputs
Outputs · 学術論文
Three peer-reviewed papers are planned: one on Holocene vegetation reconstructions and legacy effects in sacred versus non-sacred groves, one on the surface sample phytolith calibration study, and one presenting the agent-based model of Tokugawa-period settlement dynamics and shrine forest change. Results will be presented at JAQUA and INQUA conferences, with Japanese-language outreach materials developed for shrine communities.
Papers and conference presentations will be listed here as they are published.
論文・学会発表は順次こちらに掲載します。
Related prior work by the team:
チームメンバーの関連先行研究
Hill, J. et al. Differing local-scale responses of Bolivian Amazon forest ecotones to middle Holocene drought based upon multiproxy soil data. Journal of Quaternary Science38 4 (2023).
Hirst, J., et al. Modelling Maize Agriculture by the Pre-Columbian Casarabe Culture of Amazonian Bolivia: An Agent-Based Approach. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation28, 5 (2025).
Hayashi & Inoue Distribution of evergreen broad-leaved forests, inferred from phytolith, in the southernmost area of the Japanese Archipelago between the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. Quaternary International725-726 (2025).
References
Omura, H. Trees, Forests and Religion in Japan. Mountain Research and Development24, 179–182 (2004).
Ishii, H. et al. Integrating ecological and cultural values toward conservation and utilization of shrine/temple forests as urban green space in Japanese cities. Landscape and Ecological Engineering6, 307–315 (2010).
Melaku, A., et al. Small But Significant Contributions of Urban Sacred Forests to Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability Agendas. International Journal of Forestry Research2026, 3523893 (2026).
Railsback, S. & Grimm, V. Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling: A Practical Introduction. (Princeton University Press, Oxford, 2019).
Romanowska, I., Wren, C. & Crabtree, S. Agent-Based Modelling For Archaeology: Simulating the Complexity of Societies. (Santa Fe Institute Press, Santa Fe, 2021).
Totman, C. The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Pre-Industrial Japan. (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1989).
Hirst, J., et al. Modelling Maize Agriculture by the Pre-Columbian Casarabe Culture of Amazonian Bolivia: An Agent-Based Approach. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation28, 5 (2025).
Hirst, J., et al. Constraining the population size estimates of the pre-Columbian Casarabe Culture of Amazonian Bolivia. PLoS One20, e0325104 (2025).
Contact & Enquiries
お問い合わせ
連絡先 · Get in touchGet in touch · 連絡先
For research enquiries, collaboration, or media requests, please contact Dr James Hill:
Dr James Hill · JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow Palaeoenvironmental Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship
