■Aya's Shoyo-Jurin
●Greatest forested area of its kind in Japan
The Shoyo-Jurin forest of Miyazaki Prefecture’s Aya Town spreads to the south and east of Mt. Omori, a beautiful, virgin glossy-leaved forest. The contiguous central portion covers an area of 1,700 hectares, the largest broad-leaved evergreen forest in Japan. The mixed evergreen forest and secondary evergreen forests surrounding the central part also contribute to the splendor of “Aya’s
Shoyo-Jurin.”
●An abundant forest, home to 90 tree species
Many types of pasania (acorn) and oak trees along with camphor and machilus thunbergii trees dominate the forest. However a great variety of vegetation thrives within the forest. The forested areas boast an average of 60 tree species, 90 different species can be seen in the most abundant portions of Aya's forest.
●Aya's forest nourishes the Mountain Hawk Eagle.
Rare animals protected under the [Species Conservation Law] such as the Mountain Hawk Eagle and Golden Eagle thrive in Aya's Shoyo-Jurin. The habitats of many animals, such as the kamoshika (antelope deer), monkeys, wild boars, flying squirrels, and Japanese dormice, reach their southern limit in Aya. Bird species include the ruddy kingfisher, the black paradise flycatcher, owls, the blue-and-white flycatcher, mandarin duck, the mountain kingfisher and a great variety of others. (The Japanese Kamoshika is protected as the [Kyushu Japanese Kamoshika], a population with distinguishable genetic characteristics)
●Moving and Peaceful Scenery
A wonderful characteristic of Aya's Shoyo-Jurin is the outstanding scenery. From the opposite bank of Aya's south river the forested mountains extend past the horizon to the southeast presenting a moving and comforting view. The view is particularly superb from March to May when the broadleaved evergreens bloom.
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■Aya's Shoyo-Jurin
●Connecting the Himalayas to Japan
Shoyo-Jurin forests stretch from the middle of the Himalayas to the east passing through Nepal,Bhutan, and parts of Assam. They continue through East Asia's northern mountainous regions, China' s Yunnan, Guizhou, the Changjiang river basin and the southern part of the Korean Peninsula to reach western Japan. The Shoyo-Jyurin forests blanket East Asia’s temperate zone. In Japan they are found from Western Kyushu in the south to Akita Prefecture’s coastal regions and Iwate Prefecture to the north.
●Japan's two kinds of forests; Beech and Shoyo-Jurin
The beech forests found in the cooler central regions of East Japan are composed of broadleaved deciduous trees. They thrive in areas with average yearly temperatures between 6 and 13 degrees Celsius. The northern limit to their habitat is Hokkaido's Oshima Peninsula and the southern limit is the South of Kyushu. The Shirakami Mountains are the representative beech forest. Shoyo-Jurin forests are found in areas with average temperatures between 13 and 21 degrees Celsius. They are found mainly in the central regions of West Japan, Aya’s Forest is the representative Shoyo-Jurin forest. If the beech forest of the Shirakami Mountain Range is the Giant (Yokozuna) of the East, then the Aya Shoyo-Jurin is the Giant (Yokozuna) of the West.
●Common Cultural Ingredients.
The Shoyo-Jurin forests have provided common cultural ingredients throughout East Asia. In 1966, Sasuke Nakao proposed a 'Shoyo- Jurin Forest Culture.' Among the variety of cultural ingredients commonly inherited in the evergreen forest regions, we continue to make daily use of food such as millet, buckwheat, rice cakes, okowa steamed rice, amazake fermented rice drink, green tea, nattou fermented soy beans and the konnyaku mountain potato. The Shoyo-Jurin forest has nourished a basis for Japanese culture.
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■Aya Town and the Shoyo-Jurin
●A forest saved from logging
The 1,700 hectares that make up the central area of Aya’s forest remain untouched thanks to former Mayor Goda’s resistance to the national logging plan for the area. From then on Mayor Goda resolutely based Aya’s future development on the forest and put in place administrative policies to preserve and co-exist with nature.
●Irreplaceable rural home-town scenery
At present, more than a million people a year visit Aya. One of the reasons people visit is because of Aya town’s setting before the beautiful natural scenery provided by the Shoyo-Jurin. Throughout most of Japan this natural scenery has been lost, Aya’s scenery brings back beautiful rural views from the past and draws people in. This scenery must be preserved along with the Shoyo-Jur in forest.
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