Cultural Inheritance Through An Ecological Perspective

Key takeaways ▼

In period dramas set in the Edo period (1603-1868), the standard job of ronin (浪人 or 牢人, masterless samurai) is, above all, reupholstering umbrellas. Many people have probably seen the scene where a ronin brushes glue onto a bamboo frame and then pastes oiled paper onto it.

Of course, there are yojinbo (用心棒, bodyguards), terakoya (寺子屋, temple school) teachers, ninsoku (人足, laborers), street vendors, and street performers, but most of the ronin who play the role of good ones looking for employment as officers, or who have been wandering around for years searching for an enemy to adauchi (仇討ち, vengeance), make a meager living by re-upholstering umbrellas.

In Japan, it is believed that full-scale production of umbrellas using bamboo ribs and oiled paper began around the Genroku period (1688-1703), and they were very expensive items, with the price of a new one being about 100 USD in today’s currency. Naturally, the townspeople of Edo could not afford to purchase new umbrellas.

However, a business called furubone kai (古骨買い, used umbrella ribs buyers) emerged, which purchased old umbrellas with torn paper for around $1 to $3 apiece depending on the condition of the bamboo ribs, reupholstered them with new oiled paper, and sold them as harikae kasa (張替傘, reupholstered umbrellas) for around $30 to $50, making them affordable for townspeople.

That is why Edo period dramas often feature scenes in which ronin reupholster oiled paper onto the bamboo ribs of an umbrella in their tenement houses.

In any case, in the Edo period, the recycling system of repairing and restoring old or broken umbrellas so that they could be used again was naturally ingrained in the daily lives of ordinary people.

Of course, this was not an era when things were easily obtained, so everything was rare and valuable, but more than that, it was common to use each item for as long as possible, and when it could no longer be used, it was common to repair it and reuse it many times. Moreover, even things that could no longer be used as they were originally were not thrown away, but were partially disassembled and regenerated or reused.

As can be seen from the word mottainai (valuable things being wasted), which is now known throughout the world, Edo townspeople had the ingenuity and spirit to identify market needs and demands, quickly incorporate them into social life, and try to build a more comfortable social environment, along with an attitude of valuing things.

Incidentally, canopy-style umbrellas had been developed in ancient China and are said to have been introduced to Japan via Baekje. The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀, completed in 720) records that King Seong of Baekje (c. 504-554) presented one to Emperor Kinmei (欽明天皇, 509-571) in 552.

In Japan, as seen in ancient Egyptian, Persian and Greek sculptures and murals, umbrellas were first used primarily as parasols to protect against the sun, but later came to be used on rainy days as well.

With the advancement of bamboo craftsmanship and papermaking technology in the Edo period, Japanese umbrellas appeared, such as bangasa (番傘) with plain oiled washi paper pasted on them, janomegasa (蛇の目傘, snake-eye umbrellas) with round patterns resembling snake eyes, and hashi-ori umbrellas (端折傘) with the tips of the ribs supporting the oiled paper bent inward.

The tips of the ribs of hashi-ori umbrellas are bent to prevent the ribs from injuring people as they pass by. Similarly, the act of tilting the umbrella when passing someone, known as kasa-kashige (傘傾げ), is a typical Edo shigusa (江戸しぐさ, Edo behavior) of consideration for others.

The differences between Japanese and Western umbrellas are:

1. When carrying an umbrella closed, a Western umbrella is held by the handle, but a Japanese umbrella is held by the hanging cord that is wrapped in paper at the top, so it is upside down.

2. When a Western umbrella is folded, the ribs go inward and the fabric comes outward, but with a Japanese umbrella, the washi (和紙) fabric goes inward and the ribs come outward.

3. With a Japanese umbrella, the ribs and fabric are completely glued together, and decorative thread is entwined around the ribs to make the whole umbrella one piece.

Let’s return to the topic of recycling and reuse in the Edo period.

The population of Edo is estimated to have been between 1 million and 1.25 million, making it the largest city in the world. For comparison, the population of London at that time was around 860,000 (1801), and Paris around 670,000 (1802).

The Edo Shogunate implemented a policy of sakoku (鎖国, national isolation), and it was almost impossible to obtain oil as an energy source, so solar energy was harnessed in the form of plants. That is, plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, but they also breathe using water and oxygen, converting solar energy into trunks, branches, stems, and fruits, so the plants that grew that year were used as an energy source.

Although energy sources and resources were certainly dependent on self-sufficiency, for about 250 years until the end of the Edo period, the population remained stable and society was maintained through a domestic material balance.

Incidentally, wood is an essential resource both as an energy source and for food, clothing, and shelter, but once a tree is cut down, it takes a long time for it to regrow, and cutting too many trees can cause flooding when it rains.

Therefore, in order to prevent excessive logging, the Edo Shogunate implemented various restrictive orders, such as not cutting trees on either side of rivers, not cutting trees on certain mountains, and not digging up trees by the roots, and they also implemented a reforestation policy.

They also made efforts to protect forests, and issued decrees, for example, not to rebuild castle towers as a measure to prevent excessive logging. The Shogunate set an example themselves, and did not rebuild the Edo Castle tower, which burned down in 1657.

In addition, they actively worked to reuse wood. Wood from demolished buildings was reused in new buildings, and when it became too old to be used for construction, even small pieces were reused, such as cutting it into small pieces and using it as fuel.

The reason behind this is that the habit of treating things with care and attention, and the idea of reusing and recycling and using everything to the maximum extent possible have permeated society, resulting in the formation of an ideal, waste-free, circular society.

In other words, based on the belief and lifestyle of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the public and private sectors worked together to curb consumption of natural resources, reduce the burden on the environment, and practice coexistence with nature in a balanced manner.

In any case, almost everything was not thrown away, but continued to be used as a valuable resource, and it was skilled craftsmen and specialized businesses in each field who played the role of making reuse and recycling possible.

Let’s take a look at some of them and their commitment to caring for things by recycling, reusing, being frugal and being thrifty.

Incidentally, in the Edo period, there is the impression that occupations were fixed as family trades due to the feudal class system of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Of course, continuing the family trades was an important role for descendants in protecting their status, rank, family crest, and social identity, but it is said that people other than nobles (公家) and daimyo (大名) were quite free to choose their occupations.

1. Repair craftsman

* Broken porcelain repairman (瀬戸焼き接ぎ)

Ceramics that were chipped or broken were repaired by using glutinous rice flour as an adhesive and baking them together.

* Ikakeya (鋳掛屋, tinker)

Castworkers who repair and maintain metalware or cast products such as pots and kettles that have holes in them.

* Footwear repairers

Different type of specialized repair craftsmans from those who repair setta (雪駄, sandals) and zohri (草履, sandals) handled the repair of geta (下駄、wooden clogs).

* Lantern Repapering Craftsman

These craftsmen repaper torn lanterns. They are also asked to write the store name and other details, so they must be skilled in calligraphy to do the job.

* Raoya (羅宇屋, Bamboo Pipe-stem Cleaners)

Rao (羅宇) refers to the bamboo part of a tobacco pipe, and they clean out the tar that has built up or replace it with a new one.

* Tagaya (たが屋, Hoops repairman)

Repairman who puts the hoops back on tubs and barrels. The hoops were made of bamboo or metal.

In addition, it is also said that the streets of Edo were filled with craftsmen who could repair all kinds of things, such as sharpeners (研ぎ屋) who sharpened dull blades, locksmith (錠前直し) who repaired broken locks, millstone grinders (臼の目立て) who repaired worn-out millstones, and abacus repairers (算盤直し) who repaired and replaced abacus.

2. Recyclers

* Secondhand clothing peddlers

They would hang used clothes, clothing parts, and accessories from a bamboo rack and carry them around town to sell. Edo also had street stalls that specialized in secondhand clothes.

Most of the clothes worn by common people in the Edo period were second-hand or had been repeatedly repaired. They were worn until they were worn out, and when they could no longer be repaired, second-hand clothing stores would buy them, take them apart into parts such as the collar and lining, or repair them using the skills of specialists, and then sell them again, so nothing went to waste.

* Ash Buyers (灰買い)

Each household used wood and straw as fuel for the stove, which produced a large amount of ash.

Ash was a valuable resource used in soil improvement, as fertilizer for agricultural products, and in the processing of dyes and sake, and was purchased and collected by ash buyers. It was delivered to each business that used the ash by logistics companies that handled the distribution of the ash.

* Wasterpaper Buyers (紙屑買い)

Wastepaper buyers purchased large amounts of unnecessary paper, such as ledgers, mainly from merchants. This waste paper was collected by paper wholesalers and entrusted to specialist companies to be re-filtered and made into recycled paper called kankonnshi (還魂紙).

Because the kankonnshi had deteriorated in quality, it was used for toilets and tissues. It is said that thorough paper recycling during this period was rare even in the world.

* Dripped Candle Wax Buyers (蝋燭の流れ買い)

Candles were used as light sources for chouchin (提灯, paper lanterns) and andon (行灯, lampstands), but they were luxury items used only by high-ranking samurai, merchants, and brothels, so nagaregai (流れ買い, dripped wax buyers) bought and reused the rourui (蝋涙, tears of wax) that flowed from the candlesticks.

Wax was made by squeezing out the fat contained in the fruits of plants such as hazel and lacquer, and candles were expensive products that were made in a time-consuming manner. Therefore, the drippings from candles after they had been lit were also bought and reused.

The oil used for lighting was mainly extracted from sesame seeds, camellia seeds, rapeseed, cotton seeds, etc., but whale oil was used in areas where whales were caught, and sardine oil in areas where sardines were abundant. The oil cake left over after squeezing the oil was used as a high-quality nitrogen fertilizer.

* Excrement buyers (下肥買い, Shimogoe kai)

For farmers, excrement was a good source of fertilizer, and it was called yado (夜土, night soil), and was purchased as a valuable resource or exchanged for vegetables. There were also businesses that collected and sold horse manure.

In addition, rapeseed and fish after the oil had been extracted were called oil residue (油カス, abura-kasu) and were bought and sold.

* Kenzanya (献残屋, Donation item recyclers)

Kenzanya bought unwanted items that were given as gifts or other unnecessary items and sold them to people who needed them.

* Used Umbrella Buyers (古傘買い)

Umbrellas with broken frames or worn-out oil paper were traded in, and the oil paper was replaced and the frames re-shaved to make them almost like new.

The removed umbrella paper was waterproof, so it was reused as wrapping paper for fish or miso, and the broken frames were reused as fuel.

* Sukikami Buyer (すき髪買い)

Shedding hair was bought and used as kamoji (hair extensions, prosthetic hair, additional hair, hair inserts, hair extensions) to make up for areas where there was a shortage of natural hair when tying up or letting the hair down.

* Broom Buyer (ほうき買い)

Broom Buyer trades in old brooms, and old palm brooms are unraveled and turned into ropes or recycled into scrubbing brushes.

During the Edo period, rice was not only food but also had monetary value as wages and taxes, and it was also the most important resource for living the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, and shelter.

Besides being a grain, rice, the staple food, also produces an important resource in the form of straw that remains after threshing.

Rice cultivation produces about 124 kg of straw, a by-product, for every 150 kg of rice. Therefore, straw was also a valuable commodity used in a wide range of areas, including food, clothing, and shelter.

Farmers used about 20% of the harvested straw to make daily necessities, 50% as compost, and the remaining 30% for fuel and other purposes. After burning the straw, the ash becomes potassium fertilizer, so 100% is used and all of it is ultimately returned to the earth.

* Clothing: Made into straw hats (編笠, amigasa), raincoats (蓑, mino), straw sandals (藁草履, warazouri), etc..

* Food: Straw is used to make rice bales(米俵, komedawara), as well as kitchen utensils such as kettle mats and potholders, and to make natto. It is also used to feed cows and horses, and as bedding, and compost is made from their waste.

* Living: Straw is used throughout the house for things like thatched roofs, tatami mats, mats (むしろ, mushiro), and mud walls.

In any case, the Edo period’s lifestyle based on an annual cycle, in which a year’s worth of solar energy was used in the form of plants, and everything was thoroughly reused, regenerated, and used up, and even if it could no longer be used as its original plant-based products and materials, it was returned to the soil, undoubtedly contributed to the formation of a uniquely Japanese society and culture in which humans and nature coexist in a mutually supportive manner.

In other words, Edo period Japan was not an agricultural country whose goals were consumption and economic effects, but a society in which plants and humans coexisted in every way, depending on plants, using plants to produce everything, and then returning everything to nature and circulating.

This social circulation mechanism, from nature to people, from people to people, and then from people to nature, has permeated society not only in the form of products but also in people’s compassion and consideration, helping to create a harmonious society free from conflict and plunder.

This Japanese culture nurtured during the Edo period should in no way be dismissed as outdated or backward, as advocated by Western-obsessed progressives and enlightenment thinkers from the Meiji period onwards.

Rather, the coexistence and symbiosis based on the circular society and social etiquette that Edo culture fostered also led to enhancing the consciousness of each individual and the society as a whole, but it can also be said to have the potential to serve as the most advanced defensive shield even in the current situation where the rulers exploit the commoners for their own selfish and personal gain, and actively use aggressive and violent means to achieve complete domination and control.

This was visually explained in “An Ecological View of the History of Civilization (文明の生態史観, 1957)” by Tadao Umesao (梅棹忠夫, 1920-2010), in which viewed the world spatially based on an ecosystem model, showing that Japanese civilization and Western civilization are parallel phenomena while also offering a new perspective on the uniqueness of Japanese culture.

Incidentally, the “ecological view of history of civilization” was also a response to the Western-centric view of history asserted by the British historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975, in “An Study of History (1934-1961)” and “Civilization on Trial (1948)”), who treated Japanese civilization as an derivative of Chinese civilization, and further stated that only Western civilization has remained healthy.

The “Ecological View of the History of Civilization” does not take the conventional single, chronological view of history, but instead presents a parallel, spatial perspective, like looking at the Earth from a satellite, and based on that, draws a schematic diagram (geometric model) of the Eurasian continent, which led to the discovery of the parallel transitions of civilizations.

Ecology is a branch of biology that is a natural science that studies the interactions between living organisms and their environment. It focuses on the fact that the environment affects living organisms and living organisms affect the environment, and considers that living organisms and the environment form a system, which is called an ecosystem.

In the ecosystem of the Eurasian continent, there are ethnic groups in each region who live by adapting to their respective environments and climates, and it can be inferred that each civilization has arisen out of the interaction between humans and the environment.

Traditionally, history has been thought of as occurring chronologically in the order of hunting and gathering → nomadic revolution → agricultural revolution, but by taking a spatial perspective, it has been shown that the nomadic revolution and agricultural revolution occurred in parallel depending on the environment and climate of each region.

In other words, Umesao’s ecological view of history is an attempt to explain civilizational spheres using ecological analytical methods, and is based on the diagram below.

Figure A is a simplified model, and Figure B is a slightly more complicated version with some modifications. (Link source: Tadao Umezawa / Ecological view of civilization and other / Chuoko Classics / 2002 / p197 (Figure A), p208 (Figure B))

* The oval represents the Old World (Eurasia and its surrounding areas), and the arid region running through the middle is from the Gobi Desert in North Asia, crossed by nomads, to the Caspian Sea, then curves south to Afghanistan.

* The Roman numerals represent four civilizational spheres:

I. Chinese sphere

II. Indian sphere

III. Russian sphere

IV. Mediterranean/Islamic sphere

* The oval region is divided, with Western Europe (西洋) at the western end and Japan (日本) at the eastern end as the Region 1, and I to IV, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe as the Region 2. Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe are also positioned as intermediate regions.

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Region 1:

* This region is far from the source of violence, and was free to grow from within without being destroyed.

* Adopted a decentralized feudal system.

* Civilization became modern.

The first region, on the edge of the Old World, was not directly destroyed and, due to its wetter climate, was able to grow peacefully. In other words, if the conditions are favorable and there are no obstacles, civilization will develop in an orderly manner through stages. e.g. feudalism → absolutism → bourgeois revolution → advanced modern civilization.

Region 2:

* This region is in the arid zone in the center of the diagram, and the civilizations were repeatedly destroyed by the violence of horse-riding nomadic tribes, forcing the rise of new civilizations each time.

* Adopted a centralized despotism system.

* Civilization did not become modern.

The civilizations I-IV in the second region were directly affected by invasion and plunder, and the need for offense and defense led to the development of ancient civilizations and the establishment of great empires, while the common people were heavily taxed and had almost no human rights, and did not develop in an orderly manner like Region 1.

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According to Umesao, Japanese civilization and Western civilization in Region 1 underwent similar transition processes, and that (I) China, (II) India, (III) Russia, and (IV) the Mediterranean and Islamic world in Region 2 also underwent similar transition processes.

In other words, by viewing the transition of civilizations as a parallel phenomenon, he realized that there are laws in social change and development, that change occurs due to changes in the environment and society itself, and that different developments can occur in different regions.

Umesao expressed the phenomenon of transition in society, culture, and civilization in the ecological term “succession,” based on ecology.

However, since Western society is connected by land, and has long been dominated by mystics, occultists, Luciferians and other devil worshippers, and continues to be an extension of this today, it is difficult to say that Japan has undergone the same transitions as the West, at least until the Meiji Restoration, which was brought about by the intervention of Freemasons.

In fact, the combined development of navigational technology and military technology led to the formation of the Age of Discovery by Western countries, who advanced into the Indian and Pacific Oceans, gradually bringing Eurasia under their satanic rule and laying the foundation for the age of imperialism.

If there were an absolute monarchy that cared about the spiritual and material well-being and comfort of the common people, it might be a much more peaceful and hopeful form of government than the current democracy run by self-interested politicians and bureaucrats.

In any case, it can be said that the “ecological historical view of civilization” has at least contributed to understanding the uniqueness and peculiarity of the growth of culture and civilization of Japan, an isolated island at the eastern end of the world.

Incidentally, it is difficult to translate a universal view of the history of civilization into a single word, and as the “ecological view of history of civilization” points out, horse-riding nomads may have destroyed and conquered the civilizations around the arid regions of Central Eurasia many times, but these nomads, who made their living from livestock farming, used horses and camels as a means of transportation to obtain grains and vegetables and engaged in trade, and eventually their sphere of activity expanded to the entirety of Eurasia, playing a role as a bridge between Western and Eastern civilizations.

This is what is known as trade traveling along the Silk Road.

The Silk Road trade carried not only goods such as silk and spices, but also culture, ideas, technology and art, traveling from Istanbul in Turkey in the west through the arid regions of Central Eurasia, via Xi’an in China, and all the way to its eastern terminus, the Shosoin Repository in Nara, Japan.

There are many cultures and civilizations that are said to have been transmitted across continents. For example, it is said that paper-making techniques from China were transmitted to the Islamic world and accelerated the development of academics, and silk fabrics with patterns similar to those preserved in the Shosoin Repository are on display at the Museum of Lyon in France.

Author Yasushi Inoue (井上靖, 1907-1991) was fascinated by the Silk Road and wrote many masterpieces, such as “Tempyō no Iraka (天平の甍, 1957)” and “Dunhuang (敦煌, 1959)”, but everyone will be fascinated by the history of eternal cultural exchange contained in these works.

However, the trade that traveled back and forth along the Silk Road from East to West was an exchange of goods, cultures, and civilizations, and was not based on the homogenization or unification that the current ideology of globalism aims for.

The “ecological historical view of civilization” is useful for understanding the uniqueness and idiosyncrasies of Japanese culture on the Eurasian continent, but it also provides an opportunity to learn how the decentralization system to local daimyo adopted under the feudal system of the Edo Shogunate led to regional differentiation within Japan, as well as the development of famous local products and patriotism for one’s hometown.

It is said that there are three principles that cause nation-states to perish.

1. Losing ideals.

These include ideals, aspirations, and visions.

2. Being obsessed with material values and neglecting values of the heart and conscious wealth.

Falling into selfish desires and self-interest, and leaving behind the relationships between nature and humans, the connections to the heart, the meaning of heaven’s will, and the significance of one’s mission.

3. Loss of ethnicity and national history.

Neglecting the recognition of historical time, space, ethnic identity, individuality, and uniqueness to which one belongs by nature.

The globalism that the rulers have sought is a unification and standardization under the guise of protecting diversity, while at the same time deterritorializing in order to destroy the sense of local belonging and self-identity, and spreading cultural import, cultural manifestation, cultural differentiation, and multiculturalism throughout the entire globe, eliminating the regional characteristics and spaces that have been cultivated by commoner society.

For example, in present-day Japan, secret operatives sent by cults are infiltrating not only the general public but also political, judicial and financial circles to carry out these tactics of the rulers.

This tendency has become more aggressive since the Plaza Accord of 1985, when the rulers intended to cause the decline of the Japanese economy, and it can be said that Japan has been almost completely under the occupation of cults since around 1995, after the collapse of the bubble economy.

Many are probably aware by now that these cults have used fabricated propaganda during the COVID-19 virus turmoil to whip unwary commoners into fear and blind obedience.

This can be attributed to the fact that after World War II, the occupying forces, GHQ, imposed mind control education to make people embrace a utopian view, which led people to believe that freedom, equality, and security were inherently fundamental to Japanese society, weakening their innate defense instinct and causing them to lose their methodological skepticism. GHQ was made up of New Dealers under President Roosevelt, who are commonly known as communists, which means they are globalists who seek world unification.

Freedom, equality, and security each have characteristics that cancel each other out, and cannot be achieved simultaneously. This can also be seen by looking at the history of invasion and plunder in the Eurasian continent, excluding Japan, an isolated island in the Far East, through the ecosystem presented by the “ecological historical view of civilization.” For this reason, it is essential to have some sense of crisis and raise awareness in order to confront the tyranny of the rulers.

In the Edo period, travel was by foot, and common people recognized the diversity of local cultures and dialects they encountered during trips such as pilgrimages to Ise Shrine, and had the mental space to enjoy and respect the differences in culture, values, and lifestyles.

The moment that the once self-evident recognition of nation-states and self-identity is destroyed and eliminated by globalists, commoners may encounter a number of harsh trials they have never experienced before.

That moment may be planned for the near future, so in order to avoid succumbing to the will of the rulers and unconditional surrender, it is necessary to recognize, protect, and preserve the wonderful traditions, customs, and high level of consciousness that commoner society has developed over a long period of time.

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Sources and references:

Final Report: Covid Select Concludes Two-Year Investigation

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