Converting the Forces of Nature to a Cultural Force—An Invitation to Pursue the Study of “Satoyama” (A “Satoyama” May Only Be a Little Village Near the Mountains, Only at Best a “Satoyama”. Yet, Even So, It Is a “Satoyama”!)

Satoyamas” are important geographical spaces related to the living zones inhabited by humans that can be made affluent through human agency, unlike the Okuyamas (mountain recesses) located far from villages. It was important for us to reconsider the force of nature that we could not have predicted so far by studying “Satoyama”. I hope that “Satoyama Studies” will develop to become a study pursued by global citizens and another field of human study, combining, blending, and mediating among the existing sciences.


Three Values Arising from Satoyama Studies: Dreams, Breathing Space, and Courage
We have lived through the coastal effects of the tsunami and the nuclear power plant accidents caused by the unprecedented great earthquake. These experiences lead us to radically reconsider human beings' relationship with nature. I have been focusing on the importance of Satoyama Studies. I believe this is a source of ideas for reintroducing the forces of nature to human culture. This could lead to creating a way of life in which humans coexist with nature, recovering true quality of life while renouncing economic growth. First, this report introduces the importance of Satoyama Studies as a sort of Local Research, reviews the old calendar as a cultural force and the value of Satoyama Studies as a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jar Journal of Asian Research Vol. 4, No. 3, 2020 2 Published by SCHOLINK INC. source of education about preparations for death and the discovery of the practice of tree burial. Finally, I would like to explain why Satoyama Studies are important to everyone.

1) A Dream of Participating in Satoyama Study as an Exercise in Local Research
Satoyamas (

Space
While plowing our fields, we began to arrive at the understanding that agricultural produce, including rice, vegetables, and potatoes, used to be grown on the basis of the old calendar (that is, a calendar that divides time in relationship to the phases of the moon and other natural phenomena Studies. Have you ever heard of a tree burial? In a tree burial human remains are buried under ground that has been legally approved as a graveyard, with a tree used as the grave marker. There are some cemeteries where the whole area is reserved exclusively for tree burials, and some other cemeteries specify that a part of the site is designated exclusively for tree burials. In Japan, the first tree burial cemetery was established in 1999, in Ichinoseki City, Iwate prefecture Japan. This cemetery was created to be friendly to the natural environment in the surrounding area, because only trees are used, not stones or concrete. The trees used as grave markers are generally low trees or bushes. Hanamizuki the basic of whether they can be grown locally and whether they will be compatible with the local ecological system. Living as we do in the slender islands of Japan, the only way that we can now return freely to the ground after we die is to be buried under a tree, not by being confined to the tiny space in our family's tomb.

Studies
After World War II the culture of the global citizen burst upon us, and as a result we are faced with three crises. The 1st crisis is that affecting the natural body (as a material object). The 2nd crisis is the crisis of the living body (the result of a biological process). The 3rd crisis is that of the social body (the outcome of the interactions of many beings). An example typifying the 1st crisis (to the natural body) is radioactive contamination resulting from the nuclear power generator accident. An example typifying the 2nd crisis (to the living body) is the biochemical hazards such as dioxin, the biochemical agent hazards such as cloning technology and chromosome manipulation. The 3rd crisis (to the social body) is the crisis of the family system, the basic social unit. This crisis includes social problems, typical family dysfunction and the collapse of families. How can we human beings overcome these problems?
We are forced to face the issue of how we should solve them. Now that we have experienced the great tsunami and the nuclear power plant accidents caused by the Great Tohoku Earthquake, as well as huge floods caused by climate change around the world, in order to overcome these crises we need to review our attitudes toward life, our views on death, and our ideas about history. Furthermore, we will benefit from studying again the cultural forces that can be found in the traditional spiritual realm. That is a resource for concepts of value derived from natural forces. Specifically, we need to depart from the principle of competition (that puts a premium on economic growth), and re-examine human culture from the perspective of nature. We must recognize that the Satoyama is a repository of the strength of culture and we must look back on past of history. The three major cultural icons of Asia: Green Tea, Rice, and Bamboo, were all born in the Satoyama. We are in danger of forgetting someday that the Satoyama is the root of the origin of these cultures.

Satoyama Study Is another Way of Linking the Past with the Future
The term Satoyama refers to human modified forests and grasslands near villages, while the term "Satochi" refers to areas more clearly modified for human use, including agricultural lands, villages, and water sources. Some researchers who have been tackling the study of the Satoyama say it is "nature as culture". Namely, Satoyama studies are not only about the regeneration of nature, but are at their core also about the regeneration and reformation of "nature as culture". This idea leads us to a very important matter. Since the Jomon era (c. 8000 to 200 BC), our ancestors derived their cultural energy from the blessings of the Satoyamas.
Others say that Satoyama Study is a pursuit of eliminating the barrier between specialist (scholars) and amateurs (citizens), stepping outside the framework of conventional academism. I believe Satoyama Studies not only link the past and future, but are also a field of intermediation linking citizens and lived near them. That is, humans ventured into an easy and wrong way of thinking that they could control nature, and they have significantly damaged the nature around them by their desires and lusts to capture and control the things in front of them. As a result, we have been completely overcome by a force of nature we never could have predicted before. Now we have to come to grips with the existence of the two faces of nature: nature as a threat and nature as a healer. It can heal human society and can help create cultures. We must pass on to the next generation of children recognition of these two aspects, and we can do that through Satoyama Studies. In the modern age when we classify the world into the natural and the social, the obvious idea is that natural science was developed to comprehend nature, and social science and cultural science were developed to comprehend society and culture.
These have been developed, specialized, and elaborated in various ways. I hope that Satoyama Studies will develop to become a study pursued by global citizens and another field of human study, combining, blending, and mediating among the existing sciences.