Aokigahara

Aokigahara
青木ヶ原 (Japanese)
Aokigahara, Misaka Mountains and Saiko Lake seen from Mount Ryu of Tenshi Mountains

Aokigahara

Mount Fuji
Location of Aokigahara and Mount Fuji
Ecology
Realm Palearctic
Biome Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
Geography
Area 35 km2 (14 sq mi)
Country Japan
Prefecture Yamanashi Prefecture
Coordinates 35°28′12″N 138°37′11″E / 35.47000°N 138.61972°E / 35.47000; 138.61972Coordinates: 35°28′12″N 138°37′11″E / 35.47000°N 138.61972°E / 35.47000; 138.61972
Conservation
Conservation status Relatively stable / Relatively intact

Saiko Lake and Aokigahara on the left
Aokigahara in Yamanashi

Aokigahara (青木ヶ原), also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海, Jukai), is a forest on the northwestern flank of Japan's Mount Fuji thriving on 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) of hardened lava laid down by the last major eruption of Mount Fuji in 864 CE.[1] The western edge of Aokigahara, where there are several caves that fill with ice in winter, is a popular destination for tourists and school trips. Parts of Aokigahara are very dense, and the porous lava absorbs sound, helping to provide visitors with a sense of solitude.[2]

The forest has a historical reputation as a home to yūrei: ghosts of the dead in Japanese mythology. In recent years, Aokigahara has become internationally known as "the Suicide Forest", one of the world's most prevalent suicide sites, and signs at the head of some trails urge suicidal visitors to think of their families and contact a suicide prevention association.

Geography

The forest floor mostly consists of volcanic rock which can be difficult to penetrate with hand tools such as picks or shovels. Since the forest is very dense, in recent years, hikers and tourists trekking through Aokigahara have begun to use plastic tape to mark their paths so as to avoid getting lost.[3] Designated trails lead to several tourist attractions such as the Narusawa Ice Cave, Fugaku Wind Cave and Lake Sai Bat Cave which are three larger lava caves near to Mount Fuji, the ice cave being frozen all around the year.[4] The first kilometer of the forest is littered with tape and other rubbish left by tourists, despite officials' attempts to remove it. After the first kilometer into Aokigahara towards Mount Fuji within the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, the forest is in better condition, with few obvious signs of human presence.

Aokigahara has been falsely portrayed as a place where navigational compasses go haywire. Needles of magnetic compasses will move if placed directly on the lava, aligning with the rock's natural magnetism, which varies in iron content and strength by location. However, a compass behaves as expected when held at a normal height.[2]

Flora and fauna

Mammals include the Asian black bear,[5] small Japanese mole,[6] bats,[1] mice,[1] deer, fox, boar, wild rabbit, Japanese mink and Japanese squirrel.[7] Birds include great tit, willow tit, long-tailed tit, magerahigara, higera, great spotted woodpecker, pygmy woodpecker, bush warbler, Eurasian jay, Japanese white-eye, Japanese thrush, brown-headed thrush, Siberian thrush, Hodgson’s hawk-cuckoo, Japanese grosbeak, lesser cuckoo, black-faced bunting, oriental turtle dove, and common cuckoo.[7]

There are ground beetles and other insects,[1] including many species of butterflies, even in the forest interior Argynnis paphia, Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus, Celastrina argiolus, Celastrina sugitanii, Curetis acuta, Favonius jezoensis, Neptis sappho, Parantica sita and Polygonia c-album are found.[8]

The forest has a wide variety of conifers and broadleaf trees and shrubs including: Chamaecyparis obtusa,[8] Cryptomeria japonica,[9] Pinus densiflora, Pinus parviflora, Tsuga sieboldii, Acer distylum, Acer micranthum, Acer sieboldianum, Acer tschonoskii, Betula grossa, Chengiopanax sciadophylloides (as Acanthopanax sciadophylloides a.k.a. Eleutherococcus sciadophylloides), Clethra barbinervis, Enkianthus campanulatus, Euonymus macropterus, Ilex pedunculosa, Ilex macropoda, Pieris japonica, Prunus jamasakura, Quercus mongolica var. crispula, Rhododendron dilatatum, Skimmia japonica f. repens, Sorbus commixta (as Sorbus americana ssp. japonica) and Toxicodendron trichocarpum (as Rhus trichocarpa).[8] The dominant tree species between 1000 and 1800 metres of altitude is Tsuga diversifolia and from 1800 to 2200 metres is Abies veitchii.[9]

Deeper in the forest there are many herbaceous flowering plants including Artemisia princeps,[8] Cirsium nipponicum var. incomptum,[10] Corydalis incisa,[8] Erigeron annuus,[10] Geranium nepalense,[10] Kalimeris pinnatifida,[10] Maianthemum dilatatum,[8] Oplismenus undulatifolius[8] and Polygonum cuspidatum.[8] There are also the myco-heterotrophic Monotropastrum humile,[7] frequent liverworts,[9] many mosses[9] and many ferns.[7] The forest edges have many more species.[10]

Suicides

Aokigahara is sometimes referred to as the most popular site for suicide in Japan.[11] In 2003, 105 bodies were found in the forest, exceeding the previous record of 78 in 2002.[12] In 2010, the police recorded more than 200 people having attempted suicide in the forest, of whom 54 completed the act.[13] Suicides are said to increase during March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan.[11] As of 2011, the most common means of suicide in the forest were hanging or drug overdose.[13] In recent years, local officials have stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to decrease Aokigahara's association with suicide.[14]

The rate of suicide has led officials to place a sign at the forest's entry urging suicidal visitors to seek help and not take their own lives. Annual body searches have been conducted by police, volunteers, and attendant journalists since 1970.[15][16][17]

The site's popularity has been attributed to Seichō Matsumoto's 1961 novel Nami no Tō (Tower of Waves).[18][19] However, the history of suicide in Aokigahara predates the novel's publication, and the place has long been associated with death; ubasute may have been practiced there into the nineteenth century, and the forest is reputedly haunted by the yūrei of those left to die.[14]

References in media

Aokigahara has been referred to in several media including anime and manga, films, video games, literature, and music.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The nature found in the Aokigahara "sea of trees"". Yamanashi Kankou. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 Harrington, Patrick (22 January 2017). "Hiking in a Forest Born Out of Mount Fuji's Lava". The New York Times. p. TR8.
  3. ↑ "Intruders tangle 'suicide forest' with tape". Asahi Svhimbun. 3 May 2008. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  4. ↑ "About Narusawa lce Cave/Fugaku Wind Cave - Mount Fuji Travel Guide | Planetyze". Planetyze. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  5. ↑ Koike, Shinsuke; Hazumi, Toshihiro (2008). "Notes on Asiatic black bears denning habits in the Misaka Mountains, central Japan" (PDF). Ursus. 19 (1): 80–84. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Tsuchiya, Kimiyuki; Suzuki, Hitoshi; Shinohara, Akio; Harada, Masashi; Wakana, Shigeharu; Sakaizumi, Mitsuru; Han, Sang-Hoon; Lin, Liang-Kong; Kryukov, Alexei P (2000). "Molecular phylogeny of East Asian moles inferred from the sequence variation of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene". Genes & Genetic Systems. 75 (1): 17–24. doi:10.1266/ggs.75.17. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Aokigahara "sea of trees" walking course". Charm of Mt Fuji. Yamanashi Tourism Organization. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kitahara, Masahiko; Watanabe, Maki (2003). "Diversity and rarity hotspots and conservation of butterfly communities in and around the Aokigahara woodland of Mount Fuji, central Japan" (PDF). Ecological Research. 18 (5): 503–522. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1703.2003.00574.x. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Inoue, Hiroshi (December 1, 1981). "Hepaticae of Mt. Fuji, Central Japan" (PDF). Memoirs of the National Science Museum, Tokyo. 14: 59–74. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Kitahara, Masahiko; Masahiko, Mitsuko; Kobayashi, Takato (2008). "Relationship of butterfly diversity with nectar plant species richness in and around the Aokigahara primary woodland of Mount Fuji, central Japan" (PDF). Biodiversity and Conservation. 17: 2713–2734. doi:10.1007/s10531-007-9265-4. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  11. 1 2 Lah, Kyung (19 March 2009). "Desperate Japanese head to 'suicide forest'". CNN.com/Asia. Retrieved 10 April 2012. 'Especially in March, the end of the fiscal year, more suicidal people will come here because of the bad economy,' he said. 'It's my dream to stop suicides in this forest, but to be honest, it would be difficult to prevent all the cases here.'
  12. ↑ "Aokigahara forest". 14 February 2014.
  13. 1 2 Gilhooly, Rob (26 June 2011). "Inside Japan's 'Suicide Forest'". Japan Times. p. 7. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  14. 1 2 Malinovski, Pejk (30 January 2009). Suicide Forest. Studio 360. WNYC & PRI.
  15. ↑ "Japan's harvest of 69 death". The Independent. London. 24 October 2000. Archived from the original on 24 April 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  16. ↑ Hadfield, Peter (16 June 2001). "Japan struggles with 69 soaring death toll in Suicide Forest". The Sunday Telegraph. London.
  17. ↑ "'Suicide forest' helps skew Yamanashi's statistics". Japan Times. 9 May 2012. p. 3. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  18. ↑ Inside Japan’s ‘Suicide Forest’ (The Japan Times, 2011)
  19. ↑ 波の塔〈下〉(文春文庫): 松本 清張: 本 (in Japanese). Tōkyō: Bungeishunjū. 2009. ISBN 978-4167697235.
  • "Aokigahara Forest information".
  • Suicide Forest in Japan (May 2012). Vice.com on YouTube
  • "鳴沢氷穴 [Narusawa Hyoketsu Ice Cave]". Mt Fuji Cave. (in English)
  • "富岳風穴 [Fugaku Fuketsu Wind Cave]". Mt Fuji Cave. (in English)
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