A Study on the Modern Characteristics of a Term "Chinju-no-mori"

Nowadays an idiom or a term "Chinju-no-mori" has been a symbolic word which refer to forests of Japanese shrines and their ecosystems. It is already known that this idiom/term is not an old word and had emerged in modern ages (Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa era) despite its connotation of Japanese traditional culture. However, any backgrounds of the birth of this term remain still unknown. To know the history of vocabularies related with landscape is one of the important issues for landscape planning and design, so this study tries to make clear the process and backgrounds of the birth and establishment of the term "Chinju-no-mori" in modern ages. The results are, 1) "Chinju-no-mori" is estimated to have been thought about and used by a novelist Tayama Katai in 1892 for the first time. 2) Tayama intended to depict some panoramic countryside landscapes with a landmark in mid-distance by "Chinju-no-mori", under influences of the way of perceiving scenery in western literature. 3) "Chinju-no-mori" is estimated to have been established as a general word by the end of Meiji period, extending its meaning from shrine landscape to shrine itself, with some connotation of Japanese tradition or sacredness of holy space.