Forests of Tokyo

Tokyo's forests and timber on the map

This map gathers the places mentioned on this site. Timber grown in the western Tama mountains was rafted down the Tama River to Rokugo at its mouth, then shipped to Kiba (dotted line). Today the timber hub has moved to Shin-Kiba. Click a number to jump to the chapter about that place.

Chapters

1. Prologue

   Forests and People before Edo

   Wood and lacquer preserved in Jomon wetlands, the seven-story pagoda of Musashi Kokubunji, Ota Dokan's Edo Castle, and the coppice woods of Musashino.

   Published
2. Chapter 1

   Edo and Timber

   Where timber came from and how it moved, the Great Meireki Fire, from Kiba to Shin-Kiba, Tama River rafts, shogunate forests, and the origins of watershed forests.

   Published
3. Chapter 2

   Tama Forestry

   From postwar expansion planting to plantation forests left uncut and aging, the pollen problem, and the people, machines, economics and future workforce of forestry.

   Published
4. Chapter 3

   Island Forests

   The evergreen broadleaf forests of the Izu Islands and the World Heritage Ogasawara Islands: forests with a history entirely different from Tama.

   Published
5. Chapter 4

   Tree Species

   Uses of each tree species; a comparison of weight, hardness and decay resistance; Tokyo's giant trees; ginkgo as a firebreak and ginkgo-nut poisoning; matching trees to sites; pests and diseases such as pine wilt and oak wilt; pollen allergies and trees; and low-pollen sugi cedar.

   Published
6. Chapter 5

   Wooden Buildings

   From the old timber buildings of the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum to the Jindai-ji gate, the former Iwasaki and Nogi residences, the zelkova of the Imperial Palace's Matsu-no-Ma, a station built with Tama timber, the National Stadium, the wood stove at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the timber office-building projects in Shibuya, Nihonbashi and for Tokio Marine.

   Published
7. Chapter 6

   Processing & Civil Works

   Pit saws and sawyers, glulam and CLT, wooden utility poles, reclamation of Tokyo Bay, and what happens to felled wood (firewood, chips, green recycling).

   Published
8. Chapter 7

   Kiba, Shin-Kiba and Postwar Timber

   Kiba's roles and its move to Shin-Kiba, where postwar reconstruction timber came from, and today's volumes, prices, tariffs and the 2025 Building Standards Act revision.

   Published
9. Chapter 8

   Green Landmarks

   A list of landmarks including Mt. Takao, Shinjuku Gyoen, Hama-rikyu, Rinshi-no-Mori, the Institute for Nature Study Inokashira Park and Shinjuku Central Park; trees that survived the war; one million street trees; the Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue; the Tamagawa Aqueduct green path; the prefectural trees in the Diet's front garden; and the national tree-planting and tree-nurturing festivals held in Tokyo.

   Published
10. Chapter 9

    Forests and Carbon

    What forest functions are worth in money, how much CO₂ cedar absorbs, the real relationship between forests and oxygen, and what it means to use wood.

    Published
11. Appendix

    Forest Policy History & Literature

    Publications of the Tokugawa Institute for the History of Forestry, and government documents for researching Tokyo's forests.

    Published
12. Appendix

    Data & Links

    Timber prices compared with a bowl of gyudon (from 1960 to today), forest area by municipality, forestry output, the Forest Environment Transfer Tax and subsidies, and links to related organizations.

    Published

The leading center for research on Edo-period forest policy is the Tokugawa Institute for the History of Forestry, run by the Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation. Its research focuses on the Owari domain and the forests of Kiso, not on Tokyo's own forests. This site introduces it as a source on the forest policies that supplied Edo with timber.