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Japan's Imperial Forest Coryorin, 1889-1946: With a Supporting Study of the Kan/Min Division of Woodland in Early Meiji Japan, 1871-76
Japan's Imperial Forest Coryorin 18891946 With a Supporting Study of the Kan/Min Division of Woodland in Early Meiji Japan 187176 Author:Conrad Totman Central to the planning of the Meiji reformers was securing the long-term financial stability of the Imperial household that would not leave it exposed to the whims of future political and economic change. The solution was the gory rin, or imperial forests. Over time, however, the acquired land generated controversy within the framework of law a... more »nd other imperatives, and was finally abandoned by the Occupation authorities because of the political ideology that was its raison d'etre in the first place. In Part II, the author explores the great early Meiji debate between government and people (kan /min) concerning the reorganization of woodland in Japan, which in essence was a contest for control of the realm. By 1889 the Tokyo government, despite having 80 per cent of the people (min), then living in villages, against them, completed their programme of forest consolidation, leading the way to their rationale for the gory rin allocation.« less