Satoyama is not untouched wilderness. It generally refers to woodlands and hills near settlements that people have long used and managed by cutting trees, clearing grass, gathering fallen leaves, and doing other regular upkeep.
But that does not mean everyone in the community manages the same mountain together.
If someone owns a wooded area, the owner will usually take care of it. People who do not farm are not expected to look after someone else’s fields, and people without rice paddies may not take part in cleaning irrigation channels connected with them.
At the same time, there are things such as farm roads, irrigation channels, reservoirs, and shared woodland that are used by several people.
These are difficult for one person to maintain alone. Grass has to be cut, channels cleaned, and roads repaired, so the people who use them have traditionally divided up the work. Shared places also need rules about who can use them and how.
People do not cooperate simply because an area is satoyama. They cooperate because some of the land, water, and roads are shared and need to be maintained together.
In the past, more people gathered firewood from the hills or collected fallen leaves to use as fertilizer. Using the land in everyday life also helped keep it maintained.
Rural life today is different. There are supermarkets and convenience stores, and fertilizer or compost can be bought at home improvement stores. Some people still use firewood, while others do not. Living near satoyama does not mean living an old-fashioned, self-sufficient lifestyle.
At the same time, even though people now make less use of firewood, fallen leaves, and other resources from the hills, the need for work such as cutting grass and cleaning irrigation channels remains.
As rural populations decline, this creates a new problem: who will continue doing the work that local people used to share?
The connection between satoyama and local cooperation is therefore not simply about a strong sense of community. Some places are maintained by individual owners, while others are maintained together by the people who use them. Satoyama landscapes have long been shaped by both.
