Nichibunken Evening Seminar

The rulership of Toyotomi Hideyoshi brought great strain to Japanese forests as what had begun with Oda Nobunaga in terms of castle constructions had continued and intensified with Hideyoshi, who managed to give order for the constructions of several buildings preceding his Osaka castle and continuing with the construction of a fleet for the conquest of China, and Korea.

The aim of this paper -presentation is the shed light on the methods with which Hideyoshi’s orders were carried out, who did carry our such orders and how such de-forestation and shipbuilding, and the links between these two industries, caused great environmental costs (particularly for smaller timber lush islands) for Japan’s oldest wooded areas. It has been estimated that at least 300,000 people were sent to fight in the Korean peninsula, but as many people were also occupied in the logging and shipping trades to complete such enterprise.