1:45 PM - 2:00 PM
[MZZ44-01] Geology and culture of the active plate margin
Keywords:geoculture, active plate margin, Japanese culture, geodiversity
A book “Culture Geology of the Active Plate Margin” was published by Kyoto University Press, in which research results of JSPS KAKENHI “Culture geology of the active plate margin” (grant no. 17H02008) during the years between 2017 and 2020 (extended to 2022 due to the spread of covid19) are described. This book consists of 5 parts including 31 chapters and total 557 pages. The number of contributors is 29, whose specialities are history, Buddhism study, landscape architecture science, literature, pedagogy and geography as well as geology, producing interdisciplinary collaboration. Here I make presentation on characteristic geocultures in the active plate margin on a basis of the results of this book, comparing with those in stable continental platform.
Whereas many traditional stone buildings are seen in European countries, most Japanese traditional buildings are made of wood and paper. However, there are important stone cultures also in Japan such as the stone circle in the Jomon period, stone walls forming step-like rice fields on mountain slopes, continuous stone wall preventing wild animals ruining farmlands as well as modern stone buildings in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods. Villagers in Chiba prefecture found out consolidated tuff seams to use stone materials, although there are very little stones in Chiba prefecture, underlying mostly Neogene/Quaternary soft sediments, as suggested by Dr. Naoki Takahashi in the book.
Geology in Japan is also concerned with spiritual cultures. Peoples in the Jomon period gathered riverbed gravel stones to make ritual stone circles. Religious belief cultures on natural rocks are seen in mountain areas in Japan. Buddha statues were carved on steep cliffs of tuffaceous stone or granite in various scales. Steep mountain morphology is a site of asceticism for mountain monk. A haiku poet in the Edo period, Basho Matsuo, visited geologically scenic areas in Tohoku district to imagine haiku subjects. A writer of juvenile literature in Meiji – early Showa periods, Kenji Miyazawa, created personified rocks and minerals lively to make literary works. Features of farmland originate from geology of their areas which created peculiar food culture in an area.
Geocultures in Japan are closely related not only to stone materials but also to spiritual and food cultures. So various geocultures in Japan have been formed in the geological place of the active plate margin where the oceanic plate was/is subducting under the continental plate. Such plate convergent zone is an active magmatic place to create such consolidated rocks as ignimbrite, andesite, granite and so on. Precipitous mountain range and complicated coastal line resulted from geotectonic movements like underplating of accretional sediments and faulting. Many rock types occur in Japan that were created by geotectonics along the active plate margin, whereas an almost same bed is distributed continuously on the continental platform ground. Geodiversity is a feature of Japanese earth that is the origin of abundant geocultures in Japan.
The result of this presentation is greatly owed to the descriptions by 28 contributors except me of the book “Culture Geology of the Active Plate Margin”, which is published with the help of staffs of Kyoto University Press, and by the financial support of JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. 23HP5183). Here I express sincere thanks to them.
Whereas many traditional stone buildings are seen in European countries, most Japanese traditional buildings are made of wood and paper. However, there are important stone cultures also in Japan such as the stone circle in the Jomon period, stone walls forming step-like rice fields on mountain slopes, continuous stone wall preventing wild animals ruining farmlands as well as modern stone buildings in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods. Villagers in Chiba prefecture found out consolidated tuff seams to use stone materials, although there are very little stones in Chiba prefecture, underlying mostly Neogene/Quaternary soft sediments, as suggested by Dr. Naoki Takahashi in the book.
Geology in Japan is also concerned with spiritual cultures. Peoples in the Jomon period gathered riverbed gravel stones to make ritual stone circles. Religious belief cultures on natural rocks are seen in mountain areas in Japan. Buddha statues were carved on steep cliffs of tuffaceous stone or granite in various scales. Steep mountain morphology is a site of asceticism for mountain monk. A haiku poet in the Edo period, Basho Matsuo, visited geologically scenic areas in Tohoku district to imagine haiku subjects. A writer of juvenile literature in Meiji – early Showa periods, Kenji Miyazawa, created personified rocks and minerals lively to make literary works. Features of farmland originate from geology of their areas which created peculiar food culture in an area.
Geocultures in Japan are closely related not only to stone materials but also to spiritual and food cultures. So various geocultures in Japan have been formed in the geological place of the active plate margin where the oceanic plate was/is subducting under the continental plate. Such plate convergent zone is an active magmatic place to create such consolidated rocks as ignimbrite, andesite, granite and so on. Precipitous mountain range and complicated coastal line resulted from geotectonic movements like underplating of accretional sediments and faulting. Many rock types occur in Japan that were created by geotectonics along the active plate margin, whereas an almost same bed is distributed continuously on the continental platform ground. Geodiversity is a feature of Japanese earth that is the origin of abundant geocultures in Japan.
The result of this presentation is greatly owed to the descriptions by 28 contributors except me of the book “Culture Geology of the Active Plate Margin”, which is published with the help of staffs of Kyoto University Press, and by the financial support of JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. 23HP5183). Here I express sincere thanks to them.