solely to the local community: there are examples of initiatives that foster information sharing among communities. "Local Summit" centered on NPOs and local companies, which has been held four times in Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture, was convened in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster. At this summit, the migration measures implemented for the Kaga and Soma regions during the Great Tenmei Famine of the Edo Period were a topic of discussion, and community-focused proposals were put forward for addressing a wide range of challenges, such as the revitalization of community-centered agriculture and forestry and the independence of resources within communities. In the course of discussion, participants touch on the importance of local cooperation, viewing families and traditional ways of life as knowledge resources, and using festivals and ceremonies as means of fostering interpersonal connections.

We need to cast off the unsustainable modern materialistic civilization that we had enjoyed before the earthquake disaster, and instead discover a more grounded and sustainable way of life. In seeking ways of utilizing natural resources that reflect the nature that varies region to region, respect for life, and a connection with the local culture, we are essentially seeking a way of life that is sustainable. In this search, NPOs have an extremely important role to play by undertaking community-focused initiatives.

NPO's Role to Bring Together the Wisdom for Reconstruction

Oyster farming raft replacement using locally-sourced materials

Photos: Kyoto University (oyster farming raft), MOSEIBUN NPO (local summit)

Chopping Rejuvenation Firewood

View of the "Local Summit"

Since 2008, the museum has been run by the Japan Good Toy Committee, a non-profit organization that was invited in by local residents. In its exhibition rooms, the Tokyo Toy Museum exhibits a number of toys built with plenty of natural materials, including cypress from the Kyushu mountains, white cedar from the Tsugaru region, umbrella pine from the Satsuma region, and bamboo from the Kuma region. The museum not only exhibits toys, but also allows visitors to touch and play with them, so that children can directly play with wood products at many locations in the facility (Photo 3-3-1).

Lacquer ware from Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture is known as Echizen lacquer. It is made with a technique that has been passed down for 1,500 years. Recently, handmade lacquer building blocks made using this traditional technique were designated as a traditional craft as defined by the Act on the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries. They were described as a "hundred-year toy" to be passed down through the generations. Sabae City attempts to build its community using lacquer, which is a natural resource with superior durability and safety features, in addition to other efforts.

Advancing the concept of “the beauty of practical usage” can be interpreted as a sign that folk arts (used and made by processing natural resources that are easily obtained) were at risk of gradually disappearing, even during the prewar period. On the other hand, efforts by local communities to support wooden toys can be understood as a sign of a movement whereby local residents voluntarily get back to the basics of the sustainable use of natural resources, while directly handling the gifts of nature in their daily lives.

Photo 3-3-1 Tokyo Toy Museum, Hundred-Year Toys “Lacquer-Coated Building Blocks”

Photos: Japan Good Toy Committee./Sanbongawa Inc.

# Section 3 Sustainable Use of Natural Resources as “Commons” Community Property

Our lives are based on natural resources; so it is fundamental to consider sustainable use of natural resources. The section below describes how we manage the natural resources and activities that are indispensable to human life (such as water, fishing, hunting, and forestry).

## 1 Forest Resources and Toys

In the early Showa period (the 1940s), the scholar Muneyoshi Yanagi, founder of the Folk Craft Movement, wrote Teshigoto no Nippon (literally, Handiwork of Japan). In this book he posed the question, "Does beauty ever deepen if it is separated from people's lives?" Daily life, he said, is the center of everything we do, holding the roots of culture. The real worth of human beings should be demonstrated most clearly in their daily lives.

This idea, known as “the beauty of practical usage,” contrasts with art objects designed only for appreciation, and explains the idyllic and simple beauty of common tools routinely used in daily life. Today, the concept of “the beauty of practical usage” has a slightly different meaning than it did in Yanagi’s time, which reflects our modern socioeconomic conditions of mass production and mass consumption. In other words, asking whether there is “beauty of practical usage” in a lifestyle that readily disposes of things and wastes resources is another way of asking about the ideal method of creating a sustainable society.

In Japan, forestry resources have been used for a variety of applications that extend from everyday items to traditional crafts, cultural assets, and buildings.

Wooden toys also include a variety of types, including building blocks and dolls (Photo 3-3-1). Toys may be something that achieves “the beauty of practical usage,” since they are directly handled by children, loved over many years, and even carefully stored once children no longer play with them.

There are a number of examples of community building using wooden toys that provide opportunities to learn about the end products of natural resources and to feel the texture of the materials.

The Tokyo Toy Museum, located in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, uses buildings that were once an elementary school.

## 2 Water Resources as a Common Property of Local Communities (Kabata in the Harie area of Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture)

Water is one of the resources indispensable to human socioeconomic activities. In our daily lives and business activities, the sustainable use of water is the most fundamental issue in natural resource management. This section provides some hints for ideal, sustainable use of local natural resources from the perspective of groundwater use in daily life.

A village in the Harie area of Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, has been using groundwater for domestic applications since ancient times. Families using groundwater build a water intake opening to pool water for drinking. Through this opening, water discharged from the water source is taken into their houses for washing dishes, and the used water is drained into channels. This means that families living downstream use water that has already been used by those upstream. Therefore, close communication is needed between families living at both ends of the stream.

To secure communication, the village employs a device for using groundwater called a "kabata" (aquatic plant). Even now, the device is installed in the houses of about thirty families. The "kabata" basically consists of three elements: (1) the "motoike" (original pond) to store water to be used for drinking; (2) the "tsuboike" (vase pond) to store water to be used for washing vegetables or used dishes; and (3) the "hataike" (end pond) to house fish such as carp that eat leftover food and the like. Water discharged from underground sequentially flows to the "motoike," "tsuboike," and "hataike" before being drained into a channel that leads outside the system.

Using groundwater like this allows the area to successfully establish unspoken rules for using groundwater without contaminating drainage, based on mutual confidence. The quality of the water drained from “kabata” remains stable, such that water crowfoot plants can grow in the village channels. The water crowfoot is classified as a vulnerable rare species in the Shiga Prefecture Red Data Book (Photo 3-3-2).

Thanks to this kind of traditional water resource management, the area maintains the cultural scenery of houses with old "kabata" devices standing side by side. Needless to say, these houses are owned by individual families and used for daily life. However, curious outsiders repeatedly visit them today. Sometimes, they trespass on private land without permission or peek at the "kabata" installed inside the houses. To cope with this, the area voluntarily established rules for visitors and provides a volunteer guide to take them to see the "kabata."

As stated above, efforts to sustainably use natural