page_title: Minakata Kumagusu
section_title: Protests against shrine consolidation
hierarchical_section_title: Minakata Kumagusu / Life / Protests against shrine consolidation
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 柳田國男 English: Kunio Yanagita (1975–1962)
context_page_description: Minakata Kumagusu was a Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist.
context_section_description: In 1906 the government imposed shrine consolidation regulations under which all shrines in a village or a town should be merged. The Wakayama prefectural government pushed hard for the enforcement of the regulations. In Japan there used to be a shrine in each community, however small, which was the centripetal force to unite the people, the provider of recreations and the object of worship, and with very few exceptions, they all stood in deep forests.
  Minakata was worried that the consolidations would not only ruin historical buildings and antiquities but, by cutting trees, also damage the scenery and the natural life around them. He contributed an opinion to every edition of a local paper, Muro Shinpo. He also sent objection letters to major papers in Tokyo and Osaka and appealed to leading researchers for support, including Jinzo Matsumura, a notable botanist and professor of Tokyo University, to whom Minakata wrote long letters criticizing the deeds done by the central and prefectural governments. Yanagita Kunio, then a counselor of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and later father of Japanese folklore, supported the campaign by disseminating copies of two letters as Minakata Nisho to those who concerned. He was also supported locally by a young Morihei Ueshiba.
  In August 1910 Minakata was arrested for trespassing when he threw a bag of specimens into a meeting held in Tanabe Junior High School (now Tanabe High). Although drunk, he did it out of rage when not allowed to talk with one of the attendees, a government officer who was in charge of the promotion of the regulations. During 18 days in jail pending trial he read books and hunted slime molds in the building. When released, he refused to leave saying: “This place is quiet with no visitors and cool. I want to stay longer.”
  As his enthusiasm moved public opinion, the irrational regulations gradually lost momentum. In 1920, 10 years from his arrest, the regulations were confirmed useless by the House of Peers and abolished. Ultimately, Minakata's efforts saved a couple of forests, but a number of shrines and forests had become extinct during the decade. He then approached various social movements and public bodies in charge of the national heritage list in order to promote protection of the precious environment including the Kashima Island in Tanabe Bay. His battle continued until his last years, which is why he is called a pioneer in ecology today. In February 1911, when The Mountain God Loves Stonefish was published in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Tokyo, Minakata received a letter from Yanagita. This was when their correspondence between two (which was going to make a significant contribution to the study of Japanese folklore) began.
  In July 1914 Kumagusu's reputation was spread nationwide, following a newspaper report on the announcement by Walter T. Swingle, head of the Office of Crop Physiology and Breeding investigation of US Department of Agriculture, that they would invite Minakata to the US. Dr. Swingle came to Tanabe in May 1915 to announce the appointment in person. Although having intended to accept the offer, he declined it because of a family matter.
caption: Yanagita Kunio (1940)
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