, which literally means "Forest of Correction", is a

sacred grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

associated with an important

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

sanctuary complex known in Japanese as the Kamo-''jinja'', situated near the banks of the

Kamo River The is located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The riverbanks are popular walking spots for residents and tourists. In summer, restaurants open balconies looking out to the river. There are walkways running alongside the river, and some stepping ...

just north of where the

Takano River The Takano River is located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The Kamo River and Takano River join on the Tadasu River Banks (Jp., Tadasu-gawara 糺河原). There is the "River Confluence" shrine of Shimogamo Shrine, leading to the forested area call ...

joins the Kamo River in northeast

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

city,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The term Kamo-''jinja'' in Japanese is a general reference to

Shimogamo Shrine is an important Shinto sanctuary in the Shimogamo district of Kyoto city's Sakyō ward. Its formal name is . It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which have been designat ...

and

Kamigamo Shrine is an important Shinto sanctuary on the banks of the Kamo River in north Kyoto, first founded in 678. Its formal name is the . It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which ...

, the traditionally linked Kamo shrines of Kyoto. The Kamo''-jinja'' serve the function of protecting Kyoto from malign influences. The forest encompasses approximately 12.4 hectares, which are preserved as a national historical site (国の史跡). It is today the last remnant of a

primeval forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

which is reputed to have never been burned down. The forest has, in fact, suffered some damage over the centuries when all of Kyoto was burned during successive revolts and wars, but the forest growth has rebounded again and again. The forest is left to grow in its natural state. It is neither planted nor pruned. The forest in ancient times comprised approximately 4,950,000 square meters of virgin forest. Due to wars during the Middle Ages and an edict in the 4th year of the Meiji era, it was reduced to its present area of approximately 124,000 square meters.Shimogamo Shrine official web page about Tadasu-no-mori Japanese Tadasu no mori 200906d

World Heritage site

The wooded area that is called by the name Tadasu-no-mori today lies on the grounds of

, one of the seventeen historical sites in and around

which in 1994 were designated by UNESCO as

Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto The UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) encompasses 17 locations in Japan within the city of Kyoto and its immediate vicinity. In 794, the Japanese imperial family moved the capital to Heian- ...

Notes

References

*GoJapanGo.com
Shimogamo Shrine
*Nelson, John K. (2000)
''Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan.''
Honolulu:

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. *Terry, Thomas Philip. (1914)
''Terry's Japanese empire: including Korea and Formosa, with chapters on Manchuria, the Trans-Siberian railway, and the chief ocean routes to Japan; a guidebook for travelers.''
New York:

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

External links

Shimogamo Shrine website
{{coord, 35, 03, 37, N, 135, 45, 10, E, region:JP_type:landmark, display=title Forests of Japan Shinto shrines in Kyoto World Heritage Sites in Japan Geography of Kyoto