FEATURE: Kyoto, the city whose name is synonymous with the fight against global warming, is feeling the effects of climate change first-hand as the moss dries out in its celebrated gardens.
The ancient capital in western Japan was the venue for negotiations in 1997 that drafted the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark UN treaty that for the first time legally requires cuts in carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
But long before the treaty, Kyoto was also known for another sort of greenery — a landscape studded with hundreds of historic temples, shrines and castles where the gardens are said to be in harmony with each season.
PHOTO: AFP
At Tenryu-ji temple, listed as a World Heritage site, the gates close to tourists at twilight to allow the Zen monks meditate in front of the garden to try to conquer their worldly desires.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that gardens represent the beauty of Kyoto,” said Josho Toga, head priest of the 14th-century temple in the Arashiyama hills on Kyoto’s outskirts. “And moss is indispensable for the gardens.”
Toga, wearing a gray monk’s robe, pointed to the moss in the traditional sansui garden that had turned from watery green to dark brown.
“The moss is in danger as recent changes to the climate have visibly damaged it,” Toga said.
“Nature is honest,” he said. “It moves with the subtle changes in the surroundings and moss in particular is sensitive.”
More than 100 kinds of moss are growing at Tenryu-ji, forming a green carpet against white sand that looks like ripples of water flowing around the rocks.
Kyoto in recent years has rarely had drizzling rain, which produces the mist that allows moss to grow, said Nobuyuki Hiraki, chief landscaper at the Sone Gardening firm in charge of preserving gardens at Tenryu-ji and other major temples.
“Once part of nature begins to be destroyed, it can disappear instantly,” he said. “I’m afraid that Kyoto will no longer be Kyoto in, say, 100 years.”
A survey covering 13 of Kyoto’s 17 designated World Heritage sites, found that nine sites said the moss in their gardens was not growing well compared with 10 years ago.
Eight of them felt “a strong sense of fear” for the moss due to higher temperatures, less precipitation and air pollution, the poll found.
Yoshitaka Oishi, a moss researcher at Kyoto University who conducted the survey early this year, put the blame on global warming.
Average temperatures in the city have increased by more than 2°C over 70 years, while drizzling rain was recorded merely once or twice a year over the past decade, compared with some 70 days in the early 1960s, Oishi said. Many temples in Kyoto have brought in moss from other places, he said.
“But that’s not the right solution,” he said. “We would lose an important part of Japanese culture if we fail to take special care of moss.”
But the damage would be more than symbolic. Some 48 million tourists, mostly domestic, flock to Kyoto each year, spending ¥637 billion (US$6 billion), city officials said.
Kyoto was the birthplace of many key aspects of Japanese culture — the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, kimonos, kabuki theater and geishas.
“The landscape and nature in Kyoto are valuable assets for the Kyoto economy,” said Katsuhito Nakano, chief analyst at Kyoto Research Institute, a research unit with the Bank of Kyoto.
Autumn colors, another scenic attraction in Kyoto, have also been hit by climate change, researchers say, with leaves turning dull rather than becoming bright red.
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