Manyo forest 

There are at least 6 Manyo forests in Japan now. "Manyo" literally means a lot of plants. Then, if there are many plants in these parks, it's not wrong about the naming. However, why do so many Manyo forests exist?

Before reading further, please learn another word, "Manyo-syu." If you are familiar with history of Japanese literature, you may know about Manyo-su. The knowledge you learned in Japanese history class would be helpful just now. Question is "what was Manyo-syu?"

Manyo-syu was the collection of poems which was historically first appeared in Japan. So, the name Manyo-syu is quite popular among Japanese especially students. The poems are very short and they are called "Waka." Waka poems were invented during 780, then approximately 1250 years ago. 

Next question is "How do these two words connect each other?" The first word, "Manyo forest" and the second word, Manyo-syu. In Manyo-syu, there are about 4,500 poems collected. In each poem, poet described his or her impression, especially feeling about romance. He or she was also very sensitive, so didn't use linear logic but beautiful nature. By describing beautiful place, plants and flowers, he expressed something else. For example, he described in the poem that "my love for you would fall like cherry blossoms." Using "cherry blossoms," in reality, he expressed a feeling of love like a house of cards.

In this collection, so to speak, 4,500 examples of plants and flowers were collected. If you ignore the theme and concentrate plants and flowers, there are a variety of them described like a botanical show of the Heian period. Somebody named them the Manyo plants collectively. So, there exist many Manyo plants in Japan still now. 

Many beautiful scenery was also written in this collection. For example, " this beautiful scenery makes me remember the days when you and I visited romantically." As for the planners of the parks, these poems don't have so much worth. Because these famous places are near the old capital town, Nara where these ancient poems were written. If "Manyo forest park" isn't near Nara city, it would be difficult to feature the scenery written in the poems. 

However, Manyo plants are very useful. Because if you plant several Manyo plants, there is no problem for calling it the Manyo forest. We don't get the evidence whether they thought so or not. We're confident that such kind of decision was under the naming of these parks. They simply named the park "Mayo forest" to raise up numbers of the visitors.

Then, let's research these 6 "Manyo forest" parks. And find the factors why they chose the name. Furthermore, connections with Manyo-su poems. 

The difference of 6 Manyo forests

The first one exists in the northern part of the Japanese archipelago, in Miyagi Pref.. Its total area is 23 hectares and as far as the site area, it overwhelms others. This park was opened in 1989.

As for the relationship with Manyo-syu, it seems that there are 48 monuments engraved with Manyo-syu poems along the promenade in the park. We suppose the monuments are placed to explain the relationship between planted flowers and poems. Most of the Manyo plants are planted there. It is supposed that the number of Manyo plants are just over 160.  

The second one exists in Shizuoka Pref.. This park's total area is about 2.3 ha, only one tenth of the previous one. This park was opened in 1992.

As for the relationship, there are 4 Manyo-syu poems related to Shizuoka Pref.. Apparently, there are 4 and more monuments with the poems. The park is a large landscape garden. We don't know the relationship between the garden and Manyo-syu. There is a museum in which exhibits related to the life and culture of people around 1250 years ago. 

Mt. Kaguyama

Number three is in Nara Pref.. This park is part of Mt. Kaguyama. And it was one of the frequent topics in Manyo-syu. In a way, it is one of the right places to be called Manyo forest. There's no information about the total area, and it was opened in 1981. It seems that 73 Manyo plants are put in this park. For this sightseeing place, Mt. Kaguyama is the main, so, we think this park is being treated roughly. 

Number four is in Osaka Pref.. This park seems to be part of Mt. Nijosan. And it is a famous sightseeing place from old time. We don't find further information about this Manyo forest. The only evidence of the existence of it is the parking lot at the mouth of "Mt. Nijosan hiking course." It is called "Manyo-forest parking lot."

Number five is in Hyogo Pref.. The place where the park is placed was a famous scenic place called "Inamino" 1250 years ago. This park is part of the complex consisted of parks, museums and sports-facilities. The Manyo forest is one tenth of the width of this facility. And it is a Japanese-style garden completely disrelated with Manyo-syu. The only one relationship is the theme. The reason they called this park "Manyo forest" is that there are a monument engraved with a Manyo-syu poem and many Manyo plants.  

Number six is in Yamaguchi Pref.. This Manyo forest is part of the complex consisted of multiple sports-facility and greenery space. Its total area is approximately 80 ha. Manyo forest is very small part of the greenery. And there are around 60 Manyo plants and several monuments of Manyo-syu poems. It was also named after the theme of the park which was a little related to Manyo-syu. 

To conclude; every park doesn't seem to have a direct relationship. Manyo-syu was written around 1250 years ago. There is little building or relic now. Because 1250 years are quite long span. For the garden planners, incomplete-length historical time is stubborn when they try to organize kind of facilities. On the contrary, for them, the era of Manyo-syu made is quite challenging. Because there might be several historic relics of the incomplete-length period somewhere. Then people would visit there instead of their efforts.