KANJI: RIN hayashi (forest)

ASCII Art Representation:

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Character Etymology:

As with the character meaning woods, an ideograph showing many trees. In comparison to the character for woods, the trees here are fewer, but taller and more stately: which some ancients may feel to be the difference between forest and woods.

A Listing of All On-Yomi and Kun-Yomi Readings:

on-yomi: RIN
kun-yomi: hayashi

Nanori Readings:

Nanori: shi

English Definitions:

1. RIN, hayashi: forest.

Character Index Numbers:

New Nelson: 2590
Henshall: 75

Unicode Encoded Version:

林

Unicode Encoded Compound Examples:

林木 (rinboku): a forest tree.
林学 (ringaku): forestry.
林間 (rinkan): in the forest].
小林 (kobayashi): a surname.
密林 (mitsurin): dense forest.

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     The forest. Well, it wasn't actually a forest, but that's what he loved so much about it. It was a forest that gave as much of itself as one needed. If one needed just the light stroll to air one's legs, it gave clear paths and numerous spots along the riverbank to pause and take in the air, the green, and the beauty. If it was protection one sought, it offered from deep within itself dark, dense brush and tall stern trees, from whose bases one could take in oneself and lose oneself, and be utterly, totally, alone. It was into this bosom that he ran. As he ran further and further in, the light changed. The ordinary sunshine which normally seemed so clear and mundane grew more and more golden as he ran, the leaves and pine needles gathering in their greenness and darkening with the light crisscross of a hundred thousand shadows cast overhead. Further and further he ran until he had been completely enveloped within the forest's multi-layered grasp, camouflaging and secreting him away. Finally he stopped.

     Chest heaving, he laid down onto the soft pine needle floor and gazed up at the sky. Dark green pinwheel with bright blue center. As his breath slowly returned and his breathing became shallower, he gradually became aware of a soft, cool wind that was invisibly sweeping through the forest. Born a thousand miles to the north, the wind swept over hills and fields, past farms and meadows, racing and tumbling over the land and now blew gently against the back of his head. Higher up the wind slipped through the uppermost branches and created a faint whistling --not of any note, just the rushing of air--, a clarinet played without a reed, a seashell held to one's ear. This was the sound he loved. It reminded him of the rush of a highway heard from far away, except that this was purer, cleaner. The wind blew and revived him.

      After some time he got up and looked around. To his right grew what he had affectionately come to call the jug tree, a giant solid tree whose trunk-size branches grew out from the base and curved upward, containing within themselves a myriad of ivy and branches. To his left grew a small sapling, not much higher than himself and ahead of him splayed out diagonally on the forest floor lay the ancient remains of one of the taller trees. The log no longer had any branches - he suspected that those were the first to go - and the whole deep brown length was covered in white and orange and green splotches, evidence of nature's silent reclamation crew. It was this he loved - the life and the death, the destruction and renewal, the odd and the straight that filled and balanced every inch of the forest. It was this harmony that restored his soul.

As of 1997, the United States contained 747 million acres of forest land, an increase of 1 percent since 1987 to 33 percent of the total land area.

This is about 71 percent of the area that was forested in 1630 (1.05 billion acres). Most of the lost of forest area occured in the 1800's - the total forested area of the US has been nearly constant since the 1920's.

One third of all forested land is federally owned and about 7 percent is protected from all logging. About two-thirds of the forested land is classified as "timberland", meaning that it could produce 20 cubic feet or more of lumber per acre per year and is not legally restricted. About 11 percent of this timberland is of planted origin.

Growing-stock volume on US timberland increased by 6.9 percent between 1987 and 1997. Since 1993 net volume per acre has increased 37 percent. Approximately 58 percent is in softwoods, with the remaining 42 percent in hardwoods. Net annual growing-stock growth exceeded removals (logging) by 47 percent in 1996.

Source: Forest Resources of the United States, 1997
Published as: General Technical Report NC-219. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station
See: http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/viewpub.asp?key=845

For"est (?), n. [OF. forest, F. foret, LL. forestis, also, forestus, forestum, foresta, prop., open ground reserved for the chase, fr. L. foris, foras, out of doors, abroad. See Foreign.]

1.

An extensive wood; a large tract of land covered with trees; in the United States, a wood of native growth, or a tract of woodland which has never been cultivated.

2. Eng.Law

A large extent or precinct of country, generally waste and woody, belonging to the sovereign, set apart for the keeping of game for his use, not inclosed, but distinguished by certain limits, and protected by certain laws, courts, and officers of its own.

Burrill.

© Webster 1913.

For"est, a.

Of or pertaining to a forest; sylvan.

Forest fly. Zool. (a) One of numerous species of blood-sucking flies, of the family Tabanidae, which attack both men and beasts. See Horse fly. (b) A fly of the genus Hippobosca, esp. H. equina. See Horse tick. -- Forest glade, a grassy space in a forest. Thomson. -- Forest laws, laws for the protection of game, preservation of timber, etc., in forests. -- Forest tree, a tree of the forest, especially a timber tree, as distinguished from a fruit tree.

© Webster 1913.