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Austria and Japan are considered to be forest-rich nations with a long forestry tradition. Currently, mutual consultations of forestry experts or visits of Japanese forestry experts to trade fairs such as Austrofoma are very popular. However, the starting point of this international exchange of forest knowledge has hardly been analysed in the discourse on forest history. Using the methodology of knowledge circulation and historical biographical research, this gap can be closed by attempting to identify and examine early milestones of the exchange. The exchange on forestry topics between Austria and Japan began as early as the 1860s and -70s. Important historical events such as the Imperial East Asia Expedition of 1868 and the World's Fair in Vienna in 1873 represent central milestones. These enabled the emergence of personal knowledge networks, starting with Wilhelm Exner and Gustav Marchet as well as Tsunetami Sano and Dohei Ôgata as key persons. Knowledge about forestry and forest science as well as the timber industry was mutually shared e.g. by visiting the forestry section of the world fair or attending forestry lectures. In Japan, this initially had an influence on the reform of the forest administration and the emergence of the first forestry associations until the beginning of the 1880s. After this, Austrian influence waned and the focus of Japan increasingly shifted to German forestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]