Bunkukai mean the border lines of minimum units of the land readjustment projects after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. This study aims to show 1. how to design Bunkukai and 2. how to implement the replotting design inside of Bunkukai. In addition, through these analyses, we clarified the role of Bunkukai in the land readjustment projects and examined the historical succession of urban space by the use of Bunkukai.
Firstly, four points were pointed out about the design of Bunkukai as follows. 1. Bunkukai were not determined by the area size. 2. Bunkukai were determined by Chokai (town boundaries). 3. Bunkukai were related to the boundaries of land-use in the Edo period (Buke-chi: lands for Samurai, Chonin-chi: land for merchants and craftsmen, Jisha-chi: lands for temples and shrines). 4. Bunkukai were related to the streets of the city improvement plan of Meiji and Taisho era. In other words, there was the aspect of inheriting the urban space structure before the earthquake disaster, even though Bunkukai directly existed as the tool of urban reorganization called the land readjustment.
In addition, there were many Bunkukai that coincided with the pre-relocation town boundaries in the road widening type districts where the streets before the reorganization were only widened. Even in the development type districts where the new street-block plans were boldly implemented, many Bunkukai also used the pre-relocation town boundaries. On the other hand, some Bunkukai coincided with the after-relocation town boundaries, it was estimated that the local communities of new town after the land readjustment were taken into account at the same time of setting Bunkukai.
Secondly, through the analysis of the north-Kanda (the 12 Bunku of 8 district) as a case study, it was revealed that almost all houses were removed only inside the Bunkukai of land readjustment, even though the street-city blocks greatly changed in this area. Most of the buildings have been relocated to the near place of the original site, but some buildings have moved far away, for instance, from the former Kiji-cho to the former Renjaku-cho town.
As mentioned above, the land readjustment projects after the Great Kanto Earthquake have been implemented by the complicated replacement land design (building relocation) inside the preset demarcation boundaries called Bunkukai. The land readjustment projects had the aspect of remodeling the urban structure, but focusing on Bunkukai, they also had the opportunity to inherit the pre-modern urban structure to the present day.
