Abstract
Cultural landscape planning of terraced paddy fields requires dynamic conservation. In this approach, alteration of field plot shape is permitted, allowing cultivation to continue; a dynamic approach stands in contrast to preservation, which is commonly applied to cultural heritages. We developed a cultural landscape conservation plan for the Obasute terraced paddy field in Chikuma City, Nagano Prefecture incorporating the following: I) field plots shapes of Obasute were classified into four zones with different historical characteristics corresponding to the following cultivation-technology stages, (1) the modern stage, (2) the mechanization stage, (3) contemporary farmland-consolidation stage and (4) stage of cultivation by non-farmers; II) these four zones have value as industrial heritages of agricultural-engineering, and we term them “dynamic industrial heritages”; and III) the Obasute field, which commands a panoramic view of these zones, and is recognized as a rare cultural landscape.
