Abstract
This study is concerned with the examination of rural spatial structure from the viewpoint of the relationships among settlements, and its goal is to suggest what should be taken into account in the process of planning rural living environments. This paper follows the previous one which argued the existence of key settlements and examined the characteristics of their centrality. The data from the same study areas were used.
In this study a concept of social 'distance' or 'closeness' was introduced to help analyze the social interrelationships among rural settlements and this was defined with the two indices: 1) frequency of residents' social activities, 2) density of social relations. This 'distance' was then analysed by using a cluster analysis resulting in several clusters of settlements with different densities of social relations among each cluster.
Each cluster corresponded to former administrative boundaries which varied in size reflecting the results of administrative reforms at different times. So it can be seen that rural areas can be broken down into several, often overlapping, units. It is also apparent that these clusters were formed around the key settlements described in the previous paper. This fact indicates that a key settlement was developed at each phase of reform. In the study areas, lower-grade key settlements were found in lower-level settlement clusters such as 'ooaza' and 'kyuson', and the higher-grade ones in those of higher-level, that is, towns and larger.
Thus rural areas are comprised of various social units and this has important bearings on the development of agriculture and other industries, and further on the improvement of residents' lives. The planning of key settlements should therefore be carried out taking full account of these social and economic considerations.
