A Study of the Newer Settlements of the Musasino Upland

Abstract

On the upland of Musasino, there is a settlement called Kodaira-mura, 7 miles west of Tokyo. It is one of the newer villages in Musasino. During fhe last two centuries this settlement has been brought under cultivation and come to be peopled.
This study is an extention of the author's desire to determine how the present type of rural landscape has come to be what it is. He deals with the reasons for the settlement being formed in lines along roads. The map of Kodaira (Fig. 2) is a good example of the settlement patterns that have developed on the Musasino upland. Kodaira, like other newer settlements on the upland, has its water-supply problems. The largest available source of water is undergr-ound, but near the settlement there is no underground water of mod-erate depth, so that several canals have been built in this region to promote the development of the settlements.