Abstract
Yamaguchi and Sumpu which newly became capitals of “Han” in the middle of the 19 th century had peculiar characteristics in their town-area formation.
Firstly their castles had been turned into administrative offices and had lost their military significance. “Samurai Yashiki” existed in fact, but “Samurai Machi” had not been set up yet. It was a residental quarter for scattered bureaucratic retainers. “Machiya” had lost their privileged township characteristics. “Machiya” had been abolished and the phenomenon of confining a special trade to a special section had ceased to exist, so that business in general had been diffused all over the town. A new centrall street had taken the place of the old business center, and the core of the town had moved to the centrall street from the castle.
In short, this new capital was by no means a castle-town, and the writer of this article calls this new capital “Hanto” and considers this phase the last stage of a feudal castle and the forerunner of a modern city.
