Abstract
One of geographical studies of pioneer settlements after World War II is to clarify how settlers have used their land by adapting themselves to physical envioronments and how the spatial patterns have been constructed by land use, forms of settlement and landownership, and areal organization have developed with the growth of farming and stock raising. In this paper, attempts are made to describe the forming processes of the spatial patterns by synthesize ing the agricultural management, the land use, the forms of settlement and landownership and the areal organization in the pioneer settlements after World War II at the foot of Mt. Nasu and to establish a model to explain the development of spatial patterns.
The foot of Mt. Nasu is situated in the northern Tochigi Prefecture and on the volcanic hilll surrounded by the Kuro river in the north, the Naka river in the south, Mt. Nasu in the west and Yamizo mountain in the east. In this paper, the former Nasu village was selected for the study area. In 1975, 17 post-war pioneer settlements were distributed at the foot of Mt. Nasu. (Fig. 1), and the settlers were practicing dairy farming. As shown in Figure 2, in nonpioneer settlements traditional rice production is a main agricultural activity, while in the post-war pioneer settlements dairy farming is a major agricultural activity. The latter settlements have become the core of dairy farming region at the foot of Mt. Nasu. In these pioneer settlements, Ohya pioneer settlement is the area where dairy farming has been developed most. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine the development of dairy farming and the form ing processes of spatial patterns of dairy farming in Ohya pioneer settlement.
By analyzing production changes of main cultivating crops, main raising livestock, the numbers of dairy cattles and dairy farmers in Ohya pioneer settlement, the development processes: of dairy farming in that settlement was divided into four stages; 1) the settling stage, 2) theJ spreading stage, 3) the developing stage and 4) the mature stage.
The first stage (1947 54) is the period that 17 farmhouseholds began the small scale dairy farming. The second stage (1955_??_62) is the period that dairy production increased in contrast with the decrease of the cash crop production. The third stage (1963_??_72) is the period that the number of the dairy farmhouseholds and also the dairy cattle per farmhousehold increased rapidly. The fourth stage (after 1973) is the period that dairy farmers have de-creased in number and the number of dairy cattles per farmhousehold have exceeded over 15.
At the first stage, the settlers selected gently-sloping land to form a agglomerated settlement and to clear the surrounding land first along the roads in cooperation with each other. During this period, the pioneer farmers carried on subsistance farming of upland field crops, and also expanded their acreage under cultivation, producing upland rice, wheat, barley, soy beans, and potatoes. Their farm work changed from cooperative farming to private farming after they had expanded their acreages enough to be self-sufficient. The pioneer farmers, however, were strongly tied up with each other in both sides of daily lives and farming activities through the community organization (Buraku) and the pioneer association (Kaitaku_Kumiai) . When they started the private farming, they began to cultivate cash crops such as radish, seed potatoes and soy beans. At the same time, the settlers tried to increase soil fertility by raising livestocks such as dairy cattle, work horses and work cattle, and by cultivating grasses.
At the second stage, the pioneer settlement became a member of ‘Regional Farming And Marketing Association.’. Land was officially distributed to the settlers with the agglomerated settlement pattern unchanged. However their farmland was dispersed here and there.
