A Study of the Landscape Structure of the Religious Valley, Kenchoji in the Old Capital, Kamakura

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to bring to light the landscape structure of the Yato in Kamakura. It is a fortress city surrounded by hills on the three sides. The hills have various Yato which form and characterize the original landscape of Kamakura. Of the Yato identified on the map, I selected Kenchoji Yato for the object area as the case study of the characteristic religious Yato. Following a study on the relation between the historical transition of Kenchoji and Yato, I attempted to analyze the landscape structure of the Kenchoji Yato from the standpoint of the plane-level landscape and the sequence landscape along the axis of Yato. To clarify the plane-level landscape, I made an inclination classification figure map. To clarify the sequence of landscape, I clarified the landscape structure by taking photos of the landscape and find out the area ratio of each landscape element. The above analysis led me to conclude that there were six characteristics with respect to the landscape structure of Kenchoji Yato.