Place names with life are defined as “names for land or space that are internally shared by the resident population in daily life”.The purpose of this study is to examine the spatial structure of villages on cultural landscape. By employing place names with life, we investigate the characteristics of distribution patterns on land uses. In the present study, we gathered and organized place names with life in Osawa, a traditional village in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Results show ninety-one (91) place names with life. We then analyzed the village spaces having place names with a focus on topography and land use, and classified them into six (6) types, an easy slope with rivers on either side, a steep slope, planation surface that is surrounded by hills on two sides, yatsu on a small scale, planation surface that faces toward the sea, coastal sea area. The results clarified the characteristics of village spaces having place names as well as the spatial structure in the study location. We also discussed the possibility of using place names with life in the light of classifications on cultural landscape.
