We researched the hidden characteristics of the rural settlement landscape of Koisago District, Nakagawa Town. As a result of an investigation of twenty-two traditional residences in 2016, we recognized a sustainable land use and building arrangement based on the local conditions of the topography and the ecosystem. Furthermore, the existence of Ujigami-sama, located in the forest behind the main building, was significant. The back forest ecosystem has provided residents with ecological goods and services. It became clear that the sequence that corresponds to the topography, such as “own forest-residence- field-rice paddy-others’ forest,” is a basic pattern. Unity in diversity occurred there because of land use sequencing with living spaces where life is intertwined and farm production stands in a row at the foot of a mountain. Further, we considered the comfortableness of the settlement landscape, as an aesthetic principle, because the ecological stability of a living space combined with resident's thorough management in the rural village.
