The Changing Process of Riverboats in the Kiso River and Land Ownership at River Port Sites in the Modern Age

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the change of river use by riverboats in modern times, as well as the accompanying regional economic changes. This study focused on changes in the influx of capital from the time of the pre-modern transportation network to the modern one. I first clarified how the use of the riverbank in the middle stretch of the Kiso River, which flows through four prefectures in Japan, changed with the introduction of railroads and other forms of transportation. Second, I analyzed concrete land use changes and changes in land ownership for the Dota port, which is a river port in the middle stretch of the Kiso river. The Dota port is a site that was affected by all the changes experienced by the county side during modern times. In the 1900s, when riverboats were used as a practical means of transportation, an ice-making area for producing natural ice, which was consumed in cities, was located in the Dota port. Since the 1910s, riverboats have gradually lost their role as a practical means of transportation, and since 1920, riverboats have been converted to tourism resources because of the influence of capital from Nagoya. However, in the 1940s, the Dota port was owned by the Kayaba Sangyou company in Tokyo, which was not involved with riverboats and the port was converted into a military factory. The results of this study suggest that the aforementioned changes in the usage patterns of the middle stretch of the Kiso River and the Dota port may reveal the process of reorganization of the regional transportation system in modern times.