Abstract
On the side of Echizen of two passes from Kinai (Kinki District) to Echizen (Fukui Prefecture), there were two transportation settlements, “Futatsuya” and “Itadori”, which have lost their function and have rapidly decayed off since the opening of the railway-traffic in the Meiji era. In Futatsuya the population has decreased to 1/2 and in Itadori to 1/3. The difference of the rates of the decrease was caused by the following facts;
(1) Futatsuya had relatively broad field, by which they could change their lifeway easily. Therefore they did not make efforts to get any side-work though they could have utilized the wood resources. While Itadori had only a few fields, so they exerted themselves to produce charcoal by which they sustained their lives.
(2) Generally speaking settlement under the pass is blocked up strongly and this tendency is more remarkable when the settlement is far from the railway. The distance from Futatsuya to the railway is 4km, and that of Itadori is 8km. That is to say, Itadori is blocked up more strongly than Itadori had fewer opportunities to connect with outside of its own circle. So they have put up with their poor lives. The tendency of leaving from the village is weak, too.
