Abstract
Ikeda-machi, Awa, is a town located in the mouth of the valley of the Yoshino, the largest river in Shikoku, and at the same time it is situated, from the standpoint of communication, very nearly in the center of Shikoku.
Since prehistoric ages this district had been subject to cultivation. Throughout the middle ages the military made it a strategic point consibering its remarkable geographic position.
At the beginning of modern ages a castle town was built there by the built there by the Hachisuga family, which continued to exist as a “gomachi” having commercial functions till the end of the clan government.
From the end of the clan government up to the 30th year of Meiji (1897), the manufacture and sale of cut tobacco constituted a biggest economical basis on which this town stood. After tobacco was monopol ized by the Government. the town grew to be a distributing center of commodities needed at villages among the hills, fitted out with new and big transportation facilities thanks to the construction of railroads ands and the advanced communication in the mountainous areas.
