Many historians and archaeologists have studied the spatial structures of early medieval cities and they have proposed two different ideas. Some studies have insisted that the spaces of early medieval cities consisted of complex and decentralized structures. On the other hand, some researchers have taken the spaces of the cities to embody a concentric circle model consisting of a 'center' and a 'periphery'. They have represented the model as follows; the locally powerful in early medieval cities had complete control over the 'center' of cities, but they could not control the people and economic and religious functions on the 'periphery' of cities. Most studies have accepted both of these ideas without question. However, there is a significant difference between the two ideas, since they might not be applied to the same spatial structures simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the ideas of the spatial structure of early medieval cities and reveal the structures.
To accomplish this task, this paper focuses on the case of Bungo Kokufu, which is represented in a set of laws promulgated in the 13th century. The laws are quite famous among historians because they apparently suggest the existence of a prosperous town and the strong influence of the locally powerful over the center of the city. For that reason, Bungo Kokufu has been regarded as a typical city embodying the model of 'center' and 'periphery'. Most researchers believe that the suggested image of the city is the real spatial structure of Bungo Kokufu, and have too easily applied the image of Bungo Kokufu to the other early medieval cities. However, it has not been substantiated whether the image corresponds to the real spatial structure. This paper aims to reconstruct the real morphology and function of Bungo Kokufu in the 13th century without relying on the image of the laws.
The second section of the paper sets forth the distribution of the facilities and functions of Bungo Kokufu and examines the changing process of morphology and function in medieval times. Before the laws were promulgated, there were two separate areas in the cities. One was a political and religious area which inherited the function of the ancient local government, and the other was an important outer port for the political area. Facilities such as shrines, temples and residences were located near those two areas and some local warriors and shrines came to power in those two areas. The locally powerful Otomo, who promulgated the laws, had not yet controlled the whole city. The real spatial structure in the 13th century was complex and decentralized. After the laws were promulgated, the distribution of facilities expanded towards the natural levee of the Oita river, but the basic spatial structure did not change. Otomo had started to control the political and harbor functions, but many other locally powerful stubbornly resisted him. Otomo still could not have a strong influence over the city. The prosperous and active town as represented in the laws actually developed only after 16th century. In the end, total control over the city by Otomo was not been achieved in medieval times. That is to say, the real spatial structure and actual status of power of Otomo was different from the image suggested in laws.
So, why were such laws promulgated by Otomo? The third section shows the purpose of the laws, examining the political and social contexts of the 13th century where Otomo is situated. The Otomo clan was high-ranking bureaucracy of the Kamakura shogunate, and it originally ruled the lands and economic bases near Kamakura, which was apart from Bungo. Since the late 12th century, Otomo had been given the right to control Bungo from the shogunate, but Otomo still had been working at the capitals, Kyo and Kamakura, as an elite bureaucracy without living in Bungo. In the mid 13th century, the political situation changed.
