奈良盆地南部の交通路と谷口集落の変遷

抄録

The Nara valley all sides of which are surrounded by the mountains has two characteristics; one is the passing and circulating character of an exotic culture which runs into this basin through the valley erosing this mountainous region, the other is the stagnant and exclusive character caused by the special characteristic of a basin. In the ancient and middle ages when our primitive state was established in this basin, the latter characteristic was dominant. The former one, however, has been a little more remarkable, since Osaka became the economic centre after recent times. But the modern culture which indicated the industrialization, did not permeate into this inland basin from the sea-board. And in the province of Yamato which has many noted places and historic remains, the road displays the function as the pilgrim-roads. This provides the circulating and passing character of the basin, On the other hand, the roads which lead to the low-area of the central basin from the mountainous areas of the surroundings, have been used as the commercial-roads between highlands and plains.
In this thesis, I limitted the district in question to the southern area of the Nara Valley, and examined historically the significance of the five main-roads which developed and ran from south to north between this district and the Yoshino Valley and the two principal roads running from east to west through the southern area of the basin together with the function of the settlements which developed in the Valley Mouth along the roads. In case that I consider the character of the Valley Mouth Settlements, I examined the scope, within which the marriages were prevalent, on the basis of the census registration in 1870 which had been preserved in the public offices.