Survey of an Uninhabited Settlement Community: A View Point of the Case Study from Kyotango City, Kyoto Prefecture

Abstract

This study focuses on a survey of an uninhabited settlement in Kyotango City, Kyoto Prefecture, and discusses the continuity of its history and culture. The survey was conducted on the premise that the settlement might never disappear as long as its living history and culture were to be renewed by its former inhabitants and their descendants. Therefore, this study presents a case study of the successful preservation of the existence, history, and culture of a settlement despite it being currently uninhabited.

The Chikaraishi settlement of Kyotango City became uninhabited in 1975. The abovementioned survey encouraged the construction of a memorial monument and creation of a commemorative publication on the settlement. A box was placed next to the monument to compile all the messages left by visitors to the settlement into a book. The messages demonstrate that a new local management initiative, although modest, is about to be born and that the settlement’s history and culture have been preserved to this day.