When one refers to 1/50, 000 topographical maps of Iwate Prefecture, the names of the settlements or localities seemingly related to Gôzoku (medieval village lords) habitations can mostly be found in the southern part.
Among those names, “Tate” appears most conspicuously occupying 73% of all cases, and then follow “Shiro”, “Yôgai”, “Horinouchi”, and “Minowa”, in order of percentage respectively. “Tate” is seen to distribute mainly in the southern part of Iwate Prefecture especially in the area between Senmaya and Mizusawa. “Shiro” also occupies 61% of all those found in Iwate Prefecture. As for “Yôgai” and “Minowa”, they are exclusively found in the same area and nowhere else.
The reason of the above mentioned distribution can be attributed to the historical fact that Gôzoku, descendants of the lord Kiyoshige Kasai used to live and govern the area in the Middle Age.
The settlements of Gôzoku, from the morphological viewpoint, can largely be seen to distribute on the alluvial lowland along the River Kitakami in numbers and also at the hills along the Kitakami adjacent to the same alluvial lowland.
