The Historical Implications of the Land Use Pattern of Hirosaki

Abstract

Hirosaki has been a central city in Aomori Prefecture since the Tsugaru family based their government there in the 1610s. The aim of the present paper is to show how the current land-use pattern of this old castle town has been conditioned by that of feudal period. After the preparation and comparative examination of the six land-use maps representing each of the six distinctive stages of the town's development, the following zonal differentiation has been established regarding the area within the feudal town site:
1) Zones with no functional change.
2) Zones with increased functional intensity.
3) Zones with partial functional change.
4) Zones with total functional change (historically conditioned).
5) Zones with total functional change (historically unconditioned).
The land-use pattern of the feudal town is thus reflected on the current townscape of Hirosaki.