The shifting of the Chinese cultural centre had always corresponded to the movement of the economic core. The southward shift of the Chinese cultural centre was undoubtedly attributed to the external force exerted by the northern nomadic tribes who launched intermittent invasions of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River; but the favourable water and heat conditions of the south also produced quite an attractive force conducive to the southward shifting of the economic core and cultural centre. Moreover, this attractive force had always existed and was not intermittent. Although it might be said that there were essentially three periods of historical turmoil brought about by the northern tribes' invasion which forced the Chinese to move southwards namely, (1) Tsin's flight to the South, 317; (2) An-Shih rebellion of the Tang Dynasty 755-760 and (3) The collapse of the Northern Sung, 1127; yet earlier on toward the end of western Han and Eastern Han, the turbulence in the lower and middle Yellew River had already raised the surge of southward migration of the Han people. In the same way, the later Mongol's southward invasion had also caused serious damage to the land capacity of the North. Chinese rich historical records are full of such narratives. In the past, scholars studying this problem, including Japanese suholars of Chinese History, had always selected suitable narratives from historical materials, then they wove them together, annotated and elaborated them to form theses or monographs. This is comparatively easy, but could not accurately and explicitly explain the truth. I have now tried another approach to tackle this subject. Firstly, I selected the best historical records to compile pertinent specific maps showing, for example, distribution of population and agriculture, birth-places of various representative personages・・・poets, scholars and prime ministers; and then analyse the process and causes of the southward shifting of the Chinese cultural centre basing on the facts revealed by the maps. I also cite historical records but they are used mainly to supplement explanation or to support argument. The focus of population distribution frequently coincided with the centre of culture. In the middle of the Han dynasty or A.D.2, China had already very complete population statistics. According to these statistics, the population in the south of Yangtze accounted for less than 5 per cent of the country's total. By the time of the Sung dynasty, the population became evenly distributed between north and south, while the distribution of personages also tended to be equal. By the time of the Ming dynasty, the population waq quite densely distributed in the Yangtze delta, while the personages were also located in the same place. The accompanying maps reveal this fact when they are studied together. With text alone, it would be impossible to show this so clearly.

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The local system of the Meiji government to unify the whole country started with the system of Ward-Section (daiku-shoku 大区小区) in 1872. But studies about the loacal system before 1872 were limited one about the erstwhile Tokugawa's territory. This paper deals with the local system of that time, particular with the trend to the village consolidation. More over, the author tried to make clear the connection among the consolidated village, oaza (大字) and hamlet through hierarchies of agricultural producers. This consolidation of village (administrative village in Edo period) in Saga daimiate was carried out for 1869-1872. The purpose of the consolidation of village was to construct village of more uniform size by dissolving a small village. The consolidation aimed at creating the absolute authority behind the policy with the slogan "wealth and military strength" (Fukoku-kyohei 富国強兵) and then accomplishing the concentralization of a bureaucratic authority by the appointment of man of talent in the public sellection of the village officer etc. These characters in the political reformation of Saga daimiate in 1869 had been inherited from the policy in the late Edo period. The consolidated village as its result became a terminal unit in section formation of Ward-Section in 1872, and then was given the character as a autonomous body by Formation Law of County, Section, Town and Village (gunkuchoson henseiho 郡区町村編成法) in 1872. And the consolidated village has survived as oaza since 1889. But oaza was neither a village community nor an actual administraive unit. The subject possessing a common land is mostly an erstwhile administrative village (an administrative village in Edo period) . Judging from the possessing condition of farm land by peasants, the territorial unit of their agricultural production was a hamlet or rarely a village (an administrative village in Edo period). At the result of the consolidation of village in the early period of Meiji era, the consolidated village performed a part of more administrative unit in the early period of Meiji era, but after 1889 it has not functioned as the actual administrative unit and the territorial unit of an agricultural product.

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[in Japanese]

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The Su-kawa River in the Zao Volcano has ever been famous for poisonous acid water. It takes the origin at the bottom of the Takayu explosion crater. Therefore, supplied with a large amount of acid thermal water gushing there, this river displays a strongly acid reaction. The quality of water is characterized by the abundance of dissolved minerals which are represented by free sulfuric acid and aluminum sulfate. The yearlong observation reveals that there exists a linear relationship between the concentration of sulfate ion and acidity. The same is true to the correlation between dissolved silicate and the water temperature. Through the same water year, the transportation of ions in solution was also observed. Regarding the ions except silicate, mineral discharge is approximately proportional to the square root of flow rate. In the case of silicate, its discharge is proportional to flow rate. Annual mineral discharge through the channel is estimated at 50, 000 tons. It must be noted that the Su-kawa River transports 25, 000 tons (about half of total discharge) of free sulfuric acid in a year. This may be a measure of the activity of this volcano.

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[in Japanese]

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