Many phases of land utilization in the mountain areas of Japan are worthy of study. One of these the change in the practices of the shifting cultivators, is especially important, because in the old days many of the mountain people depended mainly upon this type of agriculture. The present survey is focussed upon the changing practices of the shifting cultivators in a small village called Tando, located in the eastern part of the Chugoku Mountains.
(1) Before 1868, during the Tokugawa Shogunate, subsistence economy on a village scale was prevalent. Consequently, many poor peasants without enough arable land of their own had to depend argely upon the shifting cultivation called ‘Yakibata’ (literally, ‘burned land’), where they raised fox-tail, buckwheat and barnyard millet.
(2) Since the end of the last century, commercial ideas came tnton this mountain area and as a result, cereal production on a ‘yakibata’ basis had to be replaced partly by commercial production. In about 1890 the ‘kiryu’ plant (Salix koriyanagi), the material of which wicker baskets are made, was introduced into this area. How they managed is as follows : They burned the land, usually a mountain slope; then they planted ‘kiryu’. This cannot be harvested as raw material until after three years. in the meantime, for the first two or three years while plants are still young, cereal crops are sowed among the ‘kiryu’ plants. After twenty years, when the ‘kiryu’ becomes too big for use, the land is usually left as it is until the same process is repeated. Thus, by introducing ‘kiryu’ planting, peasants of the village could availed themselves of the prevailing marketing procedures.
(3) Alonk with ‘kiryu’ plantation, from the early days of this century, extensive afforestation began in this area. Accordingly, ‘yakibata’ cultivation changed its form again. Today, it is being done in this village mostly along with the afforestation. That is, after clearing and burning the scrub, in July or August, peasants sow crops (buckwheat, beans, radish etc.) and harvest them in the fall or in the following spring. In the early summer following, they burn the land again, and plant cedar saplings on the ground. For two or three years, while planted trees are still young, crops can be continued, but after three years trees grow so large that crop cultivation must be stopped and the land given over to forests until they are cut down. This field-forest rotation system plays an important part in the land utilization of this mountain village.
(4) The changes in the ‘yakibata’ cultivation described above have been caused by the parallel requirements of commercial agriculture and afforestation. With the progress of land utilization, the social structure of the village community also changed. The poor peasants depending largely on the shifting cultivation were rather better position to adapt quickly to this planting of ‘kiryu’ than were those who owned settled cultivated land; in this way, they were able to raise their own social and economic status in the community.
Thus, in this area, the development of land utilization has resulted in a change in social structure.

View full abstract

In the upper reaches of the River Abe, a typical torrential river in Central Japan, there stretches the accumulation terrace which was attributed to the rapid erosion.
The writer has investigated the forming process of the terrace by the exact observation on its topography and deposits, and estimated the velocity of downcutting by correlating these physical aspects with the records of catastrophes described in literature.
The results obtained are as follows:—
1) The accumulation terrace was produced by the surges of erosion on the waste-filled valley which had been formed by recurred debris flows derived from the upper part of Oya River Basin (Oya-kuzure)(Fig. 2 is the topographic map which the writer made by the method of transit-stadia surveying.)
2) The terraces are divided into two groups (as shown in Fig. 3); the higher terrace and the lower one. The former, having the fan-shaped surface, is the depositional surface of debris flow, and the latter is “non-cyclic terrace” which was formed by continued downcutting accompanied by slight lateral erosion. (Cross sections of the valley are shown in Fig. 4)
3) The debris flows repeatedly dammed the tributaries of the River Abe, forming the lakes and ponds Judging from the records in the old manuscripts, the newest damming ocurred in 1702 The higher terrace surface, therefore, seems to have been formed at that time.
4) The longitudinal profiles of the terrace surfaces and the present stream (illustrated in Fig. 5) suggest the amount of downcutting and the mode of revival. The downcutting attains the maximum relief of 70m below the knick point, “Akamizu-fall”.
5) The fall, localized on resistant ledges of sand stone, was produced after the formation of the lower terrace-2 at about the end of the 19th century. This lower terrace-2 is distinguished by the characteristic veneer deposits which contain the exotic gravels derived from the adjacent river basin after the destruction of the dammed lakes.
6) Rejuvenation may have been caused chiefly because of decrease in load.

View full abstract

Intending to make a population density map based on the natural regional unit instead of the administrative one of Shi (city) and Machi (town) and Mura (village), we divide the territory of Japan into landform divisions and calculate the population density by each landform division. As for the elements which will be useful for establishing the natural regional units, we have to consider climate, soil, vegetation etc.. However, in case of Japan which belongs to the Circurn Pacific Orogenic Zone and whose lands are divided into many pieces of block mountains and small planes, landform should be considered having the first priority as the base of population distribution and suitable to represent the detailed regional differences of population distribution.
Establishment of landform division
The whole land is classified as following landform areas based on its morphology and developmental mechanism.
mountain : mountain, volcano, hill land
flat land : piedmont gentle slope, volcanic flank, upland, lowland
When one kind of landform area is too large, we divide it into minor landform units according to the difference of form and construction material such as fan, delta, peat-bog or sand dune in lowland area, and maturely dissected mountain or elevated peneplain in mountain area. The areas of each landform unit is measured by using planimeter on the map of 1:200, 000 and decided by giving the necessary corrections.
Calculation of population of landform unit
Population of each landform unit is readjusted from the population of Shi, Machi and Mura illustrated in the population census. When the administrative unit is completely included in one landform unit, its population is simply tabulated, but when it extends over two or more landform units, its population is divided into each landform unit basing upon the number of dots found on the population map 1.
Urban population
The urban podulation living in the urban agglomerations with area of 0.25km² or more is excluded in the tabulation of population of landform unit, because it spreads over the boundary of urban agglomeration and makes the population density of the whole unit up too high. The population of urban agglomeration is estimated by multiplying the definite coefficient as following classification getting from sampling to the total population of Shi, Ku (ward) and Machi.
1) Five major Shi 2) Shi with inhabitants of more than 100, 000 or established before 1940 except the five major Shi 3) Other Shi 4) Machi
2) and 3) are subdivided into two according to the area of urban agglomeration and population growth caused by amalgamation of Shi, Machi and Mura from 1950 to 1955.
Map and appendix (See Fig. 1 and Table 1)
The scale of the map is 1:800, 000 and the map covers the whole of Japan. There are three sheets in one set with 7 colors including boundaries of landform divisions, symbols of the kinds of landf orms and index number of landform units. Population density is presented in the map in grades from yellow, tan to dark brown tone by shading method. The situation and size of urban agglomeration are presented according to its size in its physical shape or definite round shape in brownish red. The base map which includes contour lines, limits of water body, administrative boundaries, settlements and place names are doubly printed in grey color.
The appendix includes index number of landform divisions, place names, areas, number of inhabitants and population density, These were published as population census of Japan 1955, population maps of Japan 3.
Population density by landform devision in JapanPopulation density by landform division of whole Japan and each district are shown in Table 2 and Table 3. Mountains and Volcanoes which occupy 61% of the whole land are almost low density areas, especially in a volcanic area.

View full abstract

I) Rokugo-Machi is one of the oldest settlements in Akita Prefecture. In this small town 27 Buddhist temples are clustered together. It is quite rare tosee so many temples in a single small town in the country-side. In Akita Prefecture noother cities or towns except Akita City have so many Buddhist temples.
II) Rokugo-Machi was first established by-Nikaido as a Castle town in the early Middle Age. Put during the Tensho and Bunroku period (1573-1595), when Masanori ROKTJGO, the lord of this town, adopted a temple-concentration policy and earnestly invited Buddhist priests to build temples. Then the town changed its character completely and became a temple-town. The same policy way taken over by Yoshishige SATAKE, who ruled the town in the Keicho period (1596-1610), The result was that the temples came to play an essential part in the development of this town. By the way, the planning of the town was done before Masanori ROKUGO had settled here, and it provided a good model to those who made the plan of Kubota-Machi, a principal castle town in this prefecture.
III) The history of “temple-concentration policy” in Rokugo-Machi is didided into two periods. One is the Tensho-Bunroku era, when Masanori ROKUGO ruled this town. In this period, temples were built mainly for the purpose of war, because their moats were known to be useful to defend the town against enemies. The other is the Keicho era, when Yoshishige SATAKE was the lord of this town. He invited Buddhist priests and helped build temples for quite different purposes. What was aimed at through his policy was, first of all, the prosperity of the whole town as a temple-town and enlighten meet of the townsmen. When we study the historcal-geography of the temples in the midde and modern ages, it has been usual to regard them as an important factor in the establishment of a bulwark town with surrounding moats or as one of the military establishments as in modern castle-towns. But we must not overlook the part they played it the peaceful enlight enment of townspeople and prosperity of the town, as we have seen in the example of Rokugo Town.

View full abstract