The present paper discusses regional expansion of the shikki (lacquer ware) production area in Wajima through analyzing regional migration patterns of artisans. While maintaining the traditional production processes, the shikki industry in Wajima has developed and reorganized its production system since the 1960s. The number of establishments related to the industry has been increasing, and their range of distribution has been expanding. Within the industry, artisans are not employed, but manage their establishments by themselves on a small scale, so migration of artisans directly reflects distribution changes of the establishments.
This study was undertaken in the following way:
First, expansion of the production area was identified on the basis of changes in distribution of the establishments. Second, kashoku (decoration) artisans were characterized by their attributes, and changes in their apprenticeship were observed. Third, the study area was classified by birth places and residential sites of artisans, and by the distribution changes of their establishments. Fourth, using data from a questionnaire administered by the author, lifepaths of artisans were illustrated and their migration patterns were extracted from the lifepaths. The author assumed that residential sites of artisans and locations of their establishments determine migrations of artisans. This is because two sample areas are selected. Finally, in accordance with findings of the four analyses above, a mechanism of regional expansion of the shikki production area was explicated from the perspective of the migration patterns of artisans.
The results of these analyses are summarized as follows:
(1) While the distribution of establishments related to the shikki industry was originally limited to within the former Wajima town (central place), they have spread to the inner urban fringe since the middle of the 1960s. As a result, the shikki production area has been expanding.
(2) The characteristics of kashoku artisans of the older generation (45 years old and above) differ from those of the younger one (44 years old and below). More than half of the older generation were born in the central place, and they are successors to their fathers' profession. In contrast, more than half of the younger generation were born outside central place, and their parents have no relation to the shikki industry. In particular, most of the kashoku artisans aged between 40 and 49 years old became apprentices in the 1960s. At the time, the increasing demands for shikki production required acceptance of persons who were not related to the shikki industry as apprentices; and in turn, the function of apprenticeship changed from the simple reproduction of artisans to succeed to their fathers' profession to the expanded reproduction of them who had no relation to shikki industry.
(3) Through the analysis of the lifepaths of kashoku artisans, their regional migrations were classifled into three categories. (1) Artisans who did not leave the former Wajima town. These artisans areoften successors to their fathers' professions. (2) Artisans born in the inner or outer urban fringe who came to the central place to become apprentices in the shikki industry. After attaining independence from their masters, they returned to the (inner or outer) fringe to establish their own factories. (3) Artisans who were born in the central place and relocated to the inner fringe to start their own businesses after being trained. The artisans in the second and third categories did not grow up in households within the traditional shikki industry, but are “newcomers” having recently entered the shikki industry.
(4) Small shikki establishments are congregated on the back streets of the former Wajima town where factories and houses are mixed.

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Geographical analyses of feed utilization of dairy farms in Takizawa-mura, Iwate Prefecture, have been conducted to identify regional characteristics of feed supply and demand. Feed utilization is defined here as the acquisition of feed and feeding for the raising of livestock. The author investigated forage crop cultivation, the utilization of purchased feed of dairy farmers and the regional connection between feed supply and demand. Feed, which consists of self-supplied feed and purchased feed, is divided between roughage and concentrate.
Takizawa-mura (a village administrative area) is located about 530 kilometers north of Tokyo. Within Takizawa-mura, small settlements are located at the foot of Mt. Iwate, where soils are volcanic ash and the climate is cool. Dairy farming on large forage cropland has been developed here. The acre-age under cultivation for each dairy farmer, which was determined by a reclamation project in the early 1950s, differs greatly between the gently sloping land higher than 200 meters altitude and the flatland below 200 meters. In the settlements in eastern and southern Takizawa-mura, which are affected by the urbanization of neighboring Morioka city, the number of dairy farmers has decreased since the 1970s. Two JR (former Japan National Railways) lines, three national highways and the Tohoku expressway run through Takizawa-mura. Accessibility from Miyagi and Aomori Prefecture makes it easy for dairy farmers to purchase various types of feed.
Feed utilization of dairy farms in Takizawa-mura varies mostly in two points: the choice of forage crops to cultivate, and the volume of roughage to purchase. In the central and eastern settlements, the amount of forage per head is small, and the number of dairy cattle per farm has greatly in-creased. There, the acreage under corn and reed canary grass cultivation is large. Many farmers make rolled bales for silage. In the western settlements, the forage crop acreage per cattle is large, and the number of dairy cattle per farm has increased equally as a result of co-operative production of roughage. The cultivation of grasses, mainly orchard grass, accounts for a large proportion of the gross forage crop acreage. Most of the farmers make grasses into low-moisture silage. In the northern settlements, though the forage crop acreage per head is large, the number of dairy cattle per farm has been restricted by the decline in farm management capability of aging farmers. The proportion of grass acreage is larger than that in the western settlements. Farmers place greater emphasis on haymaking than on converting grass to silage. The dairy farmers with insufficient roughage production but high labor productivity constantly purchase hay. Many of them are located in the western and central settlements. Some farmers purchase soybean meal, brewer's grain and tofu cake and practice advanced feeding methods, mixing concentrate with self-supplied roughage. Feed utilization has diversified due to differences in farm size and the unity of dairy farmers among the various settlements.
Two aspects of the regional connection between feed supply and demand in Takizawa-mura should be mentioned. One is that most of the demand for feed in Takizawa-mura is supplied from seaside feed production plants located outside Iwate prefecture. In Takizawa-mura, two shipping facilities for feed plants located outside the prefecture are located for easy access to developed transportation routes. Due to the existence of these shipping facilities, trade areas have developed in northern and western Takizawa-mura. The other aspect is that feed resources located inside Takizawa-mura supply only a portion of farmers' demands. Most hay from the public grassland owned by Takizawa-mura is supplied to the farmers located on sloping land, who live close to the grassland and have larger forage land than the farmers on the flatland areas.

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