Being central high-land, Hida was one of the typical mountain community areas which not yet attained self-sufficiency with regard to food. Echu lies in the northern part, on the Japan Sea, and was a rice producing district. Besides, fisheries were extensive, too. Trading in rice, salt, and fish between Echu and Hida had been well developed from older times, and the course along the Jintsu River as a passage-way attached great importance to transportation, since it had linked Hida with Echu in the Edo era. In Echu there had been two routes along the bank of the east and west sides. The first route passed through the east side of the Jintsu and its tributary, the Takahara River from Hida; and the other route branched from the main road into two roads: a middle road, which weas on the west bank of the Takahara, and the west road, which ran along the Miya River, the upper reaches of the Jintsu River. As these rivers become ravines in the border line and neighborhood, the roads on both sides became ledges, and were bad. There were several places where one could get across the rivers by palanquin and boat; nevertheless, this place was a route difficult of access. No other means were left, consequently, except that essential commodities were carried across on people's backs or pulled by bulls. During deep snowfalls in winter, traffic was almost entirely held up by storms. The middle road, however, was comparatively easy, and was used considerably in winter. In Echu the east side of the Jintsu River belonged to the Kaga clan, and the west side belonged to the Toyama clan. On the east road there was much merchandise transported from Kaga territory, and shopping in the Toyama territory was active on the middle and west roads. Both clans established barriers, which they controlled strictly checking the persons and commodities which had entree to each of the territories. Fish of light weight was easily carried from a coast district on a pole; a porter and a bull carried several bundles containing One Koku (150kg) of rice from the plains. On the middle road, however, a baggage weight was decreasing considerably. The obstruction was due to a ropebridge traversed by a basket. From the viewpoint of the volume of traffic, the greatest amount went along the east road, the middle road, and the west road in order. Development of the east road is based upon the following benefits. This road is adjacent to Kaga territory, a district where enormous quantities of rice and fish were produced, and it was posible to carry a large quantity of goods because the place was easy of access, bordering on silver and lead mines on the route. The Toyama clan government protected home fish transportation to Hida, by granting porters special rights, planning an increase of the volume of traffic along the west road.

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1) The road system of the north part of the Rokko Range had Arima as its center, which had a special function as hot-spring village since remote ages. Historically, the main road linking Osaka and other central cities to Arima ran along the Rokko Overthrust Line which runs on the back side (north side) of Mt. Rokko (932m. high) from NE to SW. Against this historical road, the newer road not by way of Arima was opened in accordance with increasing transportaiton of commercial goods-especially rice in Sanda, Tanba and Tajima-to Osaka which was the commercial center of the Tokugawa Period. This newer road the place of present road in this region. While older road has had its function of being the road to Arima, which has attracted many hot-spring goers.
2) As to the relay stations of this road system, Namaze Village shows us many movement, especially in the Tokugawa Period. The movement, what we call village “Dynamism” in this study, has two directions. One of these direction is that “positive” Dynamism join together isolated community, which increase together with the progress of history. This “Dynamism” can be estimated by the character of Namaze's marriage area during about 100 years (1743-1874) in this study. This marriage area stretched to the direction of Osaka and neighboring villages located on the Muko Plain. Futhermore, the same character can be estimated from the family register in 1872 (Meiji 5, Japan makes modern state on the Meiji era) with 7 neighboring villages. On the other hand, “negative” Dynamism has the character which tied up village members in a community territory. For example, boundary disputes (in 1632, 1657, 1671 and 1795) of village common woodland made village members in their territory stand in a body against their neighboring villages. But this “negative” Dynamism failed together with historical progress, then this failure has made community control loose. Thus, the area of village community has expanded about the out-side of the former community area by “positive” Dynamism which increased with the progress of history. This study shows only a few examples and is one of the basic studies for the village movement.

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Chosokabe's cadastral book (1587-1590) comprised a survey record of land which extended all over Tosa (Kochi prefecture), and provides suitable data for village study in the early years of this modern age. This is chiefly because of two charactristics which that cadastral book has in itself. For one thing, Taiko's land survey did not bring the aim home to a person's mind. It was a report not given in the cadastral book prepared for Hideyoshi by his officer, but was Chosogabe's voluntary land survey. This proved compromising, and as a result it remained the feudal system of Tosa; another thing: it was kept as a land-book at the time of clan government, and was also used as fundamental data concerning local administration. In order to investigate the relation of the medieval village systems to modern village systems, it seems to me that this supplies excellent data. The cadastral book grasps skilfully the true knowledge of the Myo system in the mountain areas. It was an agronomic system centered around the Namoto mansions (a kind of local, powerful, family-clan mansions), which were consolidated in the districts to a high degree, because the core was that of rural areas (central villages). Chosogabe skilfully used such classable regions to the best advantage, in regard to the administrative organization in rural areas. Go (a village) and Eda-go (a branch village) in the mountains, at that time of clan government, was a mere matter that took over the above-mentioned regions. In some sections, modern village communities were also appearing together with the progress of the functional difference between knights and peasants, though remains of Myoden management could be seen. Like Emura-go (name of village), in each settlement group, which accumulated with a past Doi (a kind of local powerful family's mansions) as the central core, parted with the core of high degree that embodied them, and a change in internal affairs of the settlements followed. The former Go regions were disorganized, and new settlements were formed as new administrative regions. Like Oosone-go (name of village), the scattered Myoden management in former districts did not consolidate, boundaries the same as when the former Go was adopted. Such districts became the original form of villages in the time of the Tosa clan government.

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