The history of apple-growing in Kagawa Prefecture, in the Shikoku region, is an old one beginning first in the middle period of the Meiji era. But the area under cultivation for this crops in this prefecture has decreased gradually since 1953, when it was most extensively cultivated, having partly been replaced by some other crops such as tangerine orange. However, the situation is quite different in Tokushima prefecture, Kagawa's neighbor, where the area under cultivation for apples showed a sudden, remarkable increase since 1953 to 54, with a gradual declining only in recent years. These facts tell that apple cultivation in these two prefectures, in spite of the similarities in their natural and climatic conditions, has undergone a quite different transition. In this paper, the author has tried to clarify the various reasons why in Tokushima prefecture, which is relatively warm and apparently not a suitable area for apples, apple growing really flourished even for a short period, and especially why it has fallen into decay. What sort of difficulties and problems caused this sudden decline are also the important point of disussion here.
Thanks to the untiring efforts of Mr. Kenji Tada, who as a grower as well an investigator, valiantly recommended apples as the most profitable crop, and that of the authorities concerned, apple farms spread extensively in Mima and Miyoshi counties, whose location is along the Yoshino River in the western part of this prefecture. However, apple production began to decrease, though in the up-stream area of the Yoshino River it is less affected. Some of the reasons for this may be listed as follows:
1) Small amount of profit from apple production. This is the result of the tied-up market price of apples, and small quantity of the crop in this particular area. Ill or inadequate management of farms has been connected with these reasons and caused a vicious circle.
2) Damage by blight and insects.
3) Concurrence and consequent competition with other crops in respect of labor.
4) Bad influence of spray on mulberry farms; damage caused by typhoons and other reasons.
The above-mentioned may be grouped as direct reasons which caused declining in apple-production, while some other indirect causes might be pointed out as is shown below.
i) Lack of experience on the part of growers. Consequently, want of necessary information and technical know-how was unavoidable.
ii) Small-scale management and scattered and isolated location of the farms.
iii) Insufficient guidance and dvice. These problems might have been, more or less, solved if farmers had deen properlhy directed. When a new kind of crop is to be introduced, especially in the case of fruit-culture, which needs a consideralbe amount capital and high level technical know-how, proper guidance and direction after its introduction are of the utmost importance, to say nothing of the sufficient information and understanding before it is planted.

View full abstract

In the sphere of the study of industrial region, focus has been so far laid upon studies based upon the analysis of static statistics for a uniform region. Although elecidation of the position of each industry and analysis of an industrial region as a functional region are very important; there are so many obstacles that they have not fully been studied. There are caused by the shortage of data, the difficulty in obtaining them: consequently, the method based on dynamic analysis has not yet been established.
The industrial region of the Seto Inland Sea was selected for the present writer's study on the industrial region, and papers were written in this connection. This paper is one of the series.
The purpose of this paper is to classify the industries of this select region by dynamic analysis of statistics, and to understand the characteristics of the Seto Inland Sea region as a functional region.
First, the questions as to where and from what places the main factories of this region brought their fuel and materials, and where they transported their manufactured goods; these factors were investigated.
For this analysis, five regions were set up, which are in the western area (Kyushu), the eastern (Hanshin), the further east area and the overseas, and the main movements of materials, and goods between the areas by each factory were picked up and estimated.
The fact was discovered that the movement of materials and products were common among similar types of industries, and that there are seven types of movement of materials and products as a whole. These seven types can be categorized into three groups in view of typig their movements and in studying thier development and distribution.
One of them is the group which brings in the material from the west and sends out the manufactured goods towards the east, which includes chemical and steel industries. This group deals with the western part of the Seto Inland Sea area, where the industrial belt of northern Kyushu has expanded. The locational conditions of this group become better towards the west.
The second group is the one that brings in the material from the east and again sends the manufactured goods back to the east, mostly dealing with cotton and rubber goods, and electric appliances. This group is dominant in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea area being influenced by the Hanshin industrial center. The various conditions for the group become better towards the east.
The third group is the one that has sprung up from this region doing their trading within the region and sends out their goods to the central marketting region of Japan. The two kinds of industry which come within this group are as follows: First, rayon and shipbuilding industries which have been located there without considering other industries in the earlier period before the concentration of the industries in this region. Secondly, the basic iron, the oil-refining and the machine industries. The machine industry built up close to the automobile factories, and the oil chemical industry have all developed as the result of concentration of industries in this region and the increasing purchasing power in the western part of Japan. These three new industries mentioned above will be a driving force for a higher standard of industialization in the Seto Inland Sea area in the future. Locational conditions of these third group industries are not determined by the distance from the nodal places either in the east or west, but are favoued all over the region.

View full abstract

Tango Peninsula is situated in the northwest corner of Kyoto prefecture. There were 100 rural settlements in the area more than 100 meters above sea level, in the early period of the Meiji Era. They consist of four types: in-valley, head-valley, top-valley and plateau settlements. The heighest level where the settlements were established was about 500 meters above the sea. The number of houses in one of these rural settlements varied according to the nature of soil and landform; in short, the space of arable land was the chief factor. In the case of 86 rural settlements, the number of houses has decreased, and in the case of the other six was the same until 1965. 18 out of the 86 settlements are now total “Ortswüstung” or absolute “Wüstung”, and 14 out of more than 50% of the houses which existed before 1872 have been lost.
The rate of the loss of houses is influenced by the landform also and especially by the altitude. And then, top-valley and plateau settlements located more than 320 meters above sea level, and the in-valley settlements located below 280 meters above sea level have lost houses in the manner shown in the fig. 4. The gragh indicates the rate of loss in a straight line (the rate of loss=1/5 height). The head-valley and top-valley settlements below 280 meters above sea level have lost houses in a parabola (R=1/700h²).
The loss of houses here began about 1880. The number of lost houses was remarkably large in the following 3 periods; 1907-21, 1928-33 and 1952-.
A long distance movement (outside Tango region) of the people from these rural settlements began about 1897. More people moved with the opening of local railway in 1928. However, as a whole, it was small-scaled. Especially since 1952 fewer people move, relatively speaking. A short distance movement has been also small-scaled, but we can notice a large-scaled migration of this sort in 1928-33, which the writer should like to name ‘the first period of deserted villages’. A middle distance movement (toward the rural settlements on lower levels and local centers in the Tango region) has always been greater than the other two, except during the first period of deserted villages. About half of the middle distance migrators went mainly to nine local-towns (local centers) in Tango, especially to Amino (a textile manufacturing town) and Iwataki (a town with refined nickel industry, rubber shoes and texiles).
In Tango Peninsula, total “Ortswüstung” or absolute “Wüstung” counted 18, and relative “Wüstung” 11 in 1965. The numbers mean about 30% of the rural settlements located more than 100 meters above the sea. Four of these appeared in ‘the first period of deserted villages’, and the other deserted villages appeared after 1956, which the writer should like to name ‘the second period of deserted villages’.
A dominant factor of the deserted villages here was the difficulty of enjoying facilities for life until 1956, and after 1957 the lack of economic power to meat the gradually modenized ways of life.
As for land utilization, there are three types-- (1) total “Ortswüstung” followed by no arable land abandonment, (2) total “Ortswüstung” followed by arable land aban-donment, (3) absolute “Wüstung”. Men are apt to abandon their homes before their cultivated land. Abandoned arable land is either left uncultivated or afforested. We can observe very few pastures made in the deserted arable land in Tango Peninsula.
As for the new occupations of the migrators, those who lived in other places and came to work in their former farms could be found until about 1958.

View full abstract