This study examines the formation of Makinome settlement in Iwafune County, Echigo (Niigata Prefecture), through the analysis of consanguineous groups (makis) and the changes in settlement morphology and in irrigation systems for rice production.
Irobe, who was the lord of a manor, lived in Irobe before the Sengoku period. There were many temples and shrines around his house. Paddy fields occupied a small ravine nedr the house. In the Sengoku period the Irobe family moved to Hirabayashi. The name of the area of the Irobe's old residence was changed to Ko-Irobe (Old Irobe). The landscape of the area changed with the establishment of Makinome settlement. Ko-Irobe became a part of Makinome village.
Makinome settlement was formed under the rule of the Irobe family at the end of the Sengoku period in the 16th century. It was located on a lowland near Lake Iwafune. According to the 1671 cadastre, old settlers owned the fields developed in earlier periods, while newcomers and branch families tended to possess fields reclaimed later.
Makinome had two distinctive features among the nearby settlements. First, it consisted of as many as 12 maki. Second, most of them belonged to temples different from one another: only two maki shared affiliation with the same temple. These characteristics resulted partly from the conditions under which the reclaimed fields were expanded and many settlers from various places organized under Irobe's rule.

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The main purpose of this paper is to make clear the plan of Ishiyama-Honganji's Jinaimachi and restore it on a map.
Jinaimachi are temple compound towns from the late 15th to early 17th century in Japan. They have a characteristic form and most of them have walls or moats, and were primarily to facilitate defence against feudal lords (especially, Oda Nobunaga) and some old Buddhist factions.
The spatial and social structure of this Jinaimachi has been studied for about 50 years principally by historians, and some effective proposals were preshnted by Yamane Tokutaro (1954), Ito Tsuyoshi (1987), and Niki Hiroshi (1994). Above all Ito's plan is considered most effective. But I think these have some serious problems in both position, and the plan itself. Therefore this paper attaches importance to both position and plan geographically.
First, the restoration research of this plan is based upon the“Tenbun Diary”(written from 1536 to 1554 by Saint Shonyo, the tenth chief abbot of the Honganji-Temple), and “Shishinki”(also diary by Jitsuju, the chief of Junkoji-Temple, in the network of the Honganji-Temple). Preceding research used these diaries also, and this paper rechecks their details geographically. As a result, the precise arrangements of temple and six quarters (inside the Ishiyama) can be recognized.
Second, in the point of position, this paper is based upon the name of sections and the old configuration around Osaka castle. Consequently it is clear that the positions shown in preceding reseoches are not correct, and have to be modified to the South.
Third, this paper looks at the results of archaeological excavation. It attempts to make clear the spatial structure of this Jinaimachi.
From these three viewpoints, I suggest the plan in Fig. 8. It shows that the position of the centre of it, “Honganji-Temple”, exists at“Terayama”, the name of the section. It is a more suitable place for configuration than one in the preceding research. And I suggest that the port“Jinainoura”was separated from the town, and connected to it by a road. This structure looks like the precedent of Deguchi Jinaimachi, in Osaka Prefecture.
This paper deals with only one Jinaimachi, but the Ishiyama Honganji's Jinaimachi is the most significant in the history of Jinaimachi's, and can point out the existence of the succession of plans from among Yamashina, Ishiyama.
I am convinced that such a study of plan contanins some important elements in studying spatial and social structure of Jinaimachi, and about medieval towns and villages in Japan.

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In this automobile age many different problems concerning automobile transportation have been studied by many researchers in related fields of science to great effect. Also in the field of geography since the 1920s, many people have discussed this type of research from a point of view in that the organization of area is a function of automobile transportation networks and systems. In the present paper research on automobile transportation carried out by not only Japanese and English-speaking geographers, but the researchers of traffic engineering, economics and sociology have been classified systematically and the research trends have been traced. When rearranging the results, five directions were recognized.
First, in research on motorization or increase in volume of automobile transportation in regional transportation, the ownership and the use of vehicles have been analyzed. The central study problem is to describe areal variations of motorization and then to explain such variations. Measuring the degree of motorization, indices like car ownership rate per household or per 10, 000 population, percentage of car use in commuting, and gasoline consumption rate per household have been employed.
Second, in the research on transport networks, the geographical distribution of node accessibility and its temporal change in road networks or in bus line networks, the regionalization of road networks derived from node classification based on accessibility, and the areal variations of connectivity of road/highway networks have been considered using graph theory techniques. Transport networks transformed into simple topological graphs from which a set of indices can be calculated, quantitative methods such as matrix algebra, factor analysis or MDS have been applied in most research.
Third, in the research on traffic flow, the areal pattern of automobile movement has been described, or the automotive traffic region has been delimited and its internal structure, arrangement and geographical distribution have been examined. This kind of research refers to nodal regionalization of the study area, which is one of the central problems of human geography in general. Additionally the distance-decay function of traffic volumes has been specified bv a series of spatial interaction models and the physical properties of automobile transportation have been discussed in the research, where the modelling and the statistical examination of distance parameters become a matter of primary concern.
The fourth direction, impact studies, consists mainly of two types. One has dealt with the influence of introduction and propagation of automobiles upon an area, region or nation, while the other has dealt with the influence of modernization of traffic facilities upon the regional economy, society and natural environment. By the modernization of traffic facilities we mean pavement, enlargement or construction of roads.
Though the fifth direction differs from the previous four in having far more research foci, it corresponds with a set of modal analyses in the basic framework for transport systems analysis proposed by Eliot Hurst (1974). This research could be generally called general and historical description. In such research problems such as development and present condition of bus, car and truck transportation, the relationship between industry activities and utilization of roads, areal pattern of outbreaks of traffic accidents, historical evolution and spatial diffusion of cars have been approached.
As we have now entered into the automobile age, this field must perform its mission. It is necessary for us to solve the following problems in expectation of the field's furter development. To begin with, by accumulating case studies steadily step by step it is hoped that a transportation theory peculiar to geography will be built.

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The fishing group of Amamachi community, at the tip of the Noto Peninsula jutting out into the Japan Sea, is very distinctive in terms of life style. It has thus attracted many previous studies on this group in various disciplines. Most of them, however, have tended to demonstrate its uniqueness by introducing its uncommon customs. Nevertheless, such a conventional view should be modified now: this group, I think, is typical of kaimin (maritime people), one of the major marginal groups, whose importance has been r6ather neglected so far due to an influential and far-reaching point of view focused on rice cultivation.
In the third section, the primary purpose to see them within the whole context of Japanese society in the right perspective was pursued. To do so, their situation was investigated in reference to kyakumin (major marginal people with autonomy) or kaimin with their own histories different from paddy-cultivating people. Unlike most kyakumin/kaimin groups, which have been weakened, dissolved or extinguished because of their failure in coping with new situations brought by changes over time, the Amamachi community has lasted well until now. Its sustainability deserves careful attention.
Amamachi's fishing people are considered to be descendants of fishing people of Kanegasaki District located in the northern part of Kyushu. Since their arrival at the Noto Peninsula, they had been engaed in diving fishing under the protection of the Kaga Clan (Maeda Territory) until the end of the Edo Period (1603-1867). They had been conscious of their distinct characteristics and confirmed the difference between their own and surrounding societies by stressing their relation with the Kaga Clan and by remembering their own historical origin. Such an attitude was effective in keeping the autonomy of the group against the dominance of shumin (main people) engaged in paddy cultivation. In this sense, the Amamachi community indicated a prominent characteristic corresponding to that of kyakumin.
On the other hand, another characteristic of theirs as kaimin is found in the following attitudes: wider mobility to seek better fishing grounds and acquire new trading areas, aggressive fishing methods based on high technical skills, and indifference to agriculture in general.
In the fourth section, the second aim of this paper to substantiate the sustainability of the community was explored chiefly by tracing changing processes of systems and customs of their society. In particular, I devoted attention to the two periods when the community confronted crises of existence: the time of the second half of the nineteenth century, when the modern age began in Japan, and the high economic growth period in the mid-twentieth century. Their reponses for surviving can be summarized as follows:
As for the second half of the nineteenth century, because of the collapse of the Bakufu-system, the relation between the Kaga Clan and this community was annulled. This implied that they would lose the exchange route for marine products and agricultural crops. Fortunately, however, a loose stratification occurred in this period, resulting in an establishment of the oyakata-kokata (patron-client) relation. While oyakata newly came to be in charge of the exchange instead of the Kaga Clan, kokata could peddle their extra products individually-this was called nadamadari (peddling trip)-. This suggests that newly emerged oyakata had a certain power, but nadamawari and other community controls restrained an excessive stratification.
With respect to the high economic growth period, the wide diffusion of powerboats improved fishing productivity and accelerated the monetary economy. These changes caused a dissolution of oyakata-kokata relation and a decline of nadamawari.

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