This article clarifies the trend of the shiitake cultivation, the change of that area, the process of the corporative entry, firm transactions, the characteristic of the distribution, the location strategy of corporations and the factors of those changes of the shiitake cultivation area in Hokkaido. The corporative entry into Hokkaido was conspicuous other places in Japan.
The shiitake-growing districts were located in the southern and the central part of Hokkaido in the first half of 1980s. The primarily factor was that the location of a shiitake-grown district was related to log resources, mild winter climates, nearly location from big consumption area in Hokkaido. Since 1985, there were some facts of increasing the production of shiitake in Hokkaido. There was a supply shortage of shiitake compared to a big shiitake demand in the central part of Hokkaido. In addition, a policy of reducing the amount of land developed to rice cultivation lead to increase the number of shiitake grower. Since some corporations entered into Hokkaido in 1990s, Hokkaido increased shiitake production and its production became on the fourth place in the prefecture.
The factor of the acceleration of the corporative entry as follows: Hokkaido has appealed for some corporations. The primary factor of the corporate entry was; the labor cost in Hokkaido was lower than other places in Japan, some corporations have received subsidies from local government: The corporations expect newly cultivation technique that is sawdust-grown. Simple cultivation process and division of that work were suited to employ inexpensive labors. From the distributional point of view, grouping of corporations into a keiretsu was increased in total shiitake transactions.
The shiitake cultivation corporations in Hokkaido belonged to two big suppliers of the spore in Japan; company K and company M. The product destinations also made differences. The corporations dominated by company K already had exiting markets; on the other hand, the corporations dominated by company M needed to look for new markets such as supermarkets. The local governments gave the subsidies for some corporations, since it creates employment for the residents. In addition, the characteristics of the sawdust-grown can create employment for handicapped persons. This opportunity helps them to live independently. Moreover, the local governments intend to grow out of a company town depending on the coal mining industry and the paper industry.
In conclusion, the shiitake production in Hokkaido was influenced by the corporative entry into Hokkaido, the organizations of integrated corporations; company K and company M, and the difference of their distribution structures. This difference was made by the characteristics of the two big companies; producing the spores and the sawdust logs. The strategy of those corporations and the policy of the local governments were accelerated corporative entry into Hokkaido. This corporative entry has led the changes of the production structure and the shiitake-growing area in Hokkaido.

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Microtopography, vegetation, structure of subsoil and amount of soil erosion were observed in order to know the relationship between microtopography and plants, namely their distribution and species composition of communities. In the study area, ca. 100 m×150 m in size, a probe area of 30 m×50 m was set. The probe area was separated into 60 quadrates of 5 m×5 m. Quadrates were divided into three groups (1), (2) and (3) according to species composition. Groups (1) and (2) have the species found commonly in beech forests. Among them, group (1) is characterized by the species of beech (Fagus crenata) forests under dry condition and is found on the crest slopes and upper landslide scarp where deposition of soil materials is not expected. Group (3), characterized by the species of Pterocarya rhoifolia forest are observed in the lower part of landslide body under depositional and humid soil condition induced by the groundwater seepage at the toe of a landslide body. Group (2), with no remarkable characteristic species, basically composed of the species of beech forests, are located on the various micro-topographical units.
Vegetation of the study area is basically a beech forest from viewpoint of species composition. Species of dry type beech forest are found on the crest and upper landslide scarp. On the contrary, species characteristic to Pterocarya rhoifolia forest are found under the depositional and humid soil condition.

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