(1) A mass of mountain is measured by various methods and commonly represented by a mean altitude per unit area.
(2) The present author measured the mean altitudes per various unit areas in central Honshu, Japan. The method was by means of statistical mesh. (Fig. 1, 2, 3, )
(3) That includes the following steps:
(A) Each sheet of 1: 50, 000 map was divided into 1/4 sheets by the middle meridian and parallel of latitude of that map.
(B) Each 1/4 sheet was covered with a mesh which divided the 1/4 sheets into 20 sections.
(C) The altitudes (A₁, A₂, A₃, …… A₂₀) were measured by 20 nodes of the mesh.
(D) The mean altitude per 1/4 sheet is 1/20Σ²⁰_i=1Ai.
(E) A unit area was selected from various points of view. The writer selected 1, 4 and 16 sheets of 1: 50, 000 map respectively as unit meshes. 80 3-20
(F) The mean altitude per 1 sheet is 1/80Σ⁸⁰_i=1Ai that is 4 sheets 1/320Σ³²⁰_i=1Ai and that is 16 sheets 1/2080Σ¹²⁸⁰_i=1Ai.
(G) The mean altitudes are mapped at the centers of the unit meshes.
(H) The unit mesh is moved aside by halves of the sheets in order to smooth the isoarithmS of the mean altitudes and to correct errors arising from accidental situation of the mesh.
(4) The standard error of the mean altitudes is little. That of Norikura-dake sheet is 97.2m, more than 0.06 of the mean altitude, 1634m. That of 4 sheets is decreased to 1/2 and that of 16 sheets to 1/4 of the error per 1 sheet.
(5) The more the mass of mountain grows, the higher are the vertical limits of the tree or forest line and the upper limits of agricultural settlements or paddy fields.
(6) Fig. 5 and Fig 6 show the relation of the mean altitude to the forest line and the upper limit of paddy fields. In the profile A-B the correlation coefficient between the mean altitudes per 1 sheet and the forest line is+0.712, and that between the mean altitudes per 4 sheets and the forest line+0.806. (n=9). The correlation coefficient between the mean altitudes per 1 sheet and the upper limit of paddy fields is+0.693, and that between the mean altitudes per 4 sheets and the upper limit of paddy fields+0.786. (n=14)
(7) The generalized upper limit of the agricultural settlements and paddy fields is related to more generalized patterns of distribution of the mean altitules than to the mean altitudes per 1 or 4 sheets. Fig. 3 and Fig. 7 show this relation.
(8) We can comprehend easily the relation of in-situ-correspondence between the upper limit of agricultural settlements and that of, paddy fields, but it is not easy to explain perfectly the relation between those and the mass of mountain.

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[in Japanese]

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The Oguni basin, 170m-300m high, in the northeast of Yamagata Prefecture, is surrounded on all Sides by the mountains higher than 1000m. But the agricultural management in this area is not of the mountainous village type, but of the rice cultivating lowland one. This is because there is a wide stretch of level land possible to be in use as paddy-fields, and also because there is ample irrigation water. In addition, the declining slope is forced to be used not as dry fields but as grass land or pasture land. For it is a state-owned one, where a change in the category of land is difficult and accordingly they are obliged to depend solely on rice cultivation. Moreover, unfavourable natural conditions, that is, the drifted snow of a long period, the irrigation water of low temperature, and short growing season cause productive power to be poor and therefore about half of them are side-workness. Frequent famines are mentioned in history, causing smaller landowaership, and even after the Farmland Reform, there remain the communities showing high rates of tenancy. In such communities, the inhabitants are disinterested in the positive role of the agricultural works and turn wageearners or emigrants, the trade of daughters being also observed. In other words, a backward state still retains stubbornly from this point of view.

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The Waga River is a branch of the Kitami River, and the upper stream flows from north to south with the longitudinal valley in the Ou mountains. The district is the most famous drifted-snow district, and the regional wind directions are very complicated and are influenced by the topography. The writer investigated house types there.
(1) In the downer stream district the entrance of main house appears similler to that in the Kitakami lowland. Some houses, however have set up temporary extended entrances with wood and miscanthus. In the upper part this extended entrance becomes a fixed one. These entrances which project from the main houses are 2m in length in the Iwasawa community. This becomes longer as one goes further westward, and reachesl to 2.5m-3m in Oarasawa, 3m-4m in inner districts. (2) The window as a transom becomes larger in size in inner Oarasawa. This is similar to that in the North-Japanese Alps and other drifted snow cistricts. (3) We can not find larmhouses with upstairs in the lower Waga streami but in the upper stream we can find some farmhouses with them in a part of the main house. These differ from those of the silk-raising district. (4) The frontal direction of houses in the lower river districts face the south and are cut down on the east side. In the upper river area, houses face toward the east or southeast side and are cut down on the north or northeast. (5) The writer asked local inhabitants for climatic data-drifted snow and wind directions. The interpretation of a few climatic landscapes are as follow. (7) The inhabitants must remove the snow from their roofs several times a year, so that every house is surrounded by snow laid 3m deep. Therefore, without exception we can find a special entrance, two-story houses and large transom windows for deep snowfall. Moreover, the cutting down of a house will face toward opposite side of the wind direction, because snow drift on the opposite side of wind direction.

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