The purpose of this thesis is to study transitions of former samurai residences during the early Meiji period. It relies on the analysis of Japanese dairies, a new industry established at the onset of the after Meiji Restauration in Tokyo, that eventually spread nationwide due to industrial development policies affecting former samurai residences. By studying patterns on the acquisition of land and management of dairies, then analyzing the space of dairy farms run in the former samurai district, which was drawn in the copperplat prints, we clarify the transformation of Tokyo urban space in the early Meiji period. It is revealed that dairies in Japan developed rapidly in urban areas prior to their establishment in rural settings, a developmental process opposite to dairies overseas. In this paper, we focus our attention on dairy farms that concentrated from 1872 in Iida-machi and Bancho districts, where many many shogunal retainers (Hatamoto) had lived during the Edo period. It is said that there were many former retainers in the milking business owners, but it became clear that there were investors such as government officials in the land acquisition of the dairy farms in the Iidamachi and Bancho area. In what concerns the management of the new industry, two phase can be identified.

 First phase, from 1872. Dairy farms will be gathered around Iidamachi and Bancho.

 The new landlords, taking advantage of the new Meiji government decrees on land sale, acquired several former shogunate residences, and relatively large estates were consolidated as a consequence. The dairy owner get the land. Furthermore, this paper also revealed details of the relationship between landlords and managers of dairies. An example of this: Yosuke Inomata became a butler of Hideharu Kawase, Feuder retainer of Miyazu domain, in 1872 and started a milking business at the land of Kawase. After several relocations, he became independent in 1876, then acquired the land of Fujimicho 4-chome(between Iidamachi and Bancho) in 1878.

 Second phase. From 1877.

 Meiji government officials were actively doing land acquisition and started to establish dairy industries. In Bancho and Iida-machi, Aritomo Yamagata and Shigeyoshi Matsuo acquired vast land. But the managers were their deacons and relatives. As urbanization progressed, a new scheme was introduced to transfer the ranch to the suburbs, bringing the cows in the milking phase while leaving the dairy intact.

 Then, We analyzed after former Samurai space detailed from the published copperplate prints of the dairy farms. In some of the dairy farms depicted, the Nagaya and the Omoya were used as milk store. On the other hand, in some prints, the Nagaya was removed, and fences were created at the boundaries of the site to be a space where the inside could be seen. Spatial arrangement of dairy farms, thus, was closely related to the space of former samurai residences with the sole additions of industry dedicated edifices, like livestock buildings and pasture grounds.

 In summary, ownership of former samurai land was traded dynamically and new industries flourished actively. As a result, even while some existing buildings were kept amidst new structures such as cowsheds and grazing grounds, the formerly off-limits retainer residences of the Edo Period were opened to commoners during the Meiji Period, as nagaya barracks were torn down or converted into outward-facing dairy retail stores.