This paper investigates how a small community in Japan has maintained its common resources for centuries, shedding light on the leadership of family business members over generations to formulate cooperative activities, which is not researched in-depth. Focusing on the case of Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo Prefecture, our literature review and interviews with CEOs of family-owned hot spring inns in operation for centuries, reveal this community of 3,125 habitants developed a governance mechanism of shared hot spring resources to solve the social dilemma starting in the 18th century, which was developed into a community resilience system through their experiences with major earthquakes and other crises, under the leadership of community-embedded family business members over generations, based on their generational social capital in the community. We also discover the community’s prompt response to the COVID-19 pandemic is activated by this cooperative mechanism. Our findings not only endorse Elinor Ostrom’s 8 rules for managing the commons, but also exemplify the importance of the family business both in the common-property resource management and community-based resilience from major crises, which haven’t addressed explicitly either in the literature of family business and/or commons management.

 The purpose of this paper is to study the spatial structure of the hot spring towns in the Edo period (early modern period), and to analyze the rights that define that spatial structure. A hot spring town is a city with a hot spring which prospered in the early modern period. The research so far has focused on the transition period from early modern to modern, investigating mainly the spatial structure of hot spring towns. However, no research has been conducted on how hot spring towns, which existed as healing places in the Middle Ages, became cities in the early modern period. In this paper, we study the hot spring town of Arima, which has been the most famous hot spring town in Japan since ancient times. We investigated the origin of the privilege inns called “Arima 20-bo” which appeared in the early modern age, and restored their spatial structure. In addition, we analyzed the rights enjoyed by “20-bo” as a spatial structure.

 First, we describe the origin of “Arima 20-bo,” which was powered by the politicians in the town and had other small inns and the Yuna who took care of customers in the hot spring. According to five historical sources, “Arima 20-bo,” was seen at the end of the 16th century, and it was the united group. In addition, they actively named themselves "bo" and once more organized themselves in the mid-17th century.

 Second, we restore the city space based on the conditions prevalent in 1737, and study the location of “Arima 20-bo” and other small inns. As a result, we identify three features of the city’s spatial structure. First, division of residences between the north and south by the hot springs; second, “20-bo” surrounded the hot springs, and third, two roads extended from the hot spring, one to the east and the other to the south.

 Finally, these inns were developed as per the stock associated with the land building. The three materials, "Guest shop stock, " "Yume stock," and "Guest book" were transferred at the same time the land residence of “20-bo” was bought and sold at the end of the early modern age. The “20-bo” had the right to accommodate guests, to use Yuna to guide the guest to the hot spring, and to take care of the guest.

 The number of “20-bo” and Yuna in a town depends on the social situation of the hot spring town.

 At the end of the early modern age, when the number of “20-bo” and Yuna decreased, the former two space structures, division of residences between north and south, and 20-bo,” surrounding hot springs, seen in the middle of the early modern age, also collapsed.

 To summarize the above, in the hot spring town of Arima in the early modern age, there existed division of residences between the north and south by the hot spring, and the “20-bo” also surrounded the hot springs. Thus, the space structure is defined by the system of the healing hot springs consisting of “Arima 20-bo.”