The purpose of this paper is to use a case study of Dougoyunomachi Ehime from the 1910s to the 1930s to reveal the historical shifts in the use and administration of hot spring resources and the involvement of local management. In order to respond to the increase in the number of customers using the hot springs after the Russo-Japanese war, Dougo Onsen, where public baths are used, explored the construction and reconstruction of bathhouses, and the development of new hot springs. From the time of World War I to the middle of the 1920s Dougoyunomachi was able to realize bathhouse construction and reconstruction by carrying out funds procurement using income from enormous bathing fees and the issuance of local government bonds. However, exploration of ways to develop hot springs invited antagonism between different classes in the local communities, including opposition campaigns by the residents. This was because Dougoyunomachi was the only entity administering the springs so the antagonism of the townspeople toward the political structure came to the surface. From the second half of the 1920s competition with other hot spring areas became more intense due to the impact of the Great Depression, which became the Showa Depression in Japan, and due to the change in the needs of travelers as they switched from using public baths to using private baths. As a result, the number of bathers, which had been steadily increasing until that time, began to decline. In addition to the spa management, which had been the foundation of Dougo Onsen's economic activities until then, coming to the end of the road, the increase in population caused by urbanization and by an expansion in the area of the town resulting from mergers of town and villages also greatly changed the town's character as a hot spring town. The development of infrastructure for living, including a water supply, etc., became a pressing issue, and the town faced an excessive fiscal burden. In this way spa management in Dougoyunomachi contributed to some extent to the development of the local economy but, due to rapid population growth, simultaneous achievement of infrastructure development and bathhouse construction was difficult as a practical problem. Dougoyunomachi, which was burdened with enormous local government bonds, had great difficulty continuing local management. Due to the 1944 merger of Matsuyama City and Dougoyunomachi, local management such as infrastructure development, etc. was separated from spa management in the Yunomachi region. Subsequently, the newly established Dougoyunomachi Property Ward was only in charge of spa management.
抄録全体を表示