乗鞍火山東麓における山地集落の変貌

Abstract

The writers analysed the industry, economy, land use, settlement and tourism in the area from the view point of the development process and the socioeconomic aspects in this paper. The results are as follows:I. The Norikura Plateau is located at the upper limit, in terms of altitude, for agriculture in Japan. The people can not keep up their living standards by only agriculture on this plateau, because the productivity of the land is very low. Therefore, prior to 1970, the people had to manage not only with the subsistance cultivation of cereals, but also with sericulture, charcoalmaking, dairy cattle breeding, the gathering of mountain products and hunting.After 1970, the tourist industry have provided the most jobs, but the people still manage with composite jobs.II. The settlements are divided into two types, i.e., permanent and seasonal (temporary settlement for cultivation), in the Norikura Plateau. Among those temporary settlements for cultivation, Bandoko (1, 300m above sea-level) has already become a permanent settlement in the 1890's. Now Bandoko is the core settlement in the Norikura Plateau. Kanayamadaira (1, 500m) was a temporary settlement for cultivation until the first half of the 1940's.Kanayamadaira has been changed into a permanent settlement by the development of the tourist industry, as a skiing ground in winter as well as a summer resort.Shirahone Spa has developed into a permanent settlement after World War II. The other temporary settlements for cultivation has since disappeared.III. The process of the settlement and socio-economic development in the Norikura Plateau are shown in the table in the next page.(i) Since 1927, the Norikura Plateau has been used as the mountain's skiing ground in winter. The skiers came mostly from Tokyo. (ii) After World War II, the Norikura Plateau has developed also as a summer resort and as a skiing ground for the local people principally. (iii) During the first half of the 1960's, many village houses became “Minshuku” (“Minshuku” are cheap lodging houses in tourist resorts, and most of them are usually operated by farmers and fisherfolk for additional income.). In the Norikura Plateau, there were 33 hotels and 66 Minshukus in 1975.However, the Norikura skiing ground is a local one, because the skiing ground is relatively small, and the traffic condition is no good. The poor traffic condition has, in the main, restricted the development of the tourist resort in the Norikura Plateau.