On House Types and their Distribution in the Upper Streams of the Kiso River and its Environs

Abstract

In the mountanious regions of Central Japan a characteristic house type is wide-spread, which with its shingled, less steep, and two-sided roofs reminds us of chalets in the European Alps. Although the external appearence is nearly the same everywhere in these regions, the plan of houses, i.e., the room arrangement, is more or less different from place to place.In the southwestern region of Nagano Prefecture, along the upper regions of the Kiso River, Dr.G. Fuzishima, Prof. of Architecture, Tokyo Univ., classified in 1947 two types of the house plan: a) Ontake-type (Fig. 2 and 3) and b) Araragi-type (Fig. 4 and 5). Both types, belong to the Hiromagata-type in general, and present a quite distinct principle of room arrangement. On the other hand, on the left bank of the Hida River, one of the tributaries of the former in the northwest, we found in 1958 another type of house plan, which we should like to call the Takehara-type (Fig. 9).These three types mentioned above divide their own realm, and come into contact with each other in the Sakashita-Midono region in the upper course of the Kiso River.Their distribution and nature are not yet decided. However, we may be able to say, at least, that the investigation of the problems might play an important role in the field of study about the geography of rural habitations in Japan.