Some Regional Aspects of Roofing Tile Manufacture and the Market Areas in Japan

Abstract

In Japan, roofing tile was introduced from China at the end of the sixth century. But it was not until the nineteenth century that roofing tile was utilized by many people and mass production began.Today, roofing tile manufacturing workshops and plants can be found throughout the entire country except in Hokkaido and Aomori prefecture. The distribution of the production, however, is uneven: Aichi, Hyogo and Saitama prefectures account for more than 60% of the total production of the country (Tab. 2, Fig. 6).The purpose of this paper, then, is to examine the spatial distribution of agglomerated roofing tile producing centers and their market areas, and to try to point out factors contributing to the development of such centers. Results obtained may be summed up as follows:(a) The distribution of the market areas of the roofing tile industry in Japan is shown in Fig. 6. Four major and two minor market areas are found. Of course, it must be understood that besides these market areas, many local markets of lesser significance are widely distributed throughout the country.(b) Western-Mikawa (Aichi pref.) and Southern-Awaji (Hyogo pref.) have been examined in detail as representatives of roofing tile centers initially developed on the basis of the abundance of local raw material. The Aichi center has grown in response to the active demand in Edo (Tokyo) since the end of the eighteenth century, similarly the Awaji agglomeration based on the heavy demands from Osaka since the end of the nineteenth century. Of course, the availability of water transportation was also important for the development of these production centers.(c) Recently, however, the raw material, the clay, in the vicinity of these production centers has been depleted, and the raw material had to be brought in from fairly distant places. In an effort to counteract such a handicap, “rationalization” of the production and management-such as the improvement of the kiln-has been undertaken.(d) As a result of these endeavours, the production cost has been reduced, and the volume of production have rather increased. The products from those centers have not only been able to maintain their longstanding reputation but also expanded their shares in the market. Moreover, the development of transportation networks, especially the growing use of lorry lines, has helped increse these tendencies.