Kyoto Basin Research Articles

Processes and Factors of Village Desertion: A Case Study of Ogose and Ohmi in the Vicinity of Kyoto

This is a comparative study, from a micro-geographical viewpoint, on the village desertion process pattern in the case of two small hamlets-Ogose and Ohmi-in the mountainous tracts of Kyoto City (commonly called the Kitayama district), only 20km north of the center of the city. The examination has been made chiefly in terms of the change in the number of the households in each village that has taken place during the period of more than a century since the early years of the Meiji era.The two hamlets, now deserted and completely extinct, were located in the northern part of Kyoto City, on the eastern edge of the Tamba highland, topographycally a pene-plain, from which the Ado River rises and flows down into the Lake Biwa, the lagest in Japan. A chain of passes lie between the Kyoto basin and these villages.Ogose was situated at the altitude of 660m. above sea level and Ohmi 610m., they were among the highest of all the mountain villages in the Tamba highland. The average temperature is 0.2°C. in January and 25.8°C. in August, those settlements are colder by 7°C. than the Kyoto basin. As to the transportation, there are only two narrow motorable roads leading to the center of Kyoto, both in an extremely bad condition. It is a two or three hours' trudge to the nearest bus-stop.In 1885 the two villages had 15 households each, and after World War II there existed 7 in Ogose and 19 in Ohmi. However, a series of village desertion of the whole household type began in Ogose in 1969 and in Ohmi in 1971, and continued, until the former finally reached a state of complete desertion and extinction in 1972 and the latter in 1973.The difference in the number of households prior to this incident simply reflects the difference of population inflow from outside and branch families; in 1965 the household that had continued to exist ever since the time preceding 1885 untill the day of desertion was 5 in Ogose and 6 in Ohmi.The processes of desertion of settlement can be divided into three stages: the Meiji, the Taisho, and the Showa periods.(1) The Meiji period: 6 households in Ogose and 11 in Ohmi deserted their villages and half of them moved into Kyoto. The social status of the villagers who left their home was the lowest and they had to call themselves “drop-outs”. The ‘absorption power’ of the big city in those days was not yet great enough. Compared to Ohmi, Ogose remained more stable, as it was located further away from the city. It can be said that they were economically subject to Kyoto through charcoal business, whereas culturally they were still under the influence of the lake district with its long, deep-rooted tradition from the Edo period; Ogose rather thrived as a transit place, commercially and culturally.At the close of the Meiji there emerged a new transportation means of raft along a branch of the Ado River to carry out charcoal, which had made them involved in the big Kyoto culture area; Ogose was reduced to an unimportant position placed at the furthest edge of the great cultural and economic sphere of Kyoto.(2) The Taisho period: 6 households deserted each village (totaling 12), and 9 out of those moved into Kyoto. The group included a small number of what may be called positive job change type of desertion by the upper class villagers, but the majority were of the bankrupt type of desertion. This penomenon relates to the cultural and economic expansion of Kyoto, and its urbanizational effects were also felt upon those mountain villages.(3) The Showa period (up to 1965): the impact of Japan's social and economic disturbances was great to those hamlet and the ‘absorption power’ of Kyoto for some time seemed to cease and become less great. An epoch-making huge demand for charcoal and timber checked the trend of the outflowing of village populations.

The Osaka Group in the Southwestern Piedmont Region of Kyoto Basin

The Osaka Group in the Southwestern Piedmont Region of Kyoto Basin

On the Yamashiro-Yamato Trough

The Kyoto basin, the Yamato basin and the Ikoma hilly land may be included in a trough running north to south, which is called as the Yamashiro-Yamato Trough after the provincial names of this district. The trough is defined by the Ikomagawa fault on the west, and the Kasuga-Obaku on the east, but northward by the Paleozoics on the north of the Kyoto basin, while southward by the Ryoke metamorphic rocks developed along the Median line. The Ikoma hilly land is a depressed block, cut off from the Ikoma metamorphosed granite running north to south, by the Ikomagawa fault, and partly covered by the Osaka series. It may be considered to have been sliced by the north south faults into many blocks which are dropped stepwise toward the central line from the two sides. The Kyoto basin is the terminal of the Yamashiro-Yamato Trough which is delimited by the Nishiyama fault on the west and the Obaku on the east. The Hanaore fault runs northeast-ward and passes the western foot of Higashiyama. It is evident that more than half of southern depression of the Kyoto basin has occurred between the Nishiyama fault and the Higashiyama, but the remaining has occurred between the branching faults of the former and the Hanaore. The Yamashina basin may be a depression that occurred between the Obaku fault and the branch-ing fault of Higashiyama, running north to south through the eastern foot of Higashiyama. The Ikoma and the Katsuragi are the horst ranges lying between Osaka Bay and the Yamashiro-Yamato Trough. The former presents steep cliffs to Osaka Bay, whereas the latter offers similar cliffs toward the Yamato Plain, Steep cliffts may be an indication of depression of great magnitude in Osaka Bay as well as in the Plain. The Yamashiro Yamato Trough was produced by the pulling force of the Fossa Magna Disturbance during the Plio-Pleistocene times. Though the making of the Trough is on a small scale it may be applied to such a large Trough as Osaka Bay, Biwa Lake and Ise Bay which were built at the same time and of the same origin. The Fossa Magna Disturbance was brought about by the enormous force of the Pacific applied to the Fossa Magna in the Plio-Pleistocene times.

Villages and Farming Area on the Western Coast of Lake BIWA

On the western shore of Lake Biwa we have a long, narrow strip of land stretching approximately from south to north. On the east it is cut off by the lake itself, which has sacrificed whatever economic function it may have to become a tourist resort, and on the west it is separated from Kyoto Basin by the Hira Mountains. Its topography is rather monotonous if we except a delta built by the River Ado and the diluvial uplands called Aiba-no and Taizanji-no; its climate belongs to the so-called Japan Sea type, more distinctively so toward its northern part. An old road called Nishi-omi-ji with bus transportaion and a paralleling railway (the Kojaku Railway) go through this strip of land, and at its southern end the city of Otsu is located; it is indeed monotonous from the human geographical viewpoint. It is a farming area, and this is a study of the structure of agriculture in this area, specifically in terms of side-work farming and classification of its villages.The Thünen Kreis structure is found in the southern part of this area, although, in view of the weakness of the economic power of Otsu, it is not very remarkable. Agriculture is chiefly centered in the paddy-fields along the River Ado, the horticultural district around Otsu, and the woodlands in the western mountains. Farming villages are classified in Fig. 7.

On the Distribution of the Bamboo-Cultivation in the Western Border Area of Kyoto Basin

The bamboo-cultivation in the western border area of Kyoto Basin is wellknown, not because of much amount of its production, but of distinctive character that it produces the bamboo-shoot of phyllostachys edulis A & C Riviere (“Mosochiku”).The bamboo is cultivated in a little higher part of alluvial plain, the gentle slope along the foot of Nishiyama Hill, especially on the surface of diluvial plain.This distribution of the bamboo-cultivation is controlled by some factors as follow:(1) There are some parts which are not suitable for rice field, because of the difficulty of irrigation.The farmers have too much leisure time by reason of the rice field being too small.By those factors the famers have both ares and time by whcih they can undertake other cultivation besides the rice crop.(2) The farmers have to gain worse profit for vegetable cultivation in this area than near Kyoto City.The seasons for bamboo and rice cultivation are different at all.By those factors the farmers prefer the bamboo cultivation to the vegetable cultivaton.(3) The area of bamboo cultivation was enlarged according to the increase of demand for bamboo and bamboo shoot.(4) The shoot's freshness csn be preserved as the distance to the market being short and its transportation being convenient.Moreover, the shoot's excellent quality can be kept by the suitable soil condition and landform.Besides the much comes from those factors, there are two charming elements in bamboo cultivation.1: It is nice for farmers to have some extra income besides from rice cultivation.2: They can sometimes have special income from fhe occasional speculative high price of the bamboo shoot.These many factors encourage the farmers to continue the bamboo-cultivation.By those factors the landscape of bamboo cultivation seems to have been kept on in this area, but it will be soon changed to the scenery of the other landutilization as Kyoto City develops to there.

RELATION BETWEEN FAULTS AND LANDFORMS ALONG THE WESTERN BORDER OF KYOTO BASIN

The landforms of Kyoto Basin which have been formed by tectonic movement are a striking forms in the Inner Zone of Kinki District, Central Japan. This depression were afterwards buried by Osaka Formation, and the relative height between the surrounding mountainlands and depression were increased by the repeated deformations. The preceding studies were not sefficient to explain preeisely the exact relation between faults and landforans. The writer presumes that the major tectonic landforms being built up through the accumulation of the repeated micro-deforirations, and the pro-cesses of building up of basins in Kinki District are able to be explained by analyzing and synthesizing those repeated micro-deformations. Therefore he traced the detailed aspect among regent movement, erosion and deposition for proving those processes, and researched the relation between tape faults and the landforms in the wetern border of Kyoto Basin. The cixaraeteristic features of three tectonic lines have been pointed out by his field work as follows; 1. Katagihara Line which runs to N15° W; This line is a flexure in the younger deposits, and has, built up the east-facing steep slope between Otokuni Hills and the bottom of Kyoto Basin. 2.Talzahata Line which runs to N45° W; This line is also a flexure in the younger deposits and has built up the east-facing steep slope. But has showed faulting only between the Paleozoic rocks and the younger deposits. 3. Kanegahara Line which runs to N30° W; This line shows a sy iclinal structure in the younger deposits along the eaestrn side of it. In the paleozoic rocks which distribute along the southern part of its line, the graben has been grown along this line and in the southern part of this line, the fresh scarp has, been built up between the paleozoic rocks and the younger deposits. The movements along those line have occured according to increase the gradient between the mountainlands and the basin in last process of the sedimentary cycle of Osaka Formation. Kanegahara Line is the oldest one among them. They are generally Similar each other though they are different in micro order, and it is interesting for him that their directions are traverse to the direction of Nishiyama Fault Scarp.