Historical documents show us that many Jinaichos were established around 1530's and '40s. So, I'd like to call them the second stage Jinaicho as well, the former ones of them, the first stage, the later ones, the third stage Jinaicho. I intend in this paper to clarify the process how the city plan has changed during these three stages.
At first, on the topographical condition of location, places where Jinaichos are located can be classified into, (1). Plateau or hill, (2). river-terrace, (3). natural levee, (4), low swamp. The third is a good place not only for Jinaicho, but also for any other settlement, however, the first and the second must have been for the protection of the town. In respect of topography, the defence of the town has become weak for ages. And, when Jinaicho was constructed, Jori system was utilized as basic lines in many cases. This rule is the most notable in the second stage.
Next, I consider the inside plan of the town from the following viewpoints. a, The scale of the town and its transformation…… The scale of Jinaicho tends to center especially upon some definite sizes, among them four square scale can be regarded as the “standard” size of Jinaicho. Moreover, we must not miss that the scale of the town is not necessarily original one, but can be found to expand or reduce in some cases. b. The position. of the principal temples…… The temple which dominates the town is almost situated at southern or western side of the town. c. How many moats enclose the town? d. Are the refraetions of roads in the town remarkable or not?…… I put up these two as the indicators which show the degree of the protective function of the district. As far as these two items are concerned, those protective functions remain even in Jinaichos established in modern ages. By the way, on the Japanese castle town, the district plan is considered at the level of “form of block” (machiwari), and “plotting of residental areas” (yashikiwari) (cf. Yamori “The Study of City Plan”).
Here, I'd like to approach the characteristics of Jinaicho at one more micro-scopic level, i.e, from the viewpoint of “house type”. Then we notice there are two types of Jinaicho. We find that one is where the residental district is made up of urbanstyle houses, and the other is fundamentally, the same type as farmhouses. Now, I temporarily call the former, “Urban” Jinaicho, and the latter “Rural” Jinaicho.
Such difference, is, I assume, caused upon whether agricultural factors have remained in the town or not. Considering not only above-mentioned a. to d. items, but also other factors, the pattern of Jinaicho's transformation can be summarized as follows; In the first stage, Jinaicho Plan have gradually been arranged, and completed in Yamashina, In the second stage, many Jinaichos are constructed according to its arranged plan. But in third stage, we can see the collapse of the plan, however, some Jinaichos, such as the inhabitants took initiative at the establishment of the town, succeed to the same plan as in the second stage. Moreover, we must pay attention to the geographical arrangement of Jinaicho, too. That is, the first stage is in the age of searching for the suitable place for construction, in the second stage, Jinaichos are constructed in the form of encircling Ishiyama.
Finally, there remains the problem to explain the relations between Jinaicho and other kinds of settlements, but I have not had my distinct idea upon this problem yet. Therefore I will take up this problem as my next theme.