The spatial structure of early medieval cities and its cognition

Abstract

Many historians and archaeologists have studied the spatial structures of early medieval cities and they have proposed two different ideas. Some studies have insisted that the spaces of early medieval cities consisted of complex and decentralized structures. On the other hand, some researchers have taken the spaces of the cities to embody a concentric circle model consisting of a 'center' and a 'periphery'. They have represented the model as follows; the locally powerful in early medieval cities had complete control over the 'center' of cities, but they could not control the people and economic and religious functions on the 'periphery' of cities. Most studies have accepted both of these ideas without question. However, there is a significant difference between the two ideas, since they might not be applied to the same spatial structures simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the ideas of the spatial structure of early medieval cities and reveal the structures. To accomplish this task, this paper focuses on the case of Bungo Kokufu, which is represented in a set of laws promulgated in the 13th century. The laws are quite famous among historians because they apparently suggest the existence of a prosperous town and the strong influence of the locally powerful over the center of the city. For that reason, Bungo Kokufu has been regarded as a typical city embodying the model of 'center' and 'periphery'. Most researchers believe that the suggested image of the city is the real spatial structure of Bungo Kokufu, and have too easily applied the image of Bungo Kokufu to the other early medieval cities. However, it has not been substantiated whether the image corresponds to the real spatial structure. This paper aims to reconstruct the real morphology and function of Bungo Kokufu in the 13th century without relying on the image of the laws.