The Jori Grid Pattern System and Small Place Names in Ancient and Medieval Japan

Abstract

1. The Jori Grid Pattern System is characterized by an interval netork of paths and ditches, hich divide a given area into units measuring approximately 109m square. By the middle of the 8th Century the system consisted of such a grid pattern, ith the arable land in each section divided into regular allotments. About the middle of the 8th Century a ne system as introduced, by hich the entire Jori System as organized into “Jo”, “Ri” and “Tsubo”. The “Tsubo” as the smallest section of the square, consisting of approximately 1. 2 hectares, the “Ri” comprised 36 “Tsubo”, or approximately 654m square, and the “Jo” as a liniar arrangement of “Ri”, hose exact organization varied according to region. In some provinces, such as Settsu, Sanuki and Aa, historical evidence shos that the system of land unit indication folloed three stages, as follos : 1) according to former small place names 2) according to the Jori Numbering System ith place names attached to it 3) according to the Jori Numbering System only A number of historical materials sho the process from 2) to 3) in Yamato, Yamashiro, Iga, Ohmi and Echizen provinces in accordance ith the fixation of the Jori Numbering System. Hoever this Jori Indication System as not introduced at a time. In Yamashiro province, this system as introduced by 743, but in Sanuki, it came after 757 and before 763, and in Settsu, after 756 and before 767. 2. The former type of small place name as divided or changed to fit ith the Jori Grid Pattern in stage 1) or 2). This process is shon for Kuso-oki region, Echizen Province in the 8th century (Fig. 7). Some of former types of small place names, hich ere quite extensive (See Fig. 7 Left), ere divided and changed (See Fig. 7 Right) in accordance ith increase in arable land. Hoever all of the former types of small place names ere not divided in the 8th century. In the Kinki District (near the Capital of Ancient Japan), the greater part of those place names already fit the Jori grid pattern, as shon in Fig. 6, but others fit only partially, as shon in Fig. 5. In the case of Echizen province, not so far from the capital, those place names partly fitted or ere in the process of such adaptation as above mentioned. In the case of Etchu province, far from the capital, such place names ere not divided as shon in Fig. 8. In the last case, the Jori Indication System as established at once, but the enforcement of the Jori Grid Pattern as probably incomplete, and the Jori Indication System does not seem to have been fixed perfectly. 3. After the enforcement of the Jori Grid Pattern and the fixation of the Jori Indication System, the latter began to deteriorate. An early sign of this process as found in the 10th century. In medieval times the small place name began to be used side by side ith the Jori Indication System. Almost all these ne small place names designated the smallest section of the Jori Grid Pattern. By the end of the Medieval Period, this small place name system became generalized even on the Jori Grid Pattern. 4. The plan of the Jori Grid Pattern as completed in the middle of the 8th century, ith the introduction of the Jori Indication System. This plan undoubtedly as connected ith Handenshuju, one of the important policies of the ancient “Ritsuryo” period, but “Ritsuryo” as established by 701 at the latest. Accordingly, the plan of the Jori Grid Pattern, especially the Jori Indication System, as not peculiar only to “Ritsuryo”. It as necessary for registry affairs rather than for Handenshuju itself. Since the 8th century, the bureaucratic procedures for distinction beteen private lands and government oned lands became very important, in accordance ith the increase of private land. Since the middle of the 8th century, and after the breakdon of “Handenshuju” at the beginning of the 10th century, almost all registry affairs ere conducted according to the Jori Indication System on the Jori Grid Pattern. The “Tsubo” as a very important unit for registry, privilege, duty and taxation, and so it as idely recognized as an important geographical division. Accordingly, this 109m interval netork of paths and ditches, the Jori Grid Pattern, continued as the basic element controlling the morphology of the landscape on alluvial plains of southeastern Japan. © 1982, The Human Geographical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.