kangou shuuraku　環濠集落
CATEGORY:　architecture / castles
　
A settlement surrounded by a moat. The earliest enclosed settlement appeared about 200BCE～250CE and is associated with the Yayoi culture. These settlements gradually developed as stable farming communities with rice paddies and stationary architecture consisting of pit dwellings and raised floor structures. Each settlement might have 35 to 36 structures, a population of 100 to 200 people, and be surrounded by a dry moat 1.5 to 2.0 meters deep with an embankment 1.5 meters high and 4 meters wide. The moat and embankment usually measured about 200 meters from east to west and 130-meters from north to south. Kangou shuuraku displayed extensive development in the medieval and early modern period and were constructed in western and eastern Japan including the Yamato basin, Yamato Bonchi 大和盆地; Osaka plain 大阪平野, Yamashiro basin 山城盆地, Omi basin 近江盆地, Harima plain 播磨平野, Chikugo plain 筑後平野 and Saga plain 佐賀平野. Settlements of this type had various configurations, characters, and geographical and historical backgrounds. At the end of the Warring States' period (1482-1558), some settlements were established by the 'True-school Pure Land' Joudo Shinshuu 浄土真宗, followers and became Buddhist temple compounds with commerical enterprises, jinai-machi 寺内町.
　
　

　
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