kangou shuuraku　環濠集落

KEY WORD :　architecture / castles

A settlement surrounded by a moat. The earliest enclosed settlement appeared about 200〜250BC 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 大和 basin; Osaka 大阪 plain, Yamashiro 山城 basin, Oumi 近江 basin, Harima 播磨 plain, Chikugo 筑後 plain and Saga 佐賀 plain. Settlements of this type had various configurations, characters, and geographical and historical backgrounds. At the end of the Warring States period, some settlements were established by the True-school Pure Land, Joudoshin 浄土真 sect, followers and became Buddhist temple compounds with commercial enterprises, jinai-machi 寺内町.

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