ABSTRACT

Land was a valuable commodity in Hagi as it had to be wrested from the sea and periodic floodwaters meter by meter. In Hagi, as in Hikone, Edo and other towns, the feudal relationship between lord and retainer was expressed in terms of stipend which in turn was used to determine location within the framework of the town. The correspondence between the orientation, form and structure of Osaka and the initial stages of Hagi is so pronounced as to have been deliberate. The more leisurely process of reclamation and flood control works permitted the orderly accommodation of increased population in all class by selective removal and consolidation to give Hagi a land use structure which, by the end of the period, corresponded more closely to the ideal model than at any earlier time. In Hagi, as elsewhere, rank and stipend fixed the areas of sites granted to the warrior class for residential use.