Characteristics of the common land in Saruba, Biratori Town, Hokkaido

Numerous studies have been made of the specific characteristics of rural communities in Hokkaido, northern Japan, since the 1950s. While relationships between farm households in communities are generally close in Japan, those in communities in Hokkaido are loose, as has been pointed out previously. Only few attempts have so far been made to explain such characteristics through investigations on the micro scale. In Japan, irrigation systems and common lands have played an important part in rural areas as a basis for connections in communities. In this paper, the author attempted to discover the social characteristics of rural cummunities in Hokkaido with investigations of rural settlement, especially by detailed investigations of land use and ownership of common land. The area selected for study was Saruba in the town of Biratori, Hokkaido, where common land has been used effectively.