著者

田村 正

出版者

宮城大学

雑誌

宮城大学事業構想学部紀要 (ISSN:1344607X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.5, pp.95-116, 2003-03-28

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Whereas the Ou region had a reputation for a large and fertile land in the 8^<th> century, it was said in the 19^<th> century that the whole region was worth the value of just one mountain. Giving a geopolitical overview of the Ou region from the Jomon period to the Edo period, this paper considers the reasons for the extremely different assessments of the region between the 8^<th> century and the 19^<th> century. Since the Tushima Current flew into the Sea of Japan 8,000 years ago, the region periodically went through four cold climate. While during these Neoglaciation the cold weather often damaged crops, the locals of the Ou region enjoyed the blessings of nature during the warm periods. This climate cycle, together with a political factor of whether the region was independent of the central authority, resulted in the different assessments of the region. The good reputation of the 8^<th> century was made in the region's politically autonomous and climatically warm period ; and the bad reputation of the 19^<th> century was corresponded with the period of subordination and cold climate. The prosperity of the Fujiwara clan at Hiraizumi in the 12^<th> century was the peak of the region's thriving period that began in the 8^<th> century. The I9^<th> century reputation stemmed from the 600-year cold climate period between the late 13^<th> century and the 19^<th> century as well as the consequence of the Tokugawa shogunate and domain system. The Ou region was severely damaged during the last 150 years of that cold period in particular. Even in this period, however, the population of the West side of the region slightly increased. This was partly because the damages caused by the cold weather were less severe than the East side of the region, and partly because that district yielded lots of commercial commodities. Thus, there was a differential between the East and the West parts of the Ou region at the time. This implies that Masamune Date, who understood the East-West differential, failed to take an opportunity for moving to the West part of the Ou region when the Mogami fief was deprived in 1622.