近世港町靹および下津井における鉄道交通の導入とその特質

概要

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In the transportation network of Edo period (1603-1868), coastal shipping played the major role, and roads functioned as its feeders. Many port-towns were prosperous as the place of transshipment in those days. The spread of railway transportation in the later half of the nineteenth century, entirely deprived the port-towns of their economic basis, and compelled them to reshape their economy by means of contact with trunk railway network. Tomo and Shimotsui, on the Inland Sea had been famous as port-towns of economic importance. Each of the two towns consturcted a narrow gauge railway (2 feet 6 inches) in 1910's with its own fund, collecting the petty deposits of the inhabitants, and the railways were operated by the financial aid of the central government. The leaders of the investments were farm-land owners (in case of Tomo) or shipowners (in case of Shimotsui). In both cases, they switched their businesses from brokers of fertilizer (dried herring carried from Hokkaido), who were the richest class in harbour-towns in Edo period. They also regarded their railways as an important contribution to the development of transportation Honshu and Shikoku.
東北地理学会の論文