A ( ) is a

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...

(village) surrounded by a moat. It is thought to be a new settlement boundary facility brought from the continent along with paddy rice agriculture. When a moat is surrounded by a water moat, it is written moat encircling, and when a moat is surrounded by a empty moat, it is written moat encircling to distinguish it.

Roots

The roots of the "moat encircling" and "moat shelter" are thought to be in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and South Mongolia ( Xinglongkubo culture), respectively, and in the

Japanese archipelago The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chin ...

, and were produced in Yayoi Era and

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. In the middle reaches of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

, a moat encircling settlement dating back about 8,000 years has been discovered at the Pengtoushan site on the Li Yang Plain in Hunan Province.。The diameter of this moat encircling settlement is approximately 200 meters, with the western side connected to a natural river, and a moat approximately 20 meters wide running around the northern, eastern, and southern sides. Although not fully excavated yet, it is the site of rice paddy

rice cultivation The history of rice cultivation is an interdisciplinary subject that studies archaeological and documentary evidence to explain how rice was first domesticated and cultivated by humans, the spread of cultivation to different regions of the planet, ...

farming. A moated settlement dating from about 8200 to 7400 years ago has been found at the Xinglongbubo site in

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

Red Peak City. The settlement is bounded by a ditch with a long axis of 183 meters and a short axis of 166 meters with a flat shape that goes around an elliptical shape. The ditch is approximately 1.5 to 2 meters wide and about 1 meter deep. About 100 pit houses have been discovered inside the moat encircling the village. The village's occupation is field farming, which includes the cultivation of millet and other crops.

Japan

Characteristics

Moat encircling settlements are characterized as defenses and bases. The moat encircling the settlement was excavated in a deep V shape and pointed stakes called Gyakumogi were embedded around the moat encircling it, suggesting that the settlement had a defensive character. Large settlements are considered to be political and economic settlements and to have the characteristics of hub settlements because they have been in existence for a long time, have a large population, have small settlements in the vicinity, have residences of chiefs and large dugout buildings for rituals, have produced metalware, and have had exchange goods excavated from remote areas. In the Wakoku period, which is considered to be the period of the formation of

kingship King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

in Wakoku, the settlements became more defensive in nature and, together with hill towns, are considered to reflect

military affairs ''The Journal of Military History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the military history of all times and places. It is the official journal of the Society for Military History. The journal was established in 1937 and the ed ...

trends in the process of the formation of kingship. As the formation of kingship progressed into the Kofun period, the chiefs began to locate their residences outside the community, and moat encircling settlements were gradually dismantled.

Jomon Period

Moat encircling settlements are also found in the southern

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and in Kitakyushu there are moat encircling settlements from the late Jomon period (4th century BC). The Jōmon people tend not to form moat encircling settlements. However, at the Shizukawa 16 site in

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

Tomakomai City about 4,000 years ago (late middle to early late Jomon), a V-shaped ditch about 1 to 2 meters wide and 2 meters deep with a major axis of 56 meters and a minor axis of 40 A moat encircling settlement was discovered at the Shizukawa 16 site in Shizukawa City. Two circular pit houses were found inside the moat encircling the site, and 15 were found outside the moat encircling the site. It would be different in character from the moat encircling settlements of the Yayoi period. For example, it may have been a space for Jomon rituals. This site is currently the only moat encircling settlement of the Jomon period. Although not a moat encircling settlement, there is a late Late Period double fence in Kami-shinjo, Akita Prefecture, a straight ditch separating a residence and a cemetery in Koba, Ibaraki Prefecture, and a late Late Period to early Late Period Miyago shell mound in Saitama Prefecture. These were used to enclose places of worship, cemeteries, etc., and separate them from places of daily ranking.

Yayoi Period

Moat encircling settlements are thought to have been introduced from the continent at the same time as the rice culture, and to have spread to the eastern part of the archipelago. However, from the late

2nd century The 2nd century is the period from 101 ( CI) through 200 ( CC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. Early in the century, the Roman Empire attained its greatest e ...

to the early

3rd century The 3rd century was the period from 201 ( CCI) to 300 ( CCC) Anno Domini (AD) or Common Era (CE) in the Julian calendar.. In this century, the Roman Empire saw a crisis, starting with the assassination of the Roman Emperor Severus Alexande ...

, the moat encircling settlements that characterized the Yayoi period disappeared in many areas. This is thought to indicate a major change in

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

from western Japan to the Tokai and Kanto region during this period. Moat encircling settlements of this period can be classified into two types: the lowland type, located on slightly elevated alluvial land, and the upland type, located on high ground such as plateaus and hills. The lowland type is surrounded by a water moat, while the highland type is surrounded by a moat shelter. So far, the oldest moat encircling settlement of the Yayoi period has been found at the Etsuji site in Kasuya Town, located on the

Genkai Sea The is a body of water that comprises the southwestern tip of the Sea of Japan and borders the northern coasts of Fukuoka and Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game ...

coast of northern Kyushu. There are no early moat encircling settlements in the Kinki region, but there is the Kobe CityOobiraki site in the first half of the Early Period. The moat encircling the site was 70 meters in diameter and 40 meters in diameter, and a pit-house and a storage pit have been found within the moat. The cross section of the moat encircling the site was V-shaped and inverted trapezoidal, and the ditch was estimated to have been 2 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep.

Stone tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

made up a large proportion of the stone tools excavated. The Asahi Site in Aichi Prefecture is a settlement of the Middle Yayoi Period and is known as one of the most advanced moat encircling settlements in terms of defensive facilities. It is thought that a large moat was built around the outside of the settlement, and earthen mounds were constructed on the inside with the soil from the moat. Furthermore, a double fence with inverted bushes and random piles were built on the outer side of the moat. Moat encircling settlements that developed after the end of the early Yayoi period are thought to have been established independently in preparation for

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

between villages, such as land and water conflicts caused by the establishment of rice paddy farming in the areas west of the

Nōbi Plain The is a large plain in Japan that stretches from the Mino area of southwest Gifu Prefecture to the Owari area of northwest Aichi Prefecture, covering an area of approximately .

. Around that time, moated settlements appeared at the Itazuke site in

Fukuoka City is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, the Ama Ruins in Osaka Prefecture Takatsuki City, and the Ogiya Ruins in

Kyōtango is a city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 52,683 in 22,886 households and a population density of 110 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kyōtango is located on the coast o ...

, Kyoto Prefecture. In Itazuke, a V-shaped ditch with a reconstructed width of more than 2 meters and a depth of more than 1 mail in cross section is moated in an oval shape with a long diameter of 120 meters and a short diameter of 100 meters. There are also dwellings and holehouses outside the moat. At the Ougitani site, the moat encircles the village with a ring moat 6 meters wide and 4 meters deep at its widest, or 270 meters long and 250 meters deep at its shortest. It is thought that the mura was defended from these remains. It is also thought that in western Japan, such as

Northern Kyushu is a subregion of Kyushu. This northern region encompasses the prefectures of Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, and Ōita. History Before 1963 it was called North Kyushu (''Kitakyūshū'', 北九州) until the city of Kitakyūshū was form ...

and the

Kinki region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolit ...

, the creation of villages was common at the end of the Early Yayoi Period, when paddy rice agriculture took root. After the middle Yayoi period, moat encircling settlements became widespread in the Kinki region, with large moat encircling moats of 300 to 400 meters in diameter, and people apparently congregated within the moats. In the Late Period, large moat encircling settlements such as the

Saga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of 809,248 (1 August 2020) and has a geographic area of 2,440 km2 (942 sq mi). Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasa ...

Yoshinogari site is the name of a large and complex Yayoi archaeological site in Yoshinogari and Kanzaki in Saga Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. According to the Yayoi chronology established by pottery seriations in the 20th century, Yoshinogari dates to between ...

in northern Kyushu, the Amma site and Ikegami Sone site in Osaka Prefecture, the Karako-Kagi site in Ikegami-Sone Site, and the Karako-Kagi Site in

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayam ...

. They were built on low ground and usually have

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

, which were dug out of the moat (in contrast, earthworks in the

are on the inside of the moat). The purpose of forming a moat encircling a mura to distinguish the interior from the exterior is thought to be to provide a defensive function to protect the settlement from foreign enemies and beasts. Moats are sometimes double or triple moat encircling, and some form long moat encircling belts. It is also thought to reflect the chief

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

necessary for rice farming, the strengthening of

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

cohesion, and the class difference between the inside and outside. In the case of water moats, they can also function as

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic condition ...

Middle Ages

In the

Sengoku era The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...

of the late Muromachi period (1336-1573), wars were frequent, and some farm villages built moats around their settlements to protect them from attack. The most important

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Buddhist temples existed in the center, and the larger ones became . Some of the moat encircling the temple still remains today, such as . One of the existing settlements, Hieda moat encircling village (Yamatokoriyama City, Nara Prefecture), is centered around the Uruta Shrine. Takuya Hamano and Genjiro Minoda's book, "A Village with a Hori" (June 1973, Iwasaki Shoten, Boys and Girls Historical Novel Series) is based on the ancient records of Uruta Shrine.

Ancient ruins

There are still a few moat encircling settlements that have remained intact since that time. The remains of Yoshinogari ruins have revealed the whole picture of a large moat encircling settlement. In addition, the recent excavation of the Sutsukabana site in Hakuta-cho, Yasugi City, one of the legendary sites of the Ijanami mausoleum, has attracted much attention.

Early

* Etsuji Site (Kasuya-cho, Fukuoka Prefecture) Late Yayoi Period (Early Yayoi Period), a shallow ditch about 1 meter wide runs twice around the perimeter. This settlement may have been established under the strong influence of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. * Naka Site (Fukuoka Prefecture) Double moat encircling a regular circle, 150 meters in outer diameter.

Last term

It spreads eastward from northern Kyushu to the Seto Inland Sea coastal area and

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...

coast. The size is 70–150 meters in diameter, ovoid, small, and does not enlarge into a large annulus. * Itazuke Ruins (Fukuoka City) * Hyakkenkawa Sawada Site (Okayama Prefecture) * Nakanoike Site (Zentsuji City, Kagawa Prefecture) * Daikai ruins (Kobe city, Hyogo Prefecture) * The Ama Site (Takatsuki City, Osaka Prefecture) * Ougidani Site (Kyotango City, Kyoto Prefecture, formerly Mineyama Town, San'in Region, a double moat encircled by a moat, from which earthenware, stone tools, iron axes, jade making tools, glass blocks, clay flutes, etc. were excavated)

Mid-term and beyond

* Harunotsuji Site (Southeast of Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture) * Yoshinogari ruins (Saga Yoshinogari Town) * Sutrazukabana site (Shimane Yasugi City) * Ikegami-Sone Site (straddling Izumi City and Izumiotsu City, Osaka Prefecture) * Yamatokoriyama City, Nara Prefecture) * Karako-Kagi Site (Nara Prefecture Tawaramoto Town) * Ota-Kuroda Site (Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture) * Asahi Site (located in Kiyosu City, Kasuga Town, and Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture): The site with the most extensive defensive facilities. * Kanzaki Site (located in Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture) * Otsuka-Saikachido Site (Kanagawa

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

)

Existing settlements

Wakatsuki moat encircling settlements (Yamato Koriyama City, Nara Prefecture) and Hieda moat encircling settlement (Yamato Koriyama City, Nara Prefecture) are especially famous as historically important sites, and are also famous as tourist attractions because they are close to Koriyama Station and have parking lots in front of Uruta Shrine in the Hieda moat encircling settlement. There appear to be many of them in Nara Prefecture, but this is simply because Nara Prefecture promotes moat encircling settlements as tourist attractions,Tracing the Roots of Moat Encircling Settlements ( Column）｜Tracing the Roots of Moat Encircling Settlements in Nara Prefecture
/ref> and of course there are moat encircling settlements existing all over Japan.。Moat encircling settlements in Nara Prefecture have been clearly developed as tourist attractions with information boards, but many of the existing moat encircling settlements in Japan are not developed as tourist attractions, but are simply a group of private houses surrounded by waterways with narrow roads that cars cannot pass through and no parking lots. Many moat encircling settlements have been filled in as a result of urbanization, and there are many examples of unmarked, concrete-filled waterways in large cities that are actually remnants of ancient moat encircling settlements. *

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...

** Ichimida Terauchi Town (

Tsu City) ** Shiga Prefecture ** Shimoishidera moated settlement (Shiga Prefecture Hikone City) ** Shinkai-cho (Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture) - The site is believed to be the site of a flatland castle of the Shinkai clan, the development lord of the Shinkai area, which was used as a waterway for the village after the Shinkai clan was destroyed in 1558. * Osaka Prefecture ** Kyuhoji Terauchi-machi ( Osaka Prefecture

Yao City is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 263,436 in 126509 households and a population density of 6300 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is the birthplace of the Kawachi on ...

) ** Keikoji Terauchi-machi ( Osaka Prefecture

) ** Hiranogo moat encircling site ( Osaka Prefecture

Osaka City is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...

Hirano-ku) - The site has not retained its original form as a settlement and the moat encircling has been mostly filled in, but a portion has been preserved and maintained. The Hirano clan's shrine, Kakezu Shrine, and other structures are still in existence. ** Kitsure moat encircling settlement ( Osaka Prefecture

Hirano-ku) - The moat encircling the settlement was reclaimed in the 1960s and turned into a road. Six Jizoson (stone statues of Jizo) that were located at the entrance to the village are still in existence. *

** Milida moat encircling settlement (Nara Yamatokoriyama) - This is a valuable moat encircling settlement in that the features of a moat encircling settlement, such as the intricate roads in the settlement and the "Shichikyoku-ri", a demon gate, are completely extant. It is said to be the birthplace of Hieda Are, the compiler of Kojiki, and home to Uruta Shrine, which is dedicated to Hieda Are. ** Wakatsuki moat encircling settlement (Nara Yamatokoriyama) - A valuable moat encircling settlement in that the date of its formation can be supported by data. ** Banjo moat encircling settlement (Nara Yamatokoriyama City) ** Takayasu moat encircling settlement (Nara Ikaruga Town) ** Minami Yagyu moat encircling settlement ( Tenri City, Nara Prefecture) ** Takenouchi moat encircling settlement ( Tenri City) ** Kayao moat encircling settlement (Nara Tenri City) ** Hozu moat encircling settlement (Nara Tawaramoto Town) ** Nango moated encircling settlement ( Hiroryo Town, Nara Prefecture) ** Fujimori moated encircling settlement ( Tamato Takada City, Nara Prefecture) ** Imai moat encircling settlement ( Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture) ** Saga Prefecture ** Naotori Moat Encircling Settlement Creek Park (

Kanzaki City) and others.

References

External links

* {{Kotobank, name=環濠集落, display=環濠集落 Sengoku period Yayoi period Archaeology of China Archaeology of Japan Pages with unreviewed translations