文化としての農業、文化としての食料(2) : 「城壁のない都市」京都の都市農業

Abstract

Kyoto is one of the oldest cities in Japan. It remained the capital of Japan for 1200 years. The uniqueness of this city lies in its absence of what are called murailles or ramparts in French (walls or ramparts in English), by which most of the European and Chinese big cities were, and in many cases still are, surrounded. At the beginning of the history of Kyoto, when it was constructed as Miyako-Kyoto in the 8th century, only one wall was built in the south side of the city. This wall was erected, not as a barrier against enemies from outside, but just as a symbolic boundary. However, it was this absence of murailles that made it possible for the residents of Miyako-Kyoto to change the city's center into agricultural fields during the medieval period. The author considers that Miyako-Kyoto was probably the birthplace of Japanese urban agriculture. In Miyako-Kyoto, unlike in big cities in Europe or China, it was easy to transform a residential area into agricultural land, because of the absence of murailles. Urban agriculture in Miyako-Kyoto, in the city's history of 1200 years, had been flexibly changing its form, according to the changing need of the residents. They needed barley in one era and vegetables in another era. This article argues that agricultural fields had been playing an important role in the history of Miyako-Kyoto. This city should be understood not only as a capital city, but also as an agricultural city.