The Meaning of “Fuchi” and the Scenic Landscape Role in Historic Kyoto’s Disaster Mitigation - “Fuchi” Use Until Scenic Landscape Setup Under the Old City Planning Act and Scenic Landscape Regulation Management in Kyoto -

Abstract

We clarified scenic landscape district by analyzing the importance of the term “scenic landscape” itself and its practical use and identified disastermitigationmeasures for historical urban environments. The term “scenic landscape” is categorized mainly based on two meanings given by the national language dictionary of Japan; “elegance (omomuki, &#36259)” and “personal quality (hitogara, &#20154&#26564).” The term is used to indicate psychological appraisal based on an aesthetic sense, not used to indicate a physical boundary. During post-Meiji-era modernization, the term “scenic landscape” acquired the added meaning of “elegant landscape,” a feature perceived by sight encompassing the meaning of “things to be preserved” – “scenic landscape district” thus came to mean an “elegant” scenic landscape and was established as a district system in the City Planning Act. The objectives of establishing a “scenic landscape district” were to preserve a historic site”s cultural heritage (core zone) and to maintain elegant landscapes (buffer zones) having historical value.