Landscape Expression of the Evolution of Buddhism in Japan

The proposition that religious landscape is an expression of the ideology and world-view of its makers is tested through the identification of historical shifts in the ideology and world-view of Japanese Buddhism and concomitant shifts in the spatial order of Buddhist precincts. Focusing on temples in the Kyoto-Nara region, ideological changes expressed in the site characteristics, orientation, structures and their spatial arrangements, and use of land in gardens are documented.
La proposition qui dCclare que le paysage religieux exprime l'idkologie et le point de vue mondial de ses createurs se met a l'epreuve par I'identification des changements histonques dans l'idkologie bouddhiste aussi que dans les variations spatiales des enceintes bouddhistes. L'Ctude, en examinant les temples de la region Kyoto-Nara, documente les changements idkologiques manifestes par les caracteristiques de l'emplacement, l'orientation des edifices et I'usage de la terre aux jardins.     

GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM OF SPATIAL PRODUCT AND LABOR MARKETS*

ABSTRACT A simple general equilibrium model relates spatial product markets and spatial labor markets. The firm is treated as being a spatial monopolist or as a Löschian competitor in the output market and as a spatial monopsonist in the labor market. Derived free spatial demand and free regional labor supply are defined, and their properties examined. The model provides the framework for analyzing the impact of a technological improvement in labor productivity on the structure of the spatial markets. The impact of entry on spatial labor supply is an important determinant of whether or not entry lowers wages and raises output prices. Unlike the spaceless competitive paradigm, zero-profit long-run equilibrium can occur in a space economy under conditions of increasing returns to scale.     

LÖSCHIAN COMPETITION VERSUS SPATIAL COLLUSION: PRICE AND WELFARE COMPARISONS*

ABSTRACT. Löschian duopoly under heterogeneous cost conditions is examined to show that it is not equivalent, contra past findings, to spatial collusion. Moreover, within the confines of the assumed demand and cost conditions spatial collusion is shown to be superior to Loschian competition in terms of both (aggregate) consumer surplus and producer surplus, which implies a possible welfare gain from collusion. A general, if not the general, prices-and-welfare comparison of alternative pricing schema including collusive, Löschian, and optimal pricing is summarily presented in a table.     

POPULATION'S URBAN ENVIRONMENT EVALUATION MODEL AND ITS APPLICATION*

We propose the Population's Urban Environment Evaluation Model that quantitatively presents inhabitants’ evaluations of urban environments. Our target is to establish firmly a method to effectively reflect the inhabitants’ consciousness in a regional planning process. The approach taken follows a group decision-making theory and a multi-attribute utility theory: a kind of social welfare function (of additive form) is identified by using questionnaire data. The results of application of our model to Kitakyushu show that it presents several useful insights for regional planning.     

Probing A Traffic Congestion Controversy: Density and Flow Scrutinized

Probing a die-hard traffic congestion controversy, this paper scrutinizes two key variables, density and flow, under equilibrium versus optimal states. Optimization requires equilibrium flow to decrease under mild congestion, but increase under hyper-congestion. However, both increasing flow needed under hypercongestion and decreasing flow needed under mild congestion should be accompanied by decreasing density. Thus, inflow of vehicles should always be discouraged to either increase or decrease flow of vehicles for economic efficiency. Moreover, even when optimal policy requires equilibrium flow to increase, the optimal flow itself must decrease eventually as demand increases beyond a critical level.     

九、十世纪的通俗讲经和敦煌

由敦煌文献的统计来看,有关讲唱文艺的作品的数量,在九、十世纪的写本中突然明显地增加了,比如,故事略要本、讲唱体写本大概都集中在10世纪的文书里.在此笔者将探讨发生这种情况的理由.笔者认为,讲唱文艺的发展与唐代佛教的演变有一定关系,唐代的通俗讲经等讲唱,可能是在安史之乱后开始的佛教通俗化的过程中产生的.敦煌以外的文献记载里能够看到的通俗讲经的记载都集中在九世纪中期.这样一来,敦煌与中原的佛教界似有几十年的时差.这点与敦煌地区的政治历史背景有一定关系,因为敦煌与中原之间有两次(787-848年、905-914年)交流中断的时代.笔者在本文里,把这些敦煌的历史、地区的佛教特征以及民间佛教活动结合起来考虑,来探讨故事略要本、讲唱体等文献的产生问题.     

GEOGRAPHIC EXPRESSION OF BUDDHIST PILGRIM PLACES ON SHIKOKU ISLAND,JAPAN*

A variety of places, functioning diversely in human existence, manifest a certain distinctiveness. The distinctiveness is nowhere as explicit and as clearly expressed, perhaps, as it is in “religious places.’ Of these places, holy places of pilgrimage have been of particular attraction to geographers.¹ There is wide variation in the nature of pilgrimage as defined within the canonical structure of each religion; yet it would seem that all pilgrimages are fundamentally place-bound institutions having specific physical locations. A pilgrimage incorporates certain practices, and requires a specific setting, thus giving rise to distinct geographic and behavioural forms.     

Obsidian provenance analyses at Göytepe,Azerbaijan: Implications for understanding Neolithic socioeconomies in the southern Caucasus

This study presents a provenance analysis of the Neolithic obsidian assemblages from the early to mid‐sixth millennium bc settlement at Göytepe, Azerbaijan. The study is unique in that (1) it involves a complete, non‐selected obsidian assemblage (901 artefacts) from one particular area of the site; (2) the material is derived from a well‐stratified sequence of 10 securely radiocarbon‐dated architectural levels; and (3) the use of an extraordinarily wide range of sources (more than 20) was identified by provenance analysis using energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. The results reveal a previously unknown diachronic change in obsidian use in the region, suggesting the occurrence of significant socioeconomic changes during the Late Neolithic of the southern Caucasus.     

Pottery production on Rishiri Island,Japan: perspectives from X‐ray fluorescence studies

Energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (EDXRF) was used to determine the minor and trace element composition of 54 sherds of pottery dating from the Final Jomon to Okhotsk periods. The majority of the sherds came from Rishiri Island, Japan. Principal component (PC) scores were calculated using the log transformed concentration values, and groups were sought in the PC scores using kernel density estimates (KDEs). Two main groups were found in the data; linear and quadratic discriminant analysis classified both groups successfully. Significant differences in the concentrations of Cu, Fe, K, Nb, Pb, Rb, Th and Zr were found to exist between the two groups. The lack of correspondence between chronological ware types and geochemical groups implies that the same raw materials and paste recipes were in use during the Epi‐Jomon and Okhotsk eras on Rishiri Island. One possiblity is that the Epi‐Jomon and Okhotsk potters used the same clays and tempers, since no other alternatives were available. Alternatively, the Okhotsk potters could have adopted the same paste recipes as the Epi‐Jomon potters, or the Okhotsk pottery tradition could be descended from the Epi‐Jomon pottery tradition.     

敦煌本"庄严文"初探——唐代佛教仪式上的表白对敦煌变文的影响

前言 在研究界里,法会仪式和讲唱文学之间的关系很早就引起了前辈学者们的注意,在敦煌文献被发现不久就开始研究了.最早入手的是罗振玉氏,罗氏在<敦煌零拾>(1924)一书里,用"佛由"的名称来介绍了他所藏的三种讲唱文学作品,即现在所谓的<维摩经讲经文>、<降魔变文>、<欢喜国王缘>,然后其跋文里把这些作品视为宋代说话四家之中佛经演说的"讲经"源流;其次有向达的<唐代俗讲考> ①,这篇论文里,向氏第一次谈到了"俗讲"一词,并论及敦煌变文与俗讲仪式的关系,还提及了押座文在仪式上的功能及其与变文之间的关系.另外,孙楷第<唐代俗讲经轨范与其本之体裁> ②,泽田瑞穗<支那唱导文学的生成> ③等论文里更加深入探讨了仪式在俗文学演变史之中的地位.