Medieval Castles and Pre-modern Castle Towns Planned with Nature As The Heritages for Landscape Design Today -A Case Study of Nanbu Region in Tohoku-

This research is to manifest the nature-symbiosis methods that distinguish the Nanbu castle towns built in the Edo Era from the castle towns elsewhere in Japan.Ever since the early 13th century onwards the Nanbu Clan had ruled Tohoku region till the end of Edo; their feudal lords respect the native mountain-worship, e.g., Iwakura (revering huge rocks as certain divinity’s beings); these17th century Nanbu castle towns – Morioka, Hachinohe and Tohno – were planned with visible mountain tops views and had Iwakura Rock as center of concentric circle on which the town installations were placed.The Nanbu Clan declined, and the framework of castle towns became the foundation for urban modernisation from 1800 onwards. Morioka Castle Town, the prominent among three, has been modernised as the capital of Iwate Prefecture today; its historical heritages enliven the town making by government and citizenry.This paper concerns itself with the relation between Nanbu castle towns and Nature, with that among town construction, micro-topology, Iwakura and Mountains worship, with that between street composition and the locations of temples, shrines and other installations. Analysing Morioka castle town through modern landscaping science, this research tries to discover the relation between planning and Nature, seeking to revive the vista of the Nanbu mountain-worship.First, through field investigation and reading of historical texts, the street axes extended to link up the mountain tops of Object Mountain as Yama-ate are verified; the religious tie between Nanbu Clan and Object Mountains is analysed.Second, historical texts help grasp the religious installations in Nanbu, analysing their locations, micro-topography, and castle installation by GIS.Third, verify the Yama-ate street axes and their relation with temples and shrines by GIS; measure the streets, parallel or perpendicular, to the Yama-ate main street; and analyse the relation between urban frame and the mountains. Forth, how are those mountain views required by Morioka City related to the Nanbu mountain worship?The analyses show that the historical planning corresponded to their environment; the street composition, including temples and shrines, did link up the Mountain, Iwakura objects and micro-topography. And, the medieval methods like vista are employed to revive the castle town cities today with four points below: 1) A Yama-ate Street provides us unobstructed view of the mountains worshiped; the Yama-ate highways that terminate at castle gate or temple entrance path must be verified. 2) The temples strongly tied to the Clan are located in the areas of slight elevation in Nanbu District. Also, several points nearby the castle gate are built with temples to worship the sacred mountains. 3) Morioka is distinctive, the main street axis terminates the excavated Iwakura; various castle gates are designed with same distance towards the Iwakura. 4) The Morioka landscaping policy today has a set of rules: e.g., the height of building is limited to keep the mountain views visible from the bridges or from the castle park; all the rules are made to preserve the views of mountains worshipped in the medieval

Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip Disease Evaluation Questionnaire (JHEQ): a patient-based evaluation tool for hip-joint disease. The Subcommittee on Hip Disease Evaluation of the Clinical Outcome Committee of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association

AbstractBackgroundThe Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip Score is widely used in Japan, but this tool is designed to reflect the viewpoint of health-care providers rather than that of patients. In gauging the effect of medical therapies in addition to clinical results, it is necessary to assess quality of life (QOL) from the viewpoint of patients. However, there is no tool evaluating QOL for Japanese patients with hip-joint disease.MethodsWith the aim of more accurately classifying QOL for Japanese patients with hip-joint disease, we prepared a questionnaire with 58 items for the survey derived from 464 opinions obtained from approximately 100 Japanese patients with hip-joint disease and previously devised evaluation criteria. In the survey, we collected information on 501 cases, and 402 were subjected to factor analysis. From this, we formulated three categories—movement, mental, and pain—each comprising 7 items, for a total of 21 items to be used as evaluation criteria for hip-joint function.ResultsThe Cronbach’s α coefficients for the three categories were 0.93, 0.93, and 0.95, respectively, indicating the high reliability of the evaluation criteria. The 21 items included some related to the Asian lifestyle, such as use of a Japanese-style toilet and rising from the floor, which are not included in other evaluation tools.ConclusionsThis self-administered questionnaire may become a useful tool in the evaluation of not only Japanese patients, but also of members of other ethnic groups who engage in deep flexion of the hip joint during daily activities

Malondialdehyde-modified LDL-related variables are associated with diabetic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes

Background and aimsOxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) causes the development of atherosclerosis and kidney injury. Although circulating oxLDL levels were reportedly increased in type 2 diabetic patients with macroalbuminuria, it remains unclear whether albuminuria or the reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is independently associated with the circulating oxLDL level. This study aimed to elucidate the association between the stage of diabetic nephropathy and serum malondialdehyde-modified LDL (MDA-LDL) and the ratio of MDA-LDL to LDL-cholesterol (MDA-LDL/LDL).Methods and resultsThis retroactive cross-sectional study used data from 402 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients undergoing hemodialysis were excluded. Serum MDA-LDL levels were significantly increased with increases in severity of albuminuria (103 ± 44 U/L, 109 ± 54 U/L, and 135 ± 72 U/L for normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria, and macroalbuminuria, respectively; P for trend = 0.020) but not according to the estimated GFR (eGFR). An increased MDA-LDL/LDL ratio was significantly associated with both increased albuminuria (35 ± 13, 37 ± 14, and 40 ± 15 for normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria, and macroalbuminuria, respectively; P for trend = 0.003) and reduced eGFR (34 ± 13, 36 ± 13, 38 ± 12, and 51 ± 28 for grade 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively; P for trend = 0.002). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that neither the albumin excretion rate nor eGFR but ln-transformed triglycerides and LDL-C levels were independent determinants of both serum MDA-LDL levels and MDA-LDL/LDL ratios.ConclusionSerum MDA-LDL levels and MDA-LDL/LDL ratios were increased in those with dyslipidemia associated with diabetic kidney disease

Effects of riverbed deformation on the dynamic modeling of riparian vegetation succession and its application for river management

[2nd International Workshop on Sediment Bypass Tunnels = 第2回排砂バイパストンネルに関する国際ワークショップ] May 9-12, Kyoto-Japan, 2017.特定研究集会: 29C-01Recently, riparian zone of East Asian rivers are intensively forested, which provides a number of problems in the river management especially at the downstream of dams (Asaeda et al. 2012, 2015a). One of the major causes is likely the reduction of sediment in the river channel. Hence, sediment bypass tunnels, which transport sediment from the upstream to the downstream reach of a dam, may have a potential to reduce impacts of the structure in the channel. Under this background, a dynamic riparian vegetation model (DRIPVEM) is developed to predict the colonization and succession of vegetation in a river channel, aiming to predict the vegetation succession in the downstream of a sediment bypass tunnel (Asaeda et al. 2012b, Sanjaya and Asaeda 2017). After the validation on the vegetation succession with observed data using measured morphological data of several rivers, then the model is combined with the 2-dimensional river bed deformation model, and is applied to the targeted river (i.e. Kuzuryugawa (river) in Fukui, Japan) to obtain the effects of the morphological change of the river channel on the vegetation patterns after a flood. The comparison of trials with and without the bed deformation model indicated that morphological change during the flood period has a substantial effect on the vegetation pattern after a flood. Furthermore, simulations were conducted for the future condition of vegetation, showing possible wide applications of the present model for river management works