2015 年 78 巻 5 号 p. 599-602
Terraced paddy fields landscapes are evaluated as typical of the cultural landscape, the importance of the terraced paddy fields in terms of environment and landscape conservation have been described. However, in recent years, the continuation of the conservation of the terraces paddy fields landscape is getting harder with the reduction of farmers due to depopulation and aging in agricultural settlements. This study focuses on visibility of terraced paddy fields landscape and management agent of terraced paddy fields in large areas such as municipalities. Based on its results, this study also considers the conservation strategies of paddy fields on slope land in the future. The visibility of terraced paddy fields landscape are identified by slope angle of the paddy fields, view of the paddy fields from the main roads, and cohesiveness of lots of paddy fields. 17% of the paddy fields with good visibility were managed by the certified farmers. On the other hand, 57% of the paddy fields with good visibility were managed by small-scale paddy fields farmers whose total management area is less than 1ha. From the case studies of selected agricultural settlement, importance of mechanism to continue the agricultural management by small-scale farmers was considered.