A Report of a Rural Construction with Sight-seeinng Development as Leading Project and Methodical Activities of Inhabitants -The Case of Odaira Hamlet, Oomama Town, Gumma Prefecture-

觀光開發を核としたむらづくりと住民の組織的活動 -大間間町小平集落を事例として-

It is a important problem that the adjustment of a rural settlementas a unit of rural community, and many number of researcher tackled its. The aim of this paper is to verificate the process of rural con-struction, that is applied the regional resources, and to introduce the situation of attending inhabitants, and their employments as a results of this planning. We chose Odaira hamlets in Oomama town, it is located in Gunma prefecture as an object of this study. Odaira is a small village in the mauntain, and it is composed only 135 families. Odaira is an underpopulated hamlet. It is engaged no lively farming and forestry. Most of inhabitants are commuting to the cities around here. Inhabitants of Odaira who are conscious of the conditions of declining hamlet organized a group to improve it. This group have investigated all around the hamlet as a system of workshop. And they found the resources for sight-seeing, crops as the regional products, and other resources for rural planning under three keywords ; resources for the sight-seeing, the rigional products, and theimprovement of environments. In many resources, most important thing was the existens of a stalactite cave come down as a legend from old time. Local government of Oomama town and the inhabitants tried to explorate of stalactite cave and succesed to excavate it. They have constructed two facilities for management, parkaround the stalactite cave and these have been a new place of work for inhabitants. Arrangement of the rural constructions developed to other items schemed acording to the master plan, like as a camping ground, bungalows, a wet botanical garden, and a park beside a river. These also produced the new places of work for 54 people as a result of this rural planning. The most of them were the aged peoples and the women of farmer. The highest age was 83 years old, he is working at the camping ground. In the employment system at Odaira, people who desire to work and desire to employ both registrate to a commission of management of Odaira, and this commission arrange them in case of needs.