Zaigomachi (local town) (在郷町)
Zaigomachi was one of Japanese city forms.
Summary
It was a town or settlement developed as commodity production grew in rural communities such as a farming village from the Medieval period to early Modern period in Japan.
In some cases farming villages on Highways, Zaigomachi developed along the Highway.
Zaigomachi was different from Jokamachi (castle town) or Jinyamachi (town around the feudal lord's residence) which prospered around the castle or the hancho (feudal lord's office/residence), Shukubamachi (post station town) which was formed around shukuba (post station), or Monzenmachi (temple town) formed around a temple or a shrine and did not have any landmark featuring the town (castle, big post station, large temple or shrine, or the like) and it spontaneously developed in farming villages a distance from the aforementioned machi (towns).
Unlike such towns as Jokamachi, Zaigomachi was characteristic of many farmers as its residents and those engaged in commerce and industry, and has both features of being an urban district and a farming village.
In contrast to such towns as Jokamachi, Zaigomachi was categorized as something like a 'local city.'
Some Zaigomachi were categorized as Shitamachi (neighborhoods of merchants and artisans), and many of the districts originated from Zaigomachi in modern Japan were towns with such a friendly atmosphere that they can be called modern versions of Shitamachi.