We studied the process of new field development in the late Edo period in Sanjobara, located on a fluvial terrace in the southern part of the Saijo Basin in Higashi-Hiroshima City, central Hiroshima Prefecture. For this purpose, we used interdisciplinary methods such as reading old documents and drawings, reconstructing the topography by the SfM-MVS technology using aerial photographs before post-war land reform, and field surveys. The development of new fields in Sanjobara lasted for 12 years, from 1808 to 1819. The first half of the period comprised three years of failure due to the planting and death of the wax tree, and the second half consisted of six years of rice and field cultivation after a three-year gap. In Sanjobara, the percentage of “lift ditches,” where the irrigation channel was higher than the surrounding ground surface, was high. This was because the area to the east, upstream from the village, was lower than that of Sanjobara, and hence the irrigation channels were raised. The timing of the development of new rice paddies in Sanjobara was consistent with that in Kashobara, also led by the Hiroshima Domain, and can be regarded as part of the domain’s interest project. A comparison of the employment of both villages’ residents shows that Kashobara was a purely rural settlement, while Sanjobara was a mixture of farming, commerce, and raw material-oriented manufacturing. The differences in geographical conditions, such as topography and transportation, have resulted in different characteristics of both villages.