2020 Volume 85 Issue 775 Pages 2001-2011
This study examined rural housing improvement engagements conducted at “middle-class farmer’s schools.” The establishment of these schools was promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a part of a project promoting the economic regeneration of rural villages. In particular, this study highlights the planning and use of housings that were developed in these farmer’s schools and are frequently referred to as “model farmer’s houses.”
“Model farmer’s houses” were designed as models of housing improvement for standard farmers. Their previous existence has been validated at 4 of the 49 middle-class farmer’s schools existed until 1942, namely Yamagata Prefectural Folk High School, Iwate Prefectural Rokuhara Young Adults’ Dōjō, Toyama Prefectural Farmers’ Dōjō, and Akita Prefectural Farmer’s School. Moreover, 2 model farmhouses were developed at the school in the Yamagata prefecture, which were designed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the prefecture. The schools in the Iwate and Toyama prefectures constructed 4–5 projects tailored to different forms of agricultural business management, presenting models of housing compatible with different livelihoods and customs. The model farmer’s houses were used as boarding houses for the school students, and in the Yamagata prefecture, were open to the public for disseminating and promoting models of rural housing improvement. In the Iwate prefecture, the construction of model farmer’s houses was also aimed at conducting research on improving “settler’s houses” of the prefecture-run Iwasaki Reclamation Project near the school.
In terms of engagements to improve rural housing, the construction and use of model farmer’s houses predated the “agricultural workers’ housing” of the Obonai Village Settlement in the Akita prefecture (1935) and experimental housing for farmers in snowy regions by the National Research Institute for Rural Economy in Fallen Snow Region (1938) designed by Wajirō Kon. Moreover, the dissemination and promotion activities were based on actual experiences of the leader strata, which were responsible for regenerating rural economies. This approach can be considered a method unique to rural communities and different from the housing improvements in urban areas, which used exhibitions and magazines instead of people as their mediums.
