Abstract
Intending to clarify the internal structure of villages at the later part of Tokugawa period, those villages situated along the Yagurazawa-Oukan are examined in this study. The Yagurazawa-Oukan is the name of a byway used and developedd at the later part of Tokugawa period mainly for the economic activities of local people, whil ehighways at the same period, such as Tôkaidô highway, were used and developed mainly for military and political purposes:
The Yagurazawa-Outran crosses through Central Sagami from east to west, starting from Fdo Akasaka and passes through Mizonokuchi, Ebinakokubu, Atsugi, Hatano, Gotemba, and finally meets the Tôkaidô highway at Yoshiwara. In this study, the author selected the major part of the data from Jinshin Koseki (“census register obtained in 1864”) and obtained the statistical figures through the analysis of the data in accordance with indices established. The indices are listed as follows;
(1) average number of person per family. (2) rate of married people. (3) rate of stable family (a family having two or more person of 16_??_60 years old) (4) average number of working person per family (a working person here defined as lineal person of 21_??_60 years old). (5) average number of children per family.
The author also classified all the families of a village into three classes (such as, upper, middle and lower) according to Kokudaka (“size of land required to produce a Koku of rice or its equivalant products.”) each family possessed. From the data thus accumulated, the auther tried to identify the mutual relation between the structure of a village and the degree of land dependence of a village. The results of this study may de summarized briefly as follows;
1. Two patterns are observed in the statistical charts prepared to show the numbers of families according to the stratum of Kokudaka possessed. In one of the patterns., rather small differences are represented among the levels of three classes, while the other patterns indicates remarkable `differences. In other words, the latter patterns indicates that the majority of families in a village are divided into almost two part, either into the upper class or into the lower strata showing real small numbers of families in the middle class.
2. It_ is also observed that stability of the family structure of a village are affected in proportion to the Kokudaka possessed by each family. In some agricultural villages, statistical figures for the respective indices show that there are wide differences between the upper and the lower classes in any one of the indices. It is further represented that the basis of villagers' livelihood depend on land in pro portion to the size of land possessed. Meanwhile in some “town type” villages show low degree of land dependence and the character of the village structure of those villages were changed gradually into so called “city type” structure.
3. In considering the degree of land dependence from the view point of locality of villages, it, is observed that mountain villages, fishing villages, and post towns in the south and north-west part of Central Sagami represents low degree of land dependence in general. Meanwhile those agricultural. villages in the plain part of Central Sagami indicates rather high degree of land dependence. Among these, some located in rice field area show much higher degree of land dependence in comparison with others in the dry-land area. This means partly that the degree of land dependence of a village it determined in proportion to the Kokudaka of the village.
