Changing Rural Space and the Territorial Unity of the Village through the Tokugawa Period : A case study of Ono village, Rikuzen Province

Abstract

Hanseison was established as an administrative village in the early Tokugawa period. Up to date, most of them can be seen as basic regional units in rural Japan. It is impossible to understand a present rural society without reconstructing formation processes of the territorial organization in the rural area through the Tokugawa period.
In the changing processes of productive activities and social relations, rural space has been differentiated as well as integrated. Though the sub-systems have been formed in the rural space through these processes, the rural space has been structured as one territory by internal or external forces.
From the above viewpoint, the author has attempted to clalify the structurization of the rural space where the spheres of cultivation and the social groups were formed, and to investigate the territorial unity of the hanseison. The field for the case study is a hanseison Ono, in Sibata county of Rikuzen province, situated in a small basin where the river terrace is formed. The territory of this hanseison contained several settlements, and could be divided into two difierent life spaces, Ono and Komatsukura.
The changing processes of the rural space and the territorial unity of the hanseison through the Tokugawa period are divided into the following three stages, and their situations are also summarized.
1. The first stage (ca. 1580-1650) : It seems that the peasants who settled down sporadically in the medival ages reclaimed fields near their own yashiki (homestead) each peasant had independently established his narrow sphere of cultivation. But, at the beginning of the 17 th century, mainly in the south-western part of this area, the wastelands were largely reclaimed. These cultivated lands were owned by the peasants residing in different areas of the village. The integration of the rural space through the land tenure form was arising. The territory of hanseison was formally fixed by Kan'ei Kenchi (the land survey) in 1642 as the unit for domination. In that time, however, it was the extended sphere of productive activities that contributed to the structurization of the rural space. In this stage, internal unity was remarkable. Then the feudal clan conformed this structured space as a unit for domination.
2. The second stage (ca. 1650-1750) : Both population and the number of honbyakusho (independent farmers) increased rapidly, and several settlements emerged, and machi grew as a central place. But, little expansion was made in the cultivated space, and sphere of cultivation were differentiated. At the same time, the formation of the territorial groups was promoted. Several goningumi (neiborhood groups) differentiated the rural space, but on the other hand, they were integrated under the administrative system. Furthermore, two groups of the supporters which belonged separately to two temples were formed. In this stage, the rural space was structured by the system of the social groups organized for administrative aim by feudal clan. Then, the territorial unity of the hanseison had been strengthened by external political power which had controlled the farmers through its territoriality.
3. The third stage (ca. 1750-1870) : Because of the severe famines, the number of honbyakusho decreased rapidly. Residential space also decreased, but four settlements remained. Goningumi lost its function, and kumi, the territorial groups coinciding with four settlements, strengthened the character as an organization for mutual aid, and differentiated the rural space. These groups were integrated into the territory of the hanseison, however, each settlement took a part of its function.