抄録
While the previous study focused on the origins of the agarito, this one aims to describe its spread and evolution, from a socio-historical perspective. The agarito established itself as a normal feature of the farmhouses in this area over a span of eighty years, between the end of the Meiji era and the sixth Showa decade. It first appeared in upper-class farmhouses, and became widespread in ordinary-class farmhouses during the third and fourth Showa decades; while there was a corresponding decline in the same period of the farming activities that made use of the front part of the earthen floor. During the sixth Showa decade, the agarito was modified with increasing frequency in order to accommodate changes of lifestyle. One modification was to enclose it with a screen or wall; another was to floor the side of the agarito, instead of leaving bare earth. But the end result of this change was the demise of the agarito itself, with its transitional role. By the start of the sixth Showa decade, most new farmhouses were built without an earthen floor at all, and thus also without an agarito.
