Group Structure of Migrant Craftsmen and their Areal Expansion

The Case of“Kishu”Blacksmiths

Abstract

Research on seasonal labour migrants (“dekasegi”) has been one of the important themes in Geography. In Japan, much work has accumulated since the 1930s. Such labour migrants have various occupations, and thus it has not easy to classify them. The author has attempted to classify migrant groups into those occupations which require skills and those which do not. The former includes“Toji”, “Urushi-kaki”, blacksmiths, etc.. The latter includes factory workers and construction workers. The criterion of this classification is whether in some period in the worker's life history a period for mastering the technology of his handicraft was needed or not.
Although there have been many papers on this theme, they are limited to the economic sphere. Certainly, this phenomenon is linked to the economic conditions. The reasons why such workers leave their native place is to earn some money for their family. But in the case of those occupations which require skills, the socio-cultural aspects cannot be ignored in observing human spatial behavior and the communication of traditional technology to the younger generations.
The author has investigated the group structure of migrant craftsmen and elucidated their areal expansion. A group of blacksmiths called“Kishu-Kaji”was selected as an example. Needless to say, blacksmiths in rural areas make farming tools of iron such as hoes and sickles.
We can summarize our results as follows:
(1) The origin of these seasonal migrant blacksmiths can be dated from the Edo Period. In modern times, many of them have settled at their worksites. Nowadays they are obliged to cease working, because of mechanization in agriculture and the spread of cheaper farming tools made in factories.
The distribution of“Kishu-Kaji”is recognized throughout the Kinki District. Their native place is in Hidaka-County, Wakayama Prefecture.
(2) In the case of Haneta village in Minabe town there had been a group of craftsmen since the Edo Period called“Ebisu-ko”. This group left some documents about its regulations, the names of its members, and so on.
Based upon these documents and the results of fieldwork by the author, we can see the historical changes of group structure and behaviour patterns.
(3) The number of members had been decreasing since 1880, and the group had vanished after the World War II. During the process of decline, areal expansion is typified by the younger generation taking advantage of the worksites of the older generation as a bridgehead and a place to gather information about suitable worksites. In this context, the regulations of 1880 and 1881 represent the conflict between the younger generation, seeking suitable work places and the older who had already established worksites and service areas.
(4) In this migration, the unit of decision-making was the family. Also, in the process of communicating the techniques and traditions of the craft and its lifestyle the family plays an important role. In other words, successive generations in the family are the carriers of tradition. The process of distribution of“Kishu-Kaji”can be explained by the various decisions made in the family cycle.
(5) Most of the working places of migrant blacksmiths from Haneta village are north of the Kizu River and the Yodo River. This can be easily seen from the documents of the“Ebisu-ko”and the results of fieldwork.
A correlation between the areas of origin and the areas of setttement can recognized to some degree. This is because the information exchange network was limited and local to some extent.