Abstract
Primitive agricultural management of “Yakihata” Cultiuation still exists in some mountaineous area in Kyushu. Itsugi-mura in Kuma-gun, Kumamoto-ken which lies in the bosom of the Kyushu mountains is also one of the good examples. “Yakihata” have a general tendency of being difficult to conceive their actual state as they are scattered among the steep mountaineous areas and that they have a tendency to shift every 4 or 5 years. According to the description of 1794 (the 6th year of Kansei) which still remains at Izuruha, Itsugi-mura, 99.7% of the arable land of this village was “Yakihata”. Also according to the description remaining at Mizonokuchi, Itsugi-mura dated 1874 (the 7th year of Meiji), the acreage of “Yakihata” ammounts to 88% of the whole arable land. Such being the case, the tenants on these farm-lands till the “Yakihata.” At Izuruha, only one out of the 17 households is a landlord and the others are tenants. The usage of payment may be called physical labour, so in order to pay the rent, the tenants must work for the landlord during snch days as requested by him beforehand. The time of labour is fixed on the so-called busy farming season. This is because the landlord himself also runs a farm. As to the tenants, their sacrifices are greater than at the time of their leisure. The amount of labour of the landlord here in the year of 1946 numbered 310 days. It seems that payment of rent in crops or in cash bocomes object of income tax, while this physical labour does not. This is because the system is organized so cleverly that to get the clear view of this is difficult and because taxvtion officials seldom detect the real situation, Accordingly this “Yakihata” tenant system includes a remarkable irrational element from the economical point of view, and are concluded as a genuine feudalistie usage. The reason why such a fact still exists in these area is complicated, but the main points are:
(1) that they had no opportunity of changing human labour into monney, as these areas are situated in isolated rlates and the means of transportation is inconvenient.
(2) that the feudalistic relation between master and servant originating in history is strong and the relation which resembled the lord and subjects of the medieval age remains among the landlord and the tenants.
