Abstract
The main production ground of Moxa in the Edo era was Shiga prefecutre and Gifu prefecutre, but the present main production ground is Niigata prefecutre. To clarify the process of this transition, the author examined old documents and legends.
The I have already reported about the Edo era, therefore this paper reports after the Meiji era from 1868 to 1998.
In the 1870's the biggest production ground was in Toyama prefecutre, followed by Fukui prefecutre, Niigata prefecutre and Ishikawa prefecutre are following that. However, in about 1930 Niigata prefecutre became the biggest production ground, when almost 100% of high-level Moxa was produced there. Moxa was also produced in Toyama prefecutre and Shiga prefecutre, although in very small quantities. For a certain period of time in the Showa era, Moxa was produced in Nagano, Ehime, Fukushima, Gunma prefecutre and Hokkaido but none is producted there nowadays.
The main reasons why the chief producing area was Niigata are as follows :
1. The former grasses of Yomogi were abundant and high quality.
2. Since Moxa was manufactured in the winter, it was easy for them to attract people to work in Niigata. In addition, labor wages were low in this area.
