SPECIAL ISSUE: TECHNOLOGY AND LABOR IN MODERN JAPAN The Inside Contract System in Japan: With Particular Reference to the Coal Mining Industry

Yukio Yamashita

doi:10.5029/jrbh1984.4.1

SPECIAL ISSUE: TECHNOLOGY AND LABOR IN MODERN JAPAN

The Inside Contract System in Japan: With Particular Reference to the Coal Mining Industry

Yukio Yamashita

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1988 Volume 4 Pages 1-25

DOI https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh1984.4.1

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Published: March 15, 1988 Received: - Available on J-STAGE: June 28, 2010 Accepted: - Advance online publication: - Revised: -
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Date of correction: June 28, 2010 Reason for correction: - Correction: CITATION Details: Right : 1.G.C.Allen,The Industrial Development of Birmingham and the Black Country,1860-1927,London,1929,pp.159-65.
2.Sidney Pollard,The Genesis of Modern Management,1965,pp.38-47.
3.Craig R.Littler,The Development of the Labor Process in Capitalist Societies, London,1982.
3.Craig R.Littler,The Development of the Labor Process in Capitalist Societies, London,1982.
5.Romu Kanri Shiryo Hensankai,ed.,Nihon romu kanri nenshi(Japan Labor Management Yearbook),Vol.1,part1,1962;Hiroshi Hazama,Nihon romu kanrishi kenkyu(A Study of the History of Labor Management in Japan),Daiyamondosha,1964.
6.Pollard,op.cit.,pp.38-47.
7.Kosaburo Kato,“Meiji chu-koki honpo menshi bosekigyo ni okeru ukeoisei no rekishiteki seikaku-rengo ukeoi seido sairon”(The Historical Characteristics of the Contract System in the Cotton Spinning Industry in the Middle and Late Meiji Period:A Reevaluation of Joint Contract Systems),Senshu keizai ronshu,vol.17,no.2,1985.
8.D.Nelson,Managers and Workers:Origins of the New Factory System in the United States,1880-1920,pp.38-40,1975.My conception is that the hiring and controlling of the workers by the subcontractors instead of the factory owners are two fundamentals in the contract system.When these requirements are met,we may call it an inside contract.
9.Haruhito Shiomi,“America ni okeru kojo seido no henshitsu to naibu ukeoi seido,”(The Internal Contract System and the Mutation of the Factory System in the United States),Keiei shigaku,Vol.20,no.2,1985,pp.23-29.
10.S.Pollard,op.cit.,p.39.“Subcontract...does does not itself form a‘stage’, but may be compatible with different stages of development of industrial capitalism,according to technical and commercial needs and managerial competence.”
11.Kiyoemon Mori,Nihon no rodosha(Workers in Japan),Arimagumi,1919,pp.33-46.
12.Not only did the oyakata system take many different forms,it often went by different names.In civil engineering,it was called ninpu or kangokubeya;in coal mining,hanba or naya;in other industries,kumigashira or oyakata.The system differed from industry to industry and from case to case,but the differences were superficial.See Takeshi Fujimoto,Kumigashira seido no kenkyu(A Study of the Kumigashira System),Rodo Kenkyujo,1984,p.27.
13.Romu Kanri Shiryo Hensankai,op.cit.,p.68.
14.Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun,January23,1892;Mikio Sumiya,Nihon Chinrodo Shiron(A Study of the Emergence of the Wage Earners Class in Japan),University of Tokyo Press,1955,p.249.
15.Romu Kanri Shiryo Hensankai,op.cit.,p.68.
16.Taichi Kinugawa,Honpo menshi boseki shi(A History of the Cotton Spinning Industry in Japan),Vol.1,II.Nihon mengyo kurabu,1937.Mitsuhaya Kajinishi,ed.Sen'i(The Textile),Vol.1,Gendai Nihon Sangyo hattatsushi,1964.
17.The Agriculture Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce considered the years around1887to be a turning point insofar as patterns of labor recruitment in the cotton spinning industry were concerned.In Noshomusho Nomukyoku,ed.Nihon menshi boseki enkaku kiji(The History of Cotton Spinning in Japan),in Nihon rodo undo shiryo(Historical Documents for the Labor Movement in Japan,Vol.1,Rodo undo shiryo kanko iinkai,1962).The Bureau notes that most factories built before1887were set up to provide work for poor people in the immediate area.They were very small and did not employ many people,so that they were able to find what workers they needed in neighboring towns and villages.Labor costs were low,and employees tended to stay on the job for a long time.After1887,however,the situation was described as follows:As factories increased in number and the demand for labor went up,businesses had to look beyond their own locale for workers.From the1890s,most businesses had dormitories or other quarters for their employees,many of whom were from other areas.Today,as many as60percent of a factory's workers live in company dormitories.
18.Kinnosuke Ishii and Masahiro Matsumoto,“Nihon sen'i sangyo no keisei to hatten”(The Formation and Development of the Japanese Textile Industry),in Hiromi Arisawa,ed.Gendai Nihon sangyo koza(Studies in Modern Japanese Industries),Vol.7,Iwanami Shoten,1960,pp.30-32.The author's note(on p.31)states that“after all,spinning and weaving are very traditional crafts;as modern technology goes,they are at a very low level.”
19.See Note36regarding the hanba system.The hanba system in the cotton spinning industry differed from that in the coal mining industry.
20.Kurashiki Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha,ed.Kaiko rokujugo nen(A Sixty-five Year Retrospective),1953,pp.100-103;Hazama,op.cit.,p.268.
21.Noshomusho Shokkokyoku,ed.,Shokko jijo(boshi boseki)(Labor Conditions:the Cotton Spinning Industry),1903.See especially Chapter 4,“Shokko no koyo”(The Hiring of Workers).
22.Hazama,op cit.,Chap.4.
23.Masao Endo,“Meiji shoki ni okeru rodosha no jotai-gunjuteki shosangyo ni okeru rodo jijo(Labor Conditions in Early Meiji:the Situation in the Munitions Industries),in Meiji Shiryo Kenkyu Renrakukai,ed.,Meiji zenki no rodo mondai(Labor Problems in Early Meiji),Ochanomizu Shobo,1960,p.63.
24.Yokosuka kaigun kosho gijutsukan oyobi shokko kyoiku enkaku-shi(Educational Records for Workers and Technical Personnel at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal),Yokosuka Kaigun Kosho,1937,pp.6-7.
25.Ibid.,p.9.
26.Hazama,op.cit.,p.451;Tsutomu Hyodo,Nihon ni okeru roshi kankei no tenkai(The Development of Labor-Capital Relations in Japan),University of Tokyo Press,1971,pp.76-80.
27.Shokko jijo,Vol.III,pp.168-69;Hyodo,op.cit.,p.83.
28.Hyodo,op.cit.,Chap.2,section3.29.Mitsubishi Nagasaki zosenjo shokkoka,ed.,Nagasaki zosenjo romushi(A History of Labor at the Nagasaki Shipyard),Book1,1930,pp.5-6,20-25.
30.Sogyo hyakunen no Nagasaki zosenjo(The First One Hundred Years of Nagasaki Shipyard),Mitsubishi Zosen Kabushiki Kaisha,1957,p.24;Hazama,op.cit.,p.467.
31.Hyodo,op.cit.,pp.243-44.
32.Hazama,op.cit.,p.393;Nagasaki zosenjo romushi,BookII,p.9.The oyakata system was,among other things,very adaptive,and this feature worked to its advantage in an economy where the market was so uncertain.Another reason for its persistence was that the system proved useful to private industry in the latter's attempt to maximize profits.See Hazama,op.cit.,pp.448,451.
33.Yawata seitetsujo hachijunen shi(An Eighty-year History of the Yawata Ironworks),Vol.I,Shinnihon Seitetsu Kabushiki Kaisha yawata seitetsujo,1980,pp.36-37.
34.Nihon denki nanajunen shi(A Seventy-year History of the Nihon Electric Company),Nihon Denki Kabushiki Kaisha,1972,p.61;Toshiaki Chokki,“Nihon ni okeru kojo kanri no kindaika”(The Modernization of Factory Management in Japan,)in Keieishirin,Vol.22,no.1(1985),pp.14-17.
35.Shibaura Seisakujo rokujugonen shi(A Sixty-five-year History of the Shibaura Engineering Works),Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha,1940,pp.37-38,307.
36.Naya was the term commonly used in the Kansai area and farther westward;hanba was used in the Kanto area and areas farther north.Both may be considered typical oyakata systems,and are referred to in this article as oyakata systems.Hanba is usually used in a situation where10-20workers lived together in an approved private dormitory.The contractor(hanbagashira)collected money from the workers every month for board and other expenses,and also picked up a monthly commission(in proportion to the number of workers under his supervision)from the owners,as well as a set fee.Workers were paid from the commission received by the contractor,who thus functioned as a kind of intermediate exploiter.
37.Kofu taigu jirei(Case Studies of the Treatment of Miners),1908,especially“Hanbagashira no shokumu”(Responsibilities of the Contractor).See also Mikio Sumiya,“Naya seido no seiritsu to hokai”(The Development and Collapse of the Naya System),in Shiso,no.434,1960.
38.Ibid.,pp.104-105.
39.Refer to Shikitaro Oyama,“Takashima tanko ni miru Meiji zenki no oyakata seido no jittai”(The Oyakata System at the Takashima Coal Mine during the Early Meiji Years),in Ritsumeikan Keizaigaku,Vol.4,no.2,1955,pp.64-68.Other works that examine the contract system at Takashima include Nisaburo Murakushi,Nihon tanko chinrodo shiron(A History of Coal Miners in Japan),Jichosha,1951;and Naoki Tanaka,Kindai Nihon tanko rodoshi kenkyu(Studies in the History of Coal Miners in Modern Japan),Sofukan,1984.
40.Kidnapping was especially common around 1887;see Murakushi,op.cit.,p.90.For the situation in the cotton spinning industry,see Noshomusho Shokokyoku,op.cit.,pp.51-56.
41.Based on“Takashima tanko bunsho”(Documents on the Takashima Coal Mine),cited in Murakushi,op.cit.,pp.85-86.
42.Oyama,op.cit.,p.72.
43.Oyama,op.cit.,p.72.Murakushi,op.cit.,pp.98-100,112-115.
44.The Hokkaido Mining and Railroad Company was set up as a corporation in1889as a result of the sale of the government's Horonai Coal Mine and Horonai Railroad.It became Hokkaido Coal Mining and Shipping Company in1906.
45.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin)(A Fifty-year Company History,The First MS.unpublished),1938,pp.257-258.
46.According to the“Kofu sewayaku fukumu kokoroe”(Rules for Supervising Miners by Caretakers),established in April1894,the sewayaku(caretaker)was to carry out the following duties under the direction of the mine director:hiring and firing workers;issuing and reclaiming work certificates;seeing that the miners work diligently;conveying workers'requests and opinions to mine owners;overseeing and guarding the workers'sleeping quarters;and ensuring that all facilities were safe and sanitary.See Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.151-156.
47.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(enkaku)(Historical Narrative),pp.256-259.
48.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.21-22.
49.Ibid.,pp.138-139.
50.Murakushi,op.cit.,Chapter2,Section3.On pp.136-157,the author makes the point that,along with the development of a labor market for the coal mining industry,another necessary precondition to the kind of change we are discussing here is the accumulation of labor management skills on the part of industrialists.
51.Information in this section is based mainly on Yuzo Izumi,Tanko shitauke no kenkyu(Studies in Subcontracting in the Coal Mining Industry),Hokkaido rodo kagaku kenkyujo,1959,pp.67-71,and Tanaka,op.cit.,Chapters3and4.
52.Izumi,op.cit.,p.90.Normally more than6years were needed to become an expert miner.
53.For details on these developments at the Miike Mine,see Tanaka,op.cit.,Chapters3and4.
54.Hokutan nanajunen shi(A Seventy-year History of Hokutan),Hokkaido Tanko Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha,1958,p.120.For details on how excavation methods changed,see Gojunenshi,published in1939,pp.169-194.
55.This information is based on Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.177-214.
56.Convict labor was first used at the Horonai Mine in1887;reliance on convicts continued through1894.See Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.8-9,187;Masanori Matsumoto,Nihon romukanrishi dansho(A Chapter on the History of Labor Management in Japan),Shogaku ronsan,vol.28,no.3,1986.
57.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.27-28,148-149,257-267.
58.Hiroshi Ichihara,“Daiichiji taisen go no Hokutan no rodo undo taisaku”(Hokutan's Response to Labor Agitation after World WarI),in Keieishigaku,Vol.19,no.2,1984,pp.58-59.
59.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.37,154,268-277;Hokutan nanajunen shi,pp.151-153.
60.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),pp.25-26,28-29,151-165.
61.There was,ironically enough,some resistance on the part of the miners to the elimination of the role of the oyakata.According to Shikitaro Oyama,workers at the Takashima Mine were the first to oppose the firing of their oyakata,but similar opposition was soon evident elsewhere as well.The miners'sentiments reflected the strength of oyakata-kokata ties.One elderly miner complained that,without the oyakata system,the workers would be bound by rules in all aspects of their lives,would be unable to borrow money whenever they needed to,would no longer receive personal attention when they were ill,and would feel very badly about the way the oyakata were treated in the end.His apprehensions reflect regret at the loss of the warm,familial aspects of the traditional oyakata system;this apparently typical reaction made it mandatory for mine owners to devise something to take the place of the oyakata.See Oyama,op.cit.,p.86.On the other hand,some mine owners retained their oyakata as a way to impede nascent labor union activity;see Murakushi,op.cit.,pp.323-324.
62.Gojunenshi,daiichiji kohon(jugyoin),p.24.
63.Specifically,Murakushi has this to say:One often sees this tendency to view the naya and hanba as a feudal or semi-feudal institution in present-day research.My own feeling is that the structures I have dealt with have much in common with subcontract systems,which are themselves essentially capitalist phenomena.Like the naya and hanba systems,subcontracting developed on the basis of commodity production and the employment of wage labor;see Murakushi,op.cit.,pp.2-3.
64.One can see another instance of this tendency to fall back on traditional patterns and structures in the development of a familial approach to business management(keieikazokushugi).cf.J.C.Abegglen,The Japanese Factory,Aspects of its Social Organization,1958,pp.136-137.
65.Shiomi,op.cit.,pp.26-28;J.Buttrick,op.cit.,pp.206-207.
66.Keiichiro Nakagawa,“Beikoku ni okeru tairyoseisantaisei no hatten to kagakuteki kanri no rekishiteki haikei”(The Development of the Mass Production Systems and the Historical Background of Scientific Management in the U.S.A.),in Business Review,Vol.11.no.3,1964.F.W.Taylor,Shop Management,1911,pp.123-124;A.Litterer,“Systematic Management:the Search for Order and Integration,”Business History Review,Vol.35,no.4 1961,pp.464-465.A.D.Chandler,Jr.,The Visible Hand:The Managerial Revolution in American Business,1977,pp.270-272.

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