明治後期-大正期における北海道農業村落成立の前提についての若干の考察

-北海道村落社会論序説 (1) -

抄録

Most of the rural communities in Hokkido were formed during the years from 1890 to 1920's, when people from all parts of Japan (NAICHI) migrated into Hokkaido at the rate 10, 000 to 260, 000 households a year. This means that, every year, 0.10% to 0.24% of all the households in Japan immigrated to Hokkado, and 20% to 60% of these migrating households were engaged in farming. Though they did not have neighboring, personal, and or face-to-face relationship with each other, these immigrants formed social relations and social organizations whose unit was each household as IE.
From this fact, we can hypothesize about the rural society in the main land Japan (NAICHI) that the were conditions, both outside and inside of each BURAKU, which made people leave their BURAKU with the whole family and quit farming. Some people chose to, and others were forced to leave their BURAKU : and some of these people migrated into Hokkaido.
I. In Japan, total arable land was 5, 060, 000 CHO in 1900 and 6, 080, 000 CHO in 1920. During these years, the farming population decreased from 16, 840, 000 to 14, 120, 000 ; the number of farming households increased slightly to 5, 480, 000 in 1920. Let us compare the number of farming households and the mean of arable land per a farming household in 1890 and 1920. In 1920 the total number of farming households in each prefecture was 80% to 130% of that in 1890. The number decreased in more that half of the prefectures. The mean of arable land per a farming household in eace prefecture in 1920 was 80% to 160% of that in 1890. In more than half of the prefectures the mean increased. Thus, with the improvement of agricultural technology, there were many cases that farmers left their BURAKU with the whole family.
II. The productivity and stability of rice prodution increased with the improvement of agricultural technology. In 1990's this cased reduction and break down of such type of land holding that landlords themselves cultivate some part of their own land besides renting -ZINUSHI-TEZUKURI KEIEI-. This trend is one of the conditions which brought about the situation described in I.
Immigrants to Hokkaido came from all parts of Japan ; among them many came from TOHOKU and HOKURIKU regions, where only rice was produced, at a higher rate especially during the years from 1905 to 1920's. The number of households immigrated from the prefectures of these regions, from 1892 to 1922, amounted to 60% of all the households immigrated to Hokkaido during these years. Most of the BURAKU in these prefectures were under the domination of “huge” landlords who owned 100 CHO to 1, 000 CHO -KYODAI ZINUSHI. Rapid technological innovation which took place in these BRRAKU gave rise to the domination of these absentee, huge landlords, while the smaller landlords who lived within ruined. The absentee, huge landlords managed to tenants through land agents -SAHAI or TEDAI. The relationship between the landlord and the tenat came to be impersonal, non-neighboring, and to have the nature of contract. Both on the side of landlords and the tenants, there were motives which caused severe competition of selecting tenants to survive in the BURAKU. As its result, some of the tenants increased their land, and others left BURAKU and or farming, so did the ruined, smaller landlords too. Part of these people migrated into Hokkaido.