The Problems of the Community in Rural Society
1974 Volume 25 Issue 1 Pages 40-52,118
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1974 Volume 25 Issue 1 Pages 40-52,118
In the course of the high economic growth since 1955, rural society of our country has undergone a drastic change. With the advent of the sixties, this change became so marked that it came to be referred to as “Collapse of Mura-village community-”. This paper aims to examine the meaning of the problems with which rural communites have been confronted by the above-mentioned change.
In this paper two points are taken up for discussion. In the first place, the changes which “Collapse of Mura” has produced in rural communities are studied. In the second place, the changes in the rural community called “Mura” are traced to the Meiji Restration, and the role of the changes played in connection with total society is discussed.
At present there are considerable differences of view on “Mura”. The writer's view is that “Mura” is an agricultural village community, a kind of “Gemeinschaft”, relying on the interdependence of the peasantry. Viewed in this light the so-called “Collapse of Mura” does not necessarily mean the disorganization of “Mura”, so long as it keeps up the interdependence of the peasantry. What is more important is that such a phenomenon as “Collapse of Mura” shows that there is in rural communities a general tendency which forms a part of the structural change of our country.
Before the World War II, though it was repeatedly reorganized in the process of the development of society as a whole, the “Mura” preserved a position to be utilized as a smallest but powerful unit supporting the constituted order controlled by the Tenno system. The same is true after the War. The communal order of “Mura” is still preserved as an institution to support the establishment. With the advance high economic growth essential changes have begun to take place in the existing relations between “Mura” and the establishment. Now, the importance of “Mura” is becoming smaller and smaller both to the ruling class and to the farming polulation. And the Government is planning to establish a more centralized administration fitted for a vast area. As a result “Mura” has become one of the numerous life areas of the village population.
In this connection it is extremely necessary to establish new methods of approach to the study of the rural community.
