Abstract
After the national movement to improve rural society (Nosangyosonkeizaikoseiundo) started in 1932, the agricultural policy of the government cleary changed toward to protect and control tenant-farmars directly.
However, the government executed the policy within the reform of the product force, or without radically reforming the land ownership. As a result, the village was controlled dually by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the government. The former controlled the village as a political organization through Buraku-kai which was the self-government body of the village and the latter controlled the village as an economic organization through Noji-jikko-kumiai newly organized in the village.
The important posts of the Buraku-kai were then occupied by the landowners who cultivated some of their own land and rent out the remainder and by owners who were the representatives of the order of the traditional ownership. On the other hand, the important posts of the Noji-jikko-kumiai were occupied by owner-tenants or tenant-owners who were the representatives of the order of the management.
Accordingly, in studying the political structure of the village during the World War II, we should pay attention to the dual control of a village by the government and the differences of classes and functions between the Buraku-kai and the Noji-jikko-kumiai.
