開農義会と『開農雑報』

明治初期の農業結社とその人々

抄録

The Kainou-gikai, which was founded in 1875, was the first agricultural society in modern Japan. The periodical bulletin which was published by this society was the Kainou-zappou. This bulletin was the first periodical agricultural bulletin in modern Japan. Therefore, the Kainou-gikai and the Kainou-zappou were very important in the modern history of Japanese agriculture. However, there has been little research about the Kainou-gikai and the Kainou-zappou so far. This study is the first detailed research about the Kainou-gikai and the Kainou-zappou. The aim of this study is to clarify the role the Kainou-gikai and the Kainou-zappou played in the modern history of Japanese agriculture.
Most of the members of the Kainou-gikai were bureaucrats of the Department of the Interior or the Ministry of Finance. However, this was not all they had in common. From the last years of the Edo Period to the early stages of the Meiji Era, most of the members in the Kainou-gikai studied western learning or Japanese classical literature. In the early stages of the Meiji Era, they were the educated elite concerned with agriculture. Because there were few people who knew about modern agriculture at that time, their roles in popularizing knowledge about modern agriculture and improving agricultural technology were very important.
The Kainou-zappou became the model for the periodical agricultural bulletins which were published after that. Moreover, the meeting which they held in Tokyo in 1876 (Kainou-rinjikai) became the model for the nationwide meeting on agriculture (Noudankai) in 1881.