The Tenancy Custom and the Colonial Rice in Korea 1900-1930 (Japanese Capitalism and the Colonies)

Abstract

It is well known that there were three kinds of tenancy custom by which landlords collected rents toward the end of the 1920s or about 1930. Those were J<eon>^^^-g-jo (定租), Ta-jo (打租), and Jib-jo (執租). Though it has been every so often explained that those had remained unchanged since the Li Dynasty, it is a question. There were two kinds of tenancy custom by which landlords collected rents in the latest period of the Li Dynasty. One was called Ta-jag (打作) by which landlord shared the produce of the fields equally. The other was called Do-ji (賭地) by which one third of the produce went to landload. On paddy fields in the southern district of Korea, many landlords had been collecting rents by Do-ji. Peasants bore land taxes; however, Do-ji was more profitable for them than Ta-jag. Soon after Imperialist Japan annexed Korea in 1910, Do-ji rapidly came to extinction. So Do-ji disappeared toward the latter half of the 1910s, in place of Do-ji newly Jib-jo emerged, by which landlord looked over the standing crops and more than 50 percent of the produce went to landlord. Therefore, Jib-jo is not the same as Do-ji. Rice harvested in Korea was in quantity transported to Japan. It was important for Imperialist Japan to import Korean rice, most of which was the improved sort. In 1912 the improved sort was cropped 3 percent of total paddy fields. As the improved sort was clearing the paddy fields of the conventional sort for the 1910s, the cropping of the improved sort amounted to 62 percent of total paddy fields in 1921. Though the significance of the improvement has often been given large emphasis, it is questionable. Much water was essential to the improved sort. Since the paddy fields which had irrigation facilities were few in Korea, the improved sort didn't have much effect. It was necessary to sellect the improved sort wihch was fit for cropping on the paddy fields without watering. As a means of settling this trouble, the Rice Production Increase Plan had to be carried out.