The present study is mainly concerned with the changing structure of the upland field villages which had no paddy fields.
In the previous paper (1976), the author investigated the peddling activities by farmers and their agrarian bases in the upland field villages on the
Midaigawa alluvial fan in Yamanashi Prefecture. It was clarified that a large number of farmers, especially of the low class, were depending on the peddling activities to cover up their money shortage problem. In that paper, however, the scope of study was mainly limited to the lower class farmers, so the whole social and economic structures of the villages were not necessarily explained.
Therefore, in this paper, the author intends to clarify the problem by analyzing the agricultural management and commercial activities by the landowner, the
Sajibei family, in the
Nishino village on the
Midaigawa alluvial fan.
The main results are summarized as follows:
The early
Edo period (the 17th century): The
Nishino village consisted of about 30
Honbyakusho (independent farmers) and many subordinate farmers called
Kakaeya (kinship with
Honbyakusho),
Kadoya (non-kinship),
Fudaigenin (non-kinship, most intensely subordinate) and
Genin (apprentice). The high class
Honbyakusho, like the
Sajibei family, who owned comparatively large lands, had control over these four types of subordinate farmers. On the other hand middle or low class
Honbyakusho had control over
Kakaeya. But it is worthy to note that every
Honbyakusho had subordinate farmers.
The mid
Edo period (from the beginning of the 18th century to the first decade of the 19th century): During the second half of the 17th century,
Kakaeya had positively reclaimed waste lands and increased their lands more than ever. In 1709, they could become independent of
Honbyakusho not only for their economic base but also for their social position. As a result, the number of
Honbyakusho increased greatly, while the number of
Kakaeya decreased sharply (Fig. 6). The pattern of family composition had also changed. Only the high class
Honbyakusho had apprentices, while the others lost subordinate farmers.
For the new
Honbyakusho it was not easy to depend on agriculture, because its productivity was very low in those days. Therefore, necessarily, they had to supplement their income with non-agricultural economic activities. Hence, they began to peddle agricultural products, but they could not sufficiently earn at that time. After all, they had to pawn their lands to high class farmers in order to pay the tax.
The
Sajibei family had been engaging in the wholesale business of tobacco from the beginning of the 18th century. It gathered tobacco from producers, brokers and wholesale merchants, and sold them to peddlers and wholesale merchants both in
Kai (Yamanashi Prefecture) and other districts, especially in
Edo (Tokyo). It could earn much money and afford to lend money to low class farmers. It had gained plenty of lands during the latter half of the 18th century. Many new
Honbyakushos lost their lands and became
Kosaku farmers (tenants).
The late
Edo period (from the second decade of the 19th century): The
Sajibei family began to do the agricultural management as a landowner of rental farms in the latter half of the 18th century. But it could not earn much money by this management work because the income was only slightly more than the expenses. Therefore, it did not expand its management. Its
Kokudaka holding decreased to 21
Koku (1
Koku=180 liters) in 1851 as compared to 128
Koku in the first decade of the 19th century, mainly due to the division of property by inheritance.
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