(1)
Paper by Katutosi Taguti. (The original paper in Japanese pages 128-130)
After the author, there are three kinds of famine brought to Japan in past 2 centuries: -1. Due to cyclonic storm or flood. 2. Due to general coolness and long continued rainfall in summer months. 3. Due to drought.
Among them, that due to general coolness is most serious in Japan. On examining the past record the author found that the famine of worst nature occurred when the sunspot cycle is large i.e. the cycle in which the total sunspot number is largest. For example, in 1782, 1783 and 1786 general coolness in summer destroyed the rice crops of these years. Many people died of hunger. The average sunspot number for the cycle 1775-1784 was 62.4, which was one maximum of six cycles from 1755 to 1823. In 1833, 1835 and 1836, nearly the same circumstances took place, which years lie in the maximum cycle of 1833-1843. etc. These relation is shown in Fig. I in Japanese page 130.
(2)
Paper by K. Yamazawa. (The original note in Japanese pages 131-134)
The author used the record of rice crops in Hida province for 174 years beginning in 1750. He classified the annual crops as rich, normal, poor and famine. The frequencies of the years with each of these 4 types are tabulated as follows.
This result shows that rich crops and famine have more chance to appear in the period of the greater cycle and poor crops in that of the smaller cycle. The author took statistics in various ways. All those results agree very well to affirm the above results. Table in Japanese p. 132 shows the distribution of crops during 174 years.
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