In this article, a few issues related to the history of stock raising in modern Japan were evaluated through a study of domestic animal deposition custom. Even in the modern era, domestic animal raising in Japan is not conducted as a form of modern industry. Domestic animal raising was conducted as a "custom," which functioned as a life security for rural community members. Because the wealth generated from domestic animal raising was not subject to taxation traditionally, a unique idea on the domestic animal ownership based on the life security function of domestic animal raising was formed. This idea of ownership seems to have transformed into an individualistic one in the process of modernization. The history of domestic animal raising in modern Japan comprises several specific aspects. By pursuing each specific aspect consciously, we can find relationships with various other historical phenomena and can construct a broader history of domestic animal raising.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the change in beef supply in Japan after the Russo-Japanese war. Both civilian and military demand for beef rose sharply during the period, and domestic cattle farming could no longer support Japan's growing demand for beef. Japan had expanded its empire by colonizing Korea in 1910 and occupying Shandong in 1924 as a result of the battle of Qingdao. These events made it possible to import cattle and beef from Korea and Qingdao to satisfy Japan's growing demand for beef. The results of this study reveal the following two important points. The first point concerns the actions taken to counter rinderpest. Import of cattle was associated with the risk of animal infection, especially rinderpest. Japan suffered repeated accumulation of rinderpest that accompanied to cattle import. These rinderpest epidemics became the key factor for declining imports of cattle from Quingdao, which were then replaced by imports of carcasses instead. However, imports from Korea did not decline despite the influx of the disease. This may be attributed to the high reputation enjoyed by cattle imports from Korea, not just as asource of beef but also as a farming cattle: cattle from Korea were also used as field labor. The second point is that there were distinct differences between the cattle reared in Japan itself and the beef imports, which led to differentiation in meat quality. During the period under study, Japan developed techniques for fattening cattle, which were mainly targeted at producing marbled meat for gyunabe. The imported beef and cattle were thus evaluated as being inferior to the fattened indigenous cattle. However, the supply of inferior and low-priced imported beef contributed towerd popularizing the custom of eating beef in Japan.

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This paper focuses on the horse as the stockbreeding directly connected with military demand in modern Japan, and describes how the requisition and replenishment of horses were carried out in wartime. Through the analysis, this study makes clear following four points: 1) Military horses mobilized by the Japanese Army during World War II amounted to 500-600 thousands. It was not practiced suddenly, but had been prepared elaborately by improving Japanese horse's blood for thirty years over, with abundant investment of state capital and economical patience of farmers breeding or keeping horses. 2) When the Sino-Japanese war began in 1937, the Army requisitioned about 220 thousands of horses. It caused many problems especially in horse-using area such as Kanto region, the steep rise in price of buying and borrowing horses, hard work of left ones, and substitution of cattle, and so on. 3) The government carried out the horse-replenishing project immediately, which encouraged to import colts of isolated islands to horse-requisitioned areas with brokerage and subsidy for transportation. Its scale was insufficient to cover the shortage of farming horses, but it had an effect to modernize and rationalize the conventional distribution of horses on the other hand. 4) According to a horse-breeding research at that time, the farmers replenishing either colt or cattle for requisitioned horses were forced to work harder than before, but they couldn't avoid their cash flow became worse in the next year. It showed that horse requisition was impossible without bad influence for farming managements.

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As a case study of the Bisai textile and industrial areas of the Taisho era from the Meiji period, this paper will examine the interaction between agriculture and the textile industry in order to sketch the formation process of this industrial area. First, there is a structural transformation of the textile industry, starting from the late 19th century. Since the early modern period, the Bisai cotton fabric industry thrived as a household industry, and grew with the introduction of the factory machine loom beginning at the end of the 19th century. Then, in particular as a response to the First World War, which resulted in a new market for uniforms and military blankets, production was converted from cotton fabric to wool. When the factories were established, a lot of female workers gathered. Such production not only resulted in secure labor, but it also increased the demand for food with the rising number of workers leaving farms. The demand for fuel for use in textile production and cooking also increased. Second, there is an important relationship between agriculture and the textile industry. The development of vegetable cultivation was observed near rural factories and cities in Aichi Prefecture. Night soil, which has been indispensable in the development of vegetable cultivation, was supplied from the city, parade ground and factories. The cultivation of rice and wheat experienced chronic labor shortages and soaring labor costs as a result of the flow of the workforce from agriculture to industry. Thus agriculture in the region in the Taisho period was heavily influenced by the development of commerce and industry, especially the textile industry. Such socio-economic change not only affected Bisai, but characterizes the formative years of industrial areas in Japan as a whole. There was an increased demand for labor in agriculture and industry, as well as for food, fuel and fertilizer. Thus, there was a profound interrelationship between the transformations occurring in industry and the surrounding rural area.

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Land repurchasing is for land sellers to repurchase lands from buyers by refunding the purchase price. Similar to pledging or mortgaging, the fundamental objective of land repurchasing is to regain possession of land offered as collateral. Studies of the establishment and development of land repurchasing practice were started rather recently, and few case studies of the practice, particularly in western Japan, have been reported. This study discusses how the land repurchasing practice was established and developed in western Japan during the Meiji era (1868-1912) and determined the following: The study was conducted in the prefectures of Fukui, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama, Tokushima and Kumamoto and confirmed that land repurchasing practices existed in all six prefectures. It can be assumed that the practice existed in all areas of western Japan In the Edo era, when the sale of land was prohibited by the Shogunate, there were practices of de facto land repurchasing or land pledging similar to land repurchasing in those areas. The underlying motives originated from the notion that family estates had to be handed down. Once the sale of land was approved in 1872, those practices were recognized as land repurchasing. In the 1880s, the practice of land repurchasing was used as a credit instrument, restricting the private land ownership of the purchaser. This trend was significant during the Matsukata deflation period of 1881-1885. The land repurchasing practice was established as a result of requests made by debtors who were forced to sell irredeemable pledged or mortgaged land or sellers who sold land for cash to resell lands to them. It can be said that in western Japan the land repurchasing practice was established and developed as an alternative form of security to pledging or mortgaging, rather than as a second attempt at security. The rate at which land repurchasing was agreed was high and the rate at which sellers repurchased lands was also high. These features may be different from those in eastern Japan.

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the roles of rural post-elementary education for girls during the Japanese modern period. At the time, post-elementary educational institutions were diversified and ranked hierarchically. We compared two schools-Ibaraki and Katano- to show the differences in the processes of raising the hierarchal status of the schools. They were established in 1898 as the courses of sewing for girls called "saihousensyuuka," and attached by higher elementary schools in the suburban villages of Osaka. Ibaraki's status, which had been attached by Youzei higher elementary school in Ibaraki Village, changed in stages and eventually raised to become a girls' high school status, while Katano's status, which had been attached by Kounan higher elementary school in Katano Village, was not raised and eventually became a normal youth school named Katano Girls' Sewing School. The conclusions about rural girls' education are as follows: First, changes in the student hierarchy occurred. At Ibaraki, most of the students were rich farmer's daughters in Mishima District, and there was an increase in new middle class students from large cities during the Showa era. At Katano, almost all the students were farmer's daughters around Katano Village, and they were not rich. Second, the importance of sewing education changed. At Ibaraki, the number of sewing hours decreased, and the number of hours spent on other subjects increased. Katano, however, still placed a high value on sewing after World War II. Third, the social norms for women changed. At Ibaraki, the students were allowed to express more modern and varying behaviors. At Katano, the students were expected to be simple farmer's wives. The introduction of post-elementary education for girls in rural society demonstrated the hierarchical structure of the society during the Japanese modern period.

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Isabella L. Bird (1831-1904) wrote Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: An Account of Travels in the Interior, Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrines of Nikko and Ise. Recently, the complete translation was published. This paper reads the translation of Bird's work as a significant record of historical materials of modern Japan. This book features three main points. First, the invisible is highlighted, not just the visible. Second, the analysis includes both the old and the new; in other words, it depicts the bilateral character. Third, it vividly depicts the regional differences in the same era. It draws the differences between the urban and rural areas, and it has become a valuable record of the agricultural technology and rural landscape of each region in the early Meiji era. In addition, Bird analyzed the major structural transformation of society since Japan was facing a structural transformation during this period. I found that Unbeaten Tracks in Japan is not just traveling writing. There is value in this book as a historical document for understanding modern Japan.

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