The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries carried out agriculture village census eight times from 1955 to 2000. This census is the statistical investigation of the Japanese rural community in whole country. Investigation item is different in each time, influenced by the change of the focus of the rural problems. For example, the characteristic of the traditional village community was investigated in 1955, rural-urban intercourse and new group activity by women is included in 2000. Recent investigation shows that, non-farmhouses increased, and farmhouses are only about 10％ within the households of the village, as the result of urbanization. It is one of the process of de-agriculture in Japanese agriculture village.

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　　　The aim of this article is to investigate the structure and characteristics of the rural Goningumi Association at the Kamishiojiri Village of Ueda in the late Tokugawa Era. Goningumi was the system of neighborhood association at village and town in the Baku-han Regime. It is said that this association had the functions of mutual aid, joint responsibility and commandment transmission however the feature and structure of it was historically not so obvious. In this article we analyzed and considered this system by using the Shumon-Aratame-Cho Data Base and administrative documents of the Kamishiojiri Village.
　　　The village ruling system of the Ueda district was established by the Tadachika Matsudaira( the lord of Ueda Han) at the early decades of eighteenth century. He made many ruling system of his territory and arranged the Goningumi system of the villages including the Kamishiojiri’s one. In this time the Goningumi system of this village consisted of 133 member houses ( population of 655 ), 36 Kumi units and 7 groups. The arrangement principle was the Dozoku ( lineage group of Ie). From the eighteenth century to the end of nineteenth century, Ueda district was famous for the silk worm eggs producing area. The peasant families engaged in the silk worm nourishing and trading business of their eggs. Their household and economy had changed gradually to the market oriented ones. Under such historical conditions the organization of peasants’ family had changed and the Goningumi system had become not to work so well. In 1832 Tadamasu Matsudaira, the new lord of Ueda Han, did the reformation of the ruling system and restructured the Goningumi system of all villages. In the Kamishiojiri the village officers reorganized this system according to the principle of inhabitant. This new Goningumi system consisted of 181 member houses and 33 Kumi units and the leader of Goningumi became the member of Yoriai(village meeting). This meeting became to have the actual policy making function in the village. The organizations of the peasant families like the Dozoku or the Ie-Rengo diverged and diluted in the end of Tokugawa Era. Then the administrative Mura (village) had become the agent of the peasants’ communality.

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　　　The purpose of this article is to clarify the logic and inevitability of Japanese landownership in Manchuria and the peculiarity of the farming immigrants in this northeastern region of China by analyzing the management of the Mizuho Village by the third experimental group and the realities and logic of the farmers’ behaviors in their life.
　　　It was demanded that immigrant farmers conduct diversified farm operations and lead a self-sufficient life in order to provide for themselves production and living means.
　　　The fact, however, was contrary to the aforementioned political demand. The villagers were forced to expend excessive cash. At the same time, their produce were differentiated as cash crops. This led them to employ many local laborers for farm management and they were obliged to purchase daily necessities and some other things to survive.
　　　On the other hand, differentiation of farm products led to a steep rise in wages. In the face of wage increases prevailing in the Manchurian farm villages as a whole, Japanese immigrant farmers were driven into a corner to the point of bankruptcy. They had no other choice but to spoil their farmland in order to keep local labor to a minimum and become landowners. Nevertheless, weeding was insufficient on their own farmland, and as a result, their yield began to drop on both their paddies and farms. It accelerated instability in farm management conducted by them. Consequently landownership was sought after in an attempt to disperse farm management risks.
　　　Whatever efforts they made, the end result was the devastation of fertile farm land due to extensive, careless agriculture, followed by landownership on the part of them. In addition, this fact illustrates their resource-depriving and non-continuous farm management. Herein lies a difference with Japanese farmers, that is, the non-farmer characteristic of the Japanese immigrants.

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　　　The purpose of this paper is to analyse the structure of farming abandonment in paddy field areas in the suburbs since the latter half of 1980s focusing on the labor market, work structure, family structure, and landownership structure. The conclusions are that:
　　　1) Class fluctuations have become sharp since 1990s through a land market and contract farmings. As a result, farm land and farm production is being concentrated in the hands of a small number of scale expanding farmers.
　　　2) A change in the labor market is behind the sharp class fluctuation. The labor market in Ryugasaki is in the process of transition from Tohoku type to Kinki type. The Tohoku type is one in which the labor market has many low wage labors, while the Kinki type is one in which the labor market does not have low wage labor. There are both low wage labor groups and high wage labor groups in the male members which were born since 1945 in this area.
　　　3) There are the largest number of households abandoning farming in the group of farm households that includes the male members born from 1945 to 1954 (Group A). The number of households abandoning in the group of farm households that includes the male members born from 1955 to 1964 (Group B) are less than Goup A. This seems to be because of the fact that although the parents of Group A are in the process of retiring from farming, the parents of Group B, which includes the male members born from 1926 to 1934, have been continuing to farm by contracting out the main work on their farms to other farmers.
　　　The number of households abandoning farming in the group of farm households (Group C) that includes the male members born from 1935 to 1944 are few. This is for the reason that this generation must continue to farm because the wages available in the labor market which it is belong to are low.

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　　　Since the late 1980s, studies on Japanese women in rural areas have become very popular. As an example, in 1994 the Japanese Association for Rural Studies set aside a session entitled “Agriculture and Women: the changes of labor and consciousness.” Furthermore, in 1995, in order to clearly outline the current research trends, the above-mentioned association published the “Annual Bulletin of Rural Studies vol.31 special issue Independent Women in Family Farm Management” after this topic had been discussed at a study session. From the numerous past studies, now we realize that women in rural Japan has made full use of their capabilities. However, the background and factors promoting women’s empowerment needs to be clarified and put into perspective. It is important to study the social process and interaction between Ie, Mura and women in detail.
　　　In this paper, the objective is to highlight women’s empowerment, social constriction, how they adjusted or solved their problems. I have made several suggestions on the background and factors promoting women’s empowerment.
　　　From the eleven cases I researched, results show that women who experienced social constraints still managed to gradually change their conservative social norms, obtained cooperation from their family members, or eventually accepted by men and admitted into the community. People in the rural society encourage the efforts women make to change themselves although some tasks do remain to be solved. The family members, especially the husbands support them. In numerous instances, it seems new social environments do exist.

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