This article aims at explaining why a local community chose to adopt a livelihood combining multiple farming activities during the period of rapid economic growth in Japan when mass production and consumption through single crop farming in agriculture accelerated. Through this analysis, it offers observations on how people responded to agricultural policy.

  Field work was undertaken in the Katayose Urushitachi District in Shiwa Town, Iwate Prefecture (hereinafter, Urushitachi). Initiatives for the improvement of the production base and technical innovation were launched in this area, but due to the limited room for expansion of scale, the agricultural cooperative proposed an agricultural management method called the “Shiwa model of diversified farming.” This was a method where farmers combined multiple production activities, such as mushrooms, livestock, and vegetables and fruits.

  Urushitachi had traditionally adopted a unique livelihood of combining various farming activities in a year and juggling these activities flexibly depending on the conditions. It is believed that this community was able to embrace the “Shiwa model of diversified farming” by building on this mode of livelihood.

  On the other hand, the “Shiwa model” was actually accepted by each farmer only as “one option.” In addition to the issue of manpower in each family, the building of human relations based on this mode of livelihood, the application of knowledge, and other factors were the basis of their decision. It was found that this model was able to take root owing to individual diversity.

  From the above, it is believed that a comprehensive analysis of the overall policy framework and how specific modes of livelihood developed is very important for understanding peopleʼs daily life in contemporary society.

  This article offers observations on the oral history of Tono-kochi in the Shori District of Kannamachi in Tano-gun, Gunma Prefecture, which is located near the boundary with Saitama Prefecture. It explains the historical background as seen from the local peopleʼs narrative and how this is understood at present.

  Kannamachi was part of an area called sanchuryo, or a domain under the direct jurisdiction of the Edo Shogunate, during the early modern period. In the Genroku Era (1688-1704), a dispute over the fief boundary arose between the sanchuryo and Bushu. A court verdict determined that the line along the mountain ridge was the boundary. On the other hand, research has shown that the Kannagawa River running in the center of the sanchuryo used to be the fief boundary. It has been noted that perception of the boundary has been ambiguous.

  In Tono-kochi on the right bank of the present Kannagawa, oral history has it that coal was buried in the mountain during the Meiji Period as evidence that a court decision changed the fief boundary. The former Shinto priest family of the Tono Shrine relayed the detailed history of the beginning of Tono-kochi and the change of fief boundary. However, the Tono Shrine was a shrine that had had connections with Chichibu since the Genroku Era. Moreover, the history of its affiliation with Bushu was known even outside Chichibu, and this history has gradually been understood through the ancestorsʼ experience and the excellent Shinto funeral tradition in the area on the right bank of Kannagawa. Furthermore, the period when the change of boundary allegedly took place was a time when the boundaries with Joshu, Iwahana Prefecture, and Gunma Prefecture were in flux. This was behind the history of fief boundary shift.

  The history of boundary change in Tono-kochi has been passed on in oral history not only by way of the experience of people in the past, but also through present day geographical and cultural disparities.

  Yokohama, where this symposium is being held, has been Japanʼs window to the world since its port opened toward the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture, which is affiliated with Kanagawa University, the venue of this meeting, was founded by Shibusawa Keizo. The institute has been a main pillar of inquiry and research on “Japan seen from the sea.”

  It is said that Shibusawa strived to complement his forerunner in folklore studies Yanagita Kunio by emphasizing inquiry and research on fishermen versus farmers and material culture and folk implements versus spiritual culture. Above all, he showed that the main subject of academic studies is “jomin (commoners).” With the aim of capturing the daily life of common folks in an authentic and multidimensional manner, he not only conducted joint surveys by researchers in various fields from multiple angles but also attempted to introduce the most advanced video equipment. He emphasized the importance of photographic and video data, as well as encouraged common folks to create their own ethnographies. The fruits of such efforts were catalogued, indexed, and exhibited in museums for all people to use and share. Shibusawa made every effort for the visualization of knowledge and public access to such knowledge.

  On the other hand, Shibusawa also actively absorbed at an early stage the trends of another form of folklore studies or ethnology focusing on foreign cultures. He promoted the study of Japanese folk culture with a combination of domestic and foreign perspectives. Today, with the development of IT, not only people and goods but information also crosses the sea in an instant. Folklore studies, which started as “local research,” also needs to transcend the boundaries of race and nation and acquire a new international character as “global study of folk culture.” In this symposium, there will be four presentations on “Shibusawa Keizoʼs view of nature,” “women of the sea,” “railways crossing the sea,” and “potentials of autoethnography,” plus two commentaries to look into this issue.