A Study of the Mukason (non-inhabited village) in Ecchu Province in a Time-Space Perspective

Abstract

It is recognized that the smallest spatial unit of Japanese rural society is the oaza, which roughly coincides with the areal extent of the hanseison, an administrative unit in rual areas in pre-Meiji feudal Japan. However, the areal extent of the hanseison or the oaza does not always coincide with those of the mura, the naturally developed agricultural commune.Much research has been done concerning spatial relationships between formal and substantive regions, drawing examples from villages termed the Sue Mura type, which consist of several mura units chiefly found in the southwestern part of Japan. However, little has been done on the small-scale villages consisting of a single oaza, or former hanseison. This paper, therefore, aims to examine areal discrepancies between a formal region and a substantive region, and how such discrepancies came to exist, taking the hanseison or oaza as example of a formal region, and the mura as that of a substantive region.During the Tokugawa era, the administration of the hanseison was done through the control of both the production of rice and the rice-producing households, since the revenue of the feudal government depended on the amount of rice produced in the respective feudal domain. In the province of Ecchu (present Toyama Prefecture), there existed single-oaza hanseison without any households or inhabitants. They were independent spatial entities created purely for administrative purposes. Such noninhabited “villages”, termed the mukason in this study, may be considered as strongly exhibiting characteristics of a formal region. At the same time, it is assumed that the non-inhabited “villages” also shared certain mura functions despite the lack of inhabitants. Thus, it is postulated that the examination of areal and functional changes of the mukason through time may help clarify certain dynamic relations between formal and substantive regions.This study has examined the entire area of Ecchu Province. First, the overview of the present conditions has been presented through the survey of agricultural communes; second, after a survey of characteristics of formal region as observed through the hanseison and oaza, a taxonomic categorization of the situation, areal extent, and function of the mukason has been attempted.The major findings are as follows:1. The average number of household per agricultural commune in Toyama Prefecture is slightly less (33 households) than that of the national average, and the majority (72.5%) of the communes coincide with the oaza in areal extent. However, there are also two types of agricultural communes which may deserve attention:1) some which are extremely small in size; and 2) some others which extend over two units of oaza.2. As a result of very intensive reclamation efforts in Ecchu in order to create new paddy fields during the Early Tokugawa period, a large number of small-scale hanseison, including the mukason, came into existence. The reorganization of administrative systems during the Meiji era resulted in the renaming of mukason as oaza without changes in areal extent. After the Meiji era, the number of mukason was reduced, however, since many of the non-inhabited oaza units were amalgamated into other oaza units which contained settlements.3. The main cause for the creation of mukason can be explained. Many detached territories and border areas having complicated administrative borderlines came to exist as a result of repeated flooding and consequent redevelopment. Agricultural lands in such areas were cultivated by inhabitants of neighboring villages, or by those of “parent villages” in some cases.