ASPECTS AND VIEWPOINT OF AGRICULTURE IN MIYOSHI-MURA, SAITAMA-KEN, IN A NORTH-WESTERN SUBURB OF TOKYO

Abstract

Miyoshi-mura (village), which originated in 1889 through the amalgamation of four villages : Kamitome, Kitanagai, Fujikubo and Chikumazawa, lies on the Musashino diluvial upland from 50-25m above sea level (Fig. 1) and 25-30 km away from the center of Tokyo. From 1694 to 1696 Daimyo (feudal lord) Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa cleared the woodland and opened the Shinden Settlement here. The field patterns of that time remain clear even today. In the past few years many factories and houses have been built here in Miyoshi and the old landscape of the Shinden Settlement has gradually been destroyed. By the end of March 1969 there were 86 factories (Fig. 3). Agricultural land and woodland have been converted into other uses, factories, houses, play grounds etc. (Fig. 2). 60% of the total converted agricultural land is for factory estates and 30% for housing tracts. This is very small in comparison with the western suburb of Tokyo with 70%. The peak years for the largest land conversion 1958-60 were in the western suburb, but here the peak is not clear yet. At this time 60% of the village area is farm land and 30% is woodland. The annual crop changes shows that the subsistent crops (wheat, barley, sweet potato, rice) have greatly decreased, and conversely vegetables have greatly increased (57% of the total farm land in 1965). Among vegetables carrots have made great progress and Miyoshi-mura was designated as the leading carrot producing area by the Ministry of Agriculture. We made a land use map of a scale of 1 : 3, 000 (Fig. 5) in July 1968. There was little change in the number of agricultural households and their family members (Tab. 2), but full-time farmers have decreased, and part-time farmers increased. The 2.5 trank agricultural workers and 1.42 ha arable land per farm household are the largest in the suburbs of Tokyo (Fig. 8). 95% of all farmers get the largest income from the selling of vegetables (Fig. 6). 75% of the carrots are transported to Tokyo and Yokohama. Many farmers bring their vegetables with their own trucks. But in 1965 four neighbouring agricultural cooperations united into a new cooperation which brings large amount of carrots to the Tokyo central markets and others. One third of the harvested carrots are handled by this cooperation, which intends to deal with much larger amounts of vegetables. Due to the crowded traffic to Tokyo, farmers are now compelled to sell their products at the private market in Miyoshi or at neighbouring markets. Big farms sell their products to brokers, who come with their trucks. Before the Second World War farmers brought burdock, taro, radish etc. to the Tokyo markets (esp. Sugamo market) with hand pulled carts, ox or horse carts, or bicycle carts. It took three hours (with a bicycle) or nine hours (on foot) get to the Tokyo central markets. The agriculture then was a typical market gardening depending on big citis. With the increasing consumption of agricultural products supplied through firm organizations. Single farmers therefore must sell their products cheaper at the central market than the cooperative organizations. In addition, due to improved transport methods and the reduction in the time required for the journey, even farmers living near large cities have little central market advantages, unless they cooperate and deliver big loads. Market gardening depending on large cities has been an important in the agricultural geography of Japan. It seems to have special characteristics : intensive production of commercial vegetables through use of night-soil or kitchen waste from the city, and location in limited areas within 20 km away from the civic center due to cart transportation. Farmers in this situation seemed to be able to sell their products at a better price than the farmers far away from the city, because of ease of transport and of selling products at high price periods.