Characteristics of changes in mulberry plantation distribution in the middle basin of the Tone River during the Edo and Meiji periods

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the distribution and formal characteristics of mulberry plantations in the middle basin region of the Tone River in the Edo and Meiji periods. During this time, until the ban on silkworm egg card exports was lifted, the cultivation of mulberry in fields was prohibited; despite the common practice of planting mulberry on the rows of raised earth between fields, known as azekuwa, only after the export ban was lifted did it become legal to plant mulberry in fields; subsequently, large mulberry plantations were created. Thereafter, farmers of silkworm egg cards, who had been catching silkworm eggs because of the stoppage on silkworm egg card exports, switched to raising silkworms in order to produce cocoons. Water transportation, which had been a significant livelihood in this region, declined with the opening of railroads (Takasaki Line) and this also increased the number of people changing their occupation to silkworm raising. The number of silkworm cocoons produced also increased, which brought about demand for a further increase in the size of mulberry plantations; not only fields, but also ryūsakuba farms along river banks came to be used as mulberry plantations. This is how high-yield mulberry plantations came to be widely distributed in the region, although it must not be forgotten that this was supported by efforts of the region’s pioneering unaffiliated engineers and researchers to selectively breed mulberry, and their technologies for cultivating with increased yield.