Characteristics of Tone River mulberry gardens in the Sawa District after the opening of railways

Abstract

In this paper, the authors examine the characteristics of Tone River mulberry fields in the Sawa District after the introduction of rail transport during the Meiji and Taisho eras. Railways were opened in this area during the Meiji era, facilitating transportation of products and cultivation materials such as fertilizers to wider areas. Moreover, demand for cocoons, raw silk, and Isesaki Meisen-style silk fabrics had increased overseas as well as in Japan. This drove the popularity of sericulture in Japan, and many farmers bought "mulberry leaves" to make up for mulberry leaf shortages and "mulberry seedlings" to expand mulberry gardens. Mulberry plantations for the sale of mulberry leaves, mulberry plantations for the sale of mulberry seedlings, and mulberry plantations for rent began to crop-up among sericulture farmers in greater numbers than during the period before the opening of the railways. As a result, landscapes of mixed mulberry fields and paddy fields using different farming styles spread in areas where the risk of flooding was low and sericulture and silkworm egg farmers also owned paddy fields. In contrast, only flood-resistant mulberry gardens spread in the areas adjacent to the Tone River, where the possibility of flooding was high, resulting in a different type of mulberry landscape.