The Changes of the Modern Rural Society in Japan, 1867-1930S.

Abstract

Before the Second World war, there were many public storehouses, generally so-called Gokura _??__??_ in Tohoku district of Japan. The Gokura existed ubiquitously in wide rural areas of Japan in feudal age. Peasant farmers stored constantly rice crops, barleis, millets, and the like in the Gokura, and used them for saving their lives in disasters. Gokuras were established by peasant farmers and feudal lords. They lived in a near-subsistence society and rice crops exchanged only in a restricted area. Therefore they got into danger when the rice crop was short. lt is apparent that the Gokura was indispensable to the old rural society.Most of Gokuras were co-operated by the small group of peasants around it, or the rural community (Mura _??_ or Oaza _??__??_ ). It was unusual that the public storehouse was co-operated over the wide area in which several rural communities were contained. One rural community generally co-operated one Gokura.The government of Japan made efforts to consider several counter-measures of disaster from 1867. Rice crops became to be exchanged in a greater distance. The peasant farmers were free from the feudal lords. The rural community gradually took to pieces. Therefore the Gokura rapidly falled over time for the 1867-1935 period.