The Peasant Worker in Japan

Abstract

THE conflict between the economic interests of the landowner and the tenant farmer-as these words are used in their modern sense-may be said to have begun as far back as the beginning of the Meiji era (1868) when the land reforms, which established the right to own property in fact as well as in name, were instituted. Up to that time the rights of ownership belonged to the feudal lord and it is doubtful whether any true ownership existed on the part of those who nominally held the land. The right to dispose of the land was very restricted on account of the prohibition to alienate the land permanently and the restrictions placed upon its division. The land reforms recognized the right to hold private property and thereby made possible the development of capitalism. The aforementioned prohibitions and restrictions relating to the ownership and transfer of land were annulled and the payment of taxes in money instead of in kind was instituted. The tenant farmers, however, were still required, as in feudal times, to pay their land rent from the crop yield. This system proved to be an important factor in accelerating the economic struggle which, sooner or later, was bound to arise between the tenant farmer and the landowner. With the development of capitalism and the general increase of prices, including those of land and grain, the profits of the landowners increased enormously. The tenant farmers, on the other hand, suffered from a two-fold disadvantage due to the general rise in prices and the obligation to pay land rent from the crop yield. This combination of circumstances, continued through many years, has reduced the tenant farmer to a condition of great destitution. In spite of the fact, however, that these conditions had been in operation for fifty years, there was practically no movement on the part of farmers to better their lot until the farmers' movement suddenly sprang into existence at the time of the late world war. This can be accounted for by reasons peculiar to Japan. The survival of the feudal idea that the landowner and tenant farmer stood in the relation of master and servant, with a spirit of benevolent despotism emanating from the former, delayed the development of self[1109 ]