Village Shipment Associations of Sakamai and Landlord System

Abstract

In this paper, the present writer has investigated the structure of sakamai production in the northern Settsu, especially the late Misima and Toyono county (Gun) in Osaka Prefecture. Settsu has been famous for commercial crop production since the Edo Period, not only for sakamai, but also for rapeseed and cotton production.Therefore, having called Settsu sakamai-belt, economic historians have analyzed the social and economic structure of the belt, in order to study the most developed agricultural region of Japan at that time. As a result of these studies, it is pointed out that the social strata of farmers in earch settlement had revealed difference, even as early as the end of the Edo Period. On the other hand, village shipment associations for selling sakamai were established in 1886. These associations collected rice from tenant farmers instead of individual paying to their landlords. This system was called “Furi”. It is thought that its origin lies in the “Zaibarai” method of paying land tax to the feudal lords in the Edo Period.In order to analyze the above mentioned disparities of strata through the period of free trade in rice, the present writer selected two settlements with different prices for the sale of sakamai. The one is Ao-madani-oku in the present Mino City, which has the highest sakamai price. The other is Bonosima in the same city, which has lower price. Then, the present writer has made inquiries into how the irrigation system of earch settlement is different, and how the differences of the social strata between two settlements are grown by control of the sake brewery companies. And the verified facts are the followings.In Ao-madani-oku, terraced paddy fields are controled by river irrigation system which is abundant in clean water. The greater parts of sakamai were gathered from owner farmers. The village shipment association selled sakamai usually to the fixed brewery company. Absentee landlords occupied few arable lands.In Bonosima settlement, on the contrary to Ao-madani-oku, paddy fields are controlled by irrigation ponds which had been constructed by each landholder before the Edo Period, and which are managed by dual irrigation associations of settlements. Many farmers were subjected to absentee landlords and village ones. Sakamai which were chiefly gathered from tenant farmers in “Furi”, were selled to unfixed sake brewery companies, with which they contracted annually through the buyers. While, tenant farmers acquired bounty on tenant rice.From the Taisyo era up to the first decade of Syowa era, rice price revealed dynamic change. Also, since this period, the yield of sakamai per unit area in Osaka prefecture has been stagnant because of difficulty of innovation of new variety of sakamai. Considering these circumstances, the present writer analized the trend of sakamai production in northern Settsu before and after this period. In conclusion, it is found that the area of sakamai production has expanded in these counties during this period, and that this tendency promoted sakamai cultivation under the owner farmers.In the northern Settsu, the differences of settlements in the social strata of the farmers were increased during free trade in rice. The activity of the union of peasants was vivid in the settlement, in which absentee landlords occupied many arable lands. And the feature of each village differed accordingly how many absentee landlords there were. In spite of the early formation of village shipment associations of sakamai selling, they couldn't achieve the original function of creating a seller's market.