Feudal Clan Research Articles

生存機構としての村落社会

This study discusses various survival strategies adopted by a village in a newly reclaimed rice field area of Tsugaru in northern Japan, where the farmers have long suffered from crop failure and famine. The way social relationships between individuals and between groups in the village functioned in various survival strategies are diachronically examined. A swamp along the lower Iwaki river was developed extensively in the Edo era by the Tsugaru-han (the feudal clan) to make new rice fields. Because of low productivity and unstable harvest in the newly reclaimed rice fields, Shinden-byakusho, the immigrant farmers who settled in the region,had to support themselves by working away from home. Such subsistence can be named as “sally type” or “base type”. Even such lifeway was, however, destroyed by frequent crop failure and famine. After each famine, new villages were reestablished by new immigrant farmers. With this historical background, the social relationships between villagers are voluntary and flexible. They are an accumulation of lateral social connections, rather than a stratified vertical relationship. Such social groups have supported the “sally” or “base” type life of the rural society, which relies on one-crop agriculture and cash income by labor away from the village. These groups function in adjusting the social relationships in the village, while their flexible nature allow people to escape the village when necessary.

Achievements of the Azai Family as the Physician of the Owari Han (a feudal clan) and the Kokkan Azai's Reports and Decisions written for the Grav es of his Family Line

Achievements of the Azai Family as the Physician of the Owari Han (a feudal clan) and the Kokkan Azai's Reports and Decisions written for the Grav es of his Family Line

特集 日本の小氷期 古気候の復元と歴史天候データベース

In order to reconstruct the march of climate before instrumental observations in Japan, Historical Weather Data Base has been constructed. Weather descriptions in historical documents, such as official diaries of Feudal Clans in Edo Era, or of local offices in each clan, are objects of the data base. Other descriptions are in those diaries of large temples, large shrines and large farmers, and in some of private diaries Considering the description of weather phenomena in old diaries, they were grouped into 13 weather conditions In this data base, “weather range” means weather conditions in a day. A rough tendency of the weather in a day (HN), or remarkable conditions such as hot, cold, dry and wet (HT), are also important to understand weather conditions for each day. Accompanied phenomena (TK) and wind conditions (KT, TT, KH) are also objects to encode. Daily weather records for the years from 1700 to 1889 are mainly under collections. So far, more than 2, 500 years weather records have been inputted in the daily data base. The main files of the system are PC-DA (paleo climatic data), and PC-REC (paleo climatic record). The former consists of encoded weather data which will be used chiefly to retrieve weather conditions and to draw maps or to make tables. The latter contains weather descriptions in each day with Katakana, one of the Japanese characters. This will support detailed investigationAs an index of wet or dry condition for each month, “PI” is proposed. Weather conditions having some relations with precipitation are grouped to three kinds. Monthly frequencies of each type are multiplied by constants. These are 1 for “little rain”, 2 for “rain” and 5 for “much rain”. The total value in each month in each day is “PI”, which is useful for the comparison within the same daily series. The scatter diagrams of PI in Kokura Kita Kyushu City and Precipitation at Moji for each season are shown in Fig. 4. Time series of PI in 6 cities show the existence of different march in summer precipitations over Japan (Fig. 5). The monthly conditions in summer months from 1781 to 1789 are reconstructed in Fig. 6.

藩政村領域の成立基盤と統一性の変化 仙台藩領小野村の事例

Hanseison was established as an administrative village in the early Tokugawa period. Up to date, most of them can be seen as basic regional units in rural Japan. It is impossible to understand a present rural society without reconstructing formation processes of the territorial organization in the rural area through the Tokugawa period.In the changing processes of productive activities and social relations, rural space has been differentiated as well as integrated. Though the sub-systems have been formed in the rural space through these processes, the rural space has been structured as one territory by internal or external forces.From the above viewpoint, the author has attempted to clalify the structurization of the rural space where the spheres of cultivation and the social groups were formed, and to investigate the territorial unity of the hanseison. The field for the case study is a hanseison Ono, in Sibata county of Rikuzen province, situated in a small basin where the river terrace is formed. The territory of this hanseison contained several settlements, and could be divided into two difierent life spaces, Ono and Komatsukura.The changing processes of the rural space and the territorial unity of the hanseison through the Tokugawa period are divided into the following three stages, and their situations are also summarized.1. The first stage (ca. 1580-1650) : It seems that the peasants who settled down sporadically in the medival ages reclaimed fields near their own yashiki (homestead) each peasant had independently established his narrow sphere of cultivation. But, at the beginning of the 17 th century, mainly in the south-western part of this area, the wastelands were largely reclaimed. These cultivated lands were owned by the peasants residing in different areas of the village. The integration of the rural space through the land tenure form was arising. The territory of hanseison was formally fixed by Kan'ei Kenchi (the land survey) in 1642 as the unit for domination. In that time, however, it was the extended sphere of productive activities that contributed to the structurization of the rural space. In this stage, internal unity was remarkable. Then the feudal clan conformed this structured space as a unit for domination.2. The second stage (ca. 1650-1750) : Both population and the number of honbyakusho (independent farmers) increased rapidly, and several settlements emerged, and machi grew as a central place. But, little expansion was made in the cultivated space, and sphere of cultivation were differentiated. At the same time, the formation of the territorial groups was promoted. Several goningumi (neiborhood groups) differentiated the rural space, but on the other hand, they were integrated under the administrative system. Furthermore, two groups of the supporters which belonged separately to two temples were formed. In this stage, the rural space was structured by the system of the social groups organized for administrative aim by feudal clan. Then, the territorial unity of the hanseison had been strengthened by external political power which had controlled the farmers through its territoriality.3. The third stage (ca. 1750-1870) : Because of the severe famines, the number of honbyakusho decreased rapidly. Residential space also decreased, but four settlements remained. Goningumi lost its function, and kumi, the territorial groups coinciding with four settlements, strengthened the character as an organization for mutual aid, and differentiated the rural space. These groups were integrated into the territory of the hanseison, however, each settlement took a part of its function.

沼尻墨せんの考案した地球儀の製作技術

Numajiri Bokusen was born in 1775 and died in 1856 in Tsuchiura (the present Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture). He was adopted into the family of doctor Numajiri Sekigyu in the same town. He studied drawing, penmanship, astronomy and geography. Later, he ran and taught at a private elementary school (terakoya). Among his products, his most important achievements were in the geographical field. He constructed an epochal terrestrial globe from wood, bamboo and Japanese paper in 1855. It is alleged that he actually investigated it in 1800, but had hidden it after a warning from his neighboring friend who was a samurai (warrior and servant) of the Tsuchiura-Han (feudal clan). In 1855 he finally decided to produce and distributed his globes to various parts of the country. Some of them have been found in the possession of old families in several places. They are made by using the technology to frame Japanese umbrellas, which does not require the use of nails. Each globe is folded up in a similar manner to a coarse oil-paper umbrella. This is significantly advantageous compared with others during that period. Later his globe was called the “Kasasiki-chikyugi” (umbrella-like globe). While his globe is famous in Japan, research data on it are insufficient. Therefore, the author examined it and measured the size of each part. This could not be done perfectly because the measurement could only be done when the globe was unfolded. However, much information was obtained. This paper describes the form of the globe with its size and some details of the history of its preservation. The shapes of the shorelines on the globe were evidently renewed. Therefore, it is confirmed that the map was scheduled to be engraved as a woodcut based on the latest information available at the time. Since similar portable globes were produced in other countries, the author will examine the relationships between them.

Spatial Organizations and Territoriality in the Former Border Area

One of the important problems in social geography is to examine the relationship between the spaces defined by institutional bases and real life spaces of people, in other words, between so-called formal regions and substantive regions. An institutional space, such as an administrative area, does not usually remain as a pure formal region, but grows to a territory with some actual involvement of people. If the institutional framework were abolished, for example, the substantive framework of regions would not likely disintegrate immediately, but would persist for a certain period of time. In Japan the division of feudal clan territories had long been fixed in the Edo Period, but it was almost entirely replaced by a new prefectural system after the Meiji Revolution. This paper attempts to examine to what degree a former clan boundary has influenced the affiliations and organizations of people and how the actual integration has proceeded since the institutional framework of feudal territory dissapeared, through a case study of a region comprised of the Oniyanagi and Aisari Districts, northeastern Japan, where a former clan boundary divided these two districts.The Oniyanagi and Aisari Districts now belong to the same incorporated municipal unit, Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, but in the Edo Period the former belonged to the territory of the Morioka Clan (Nanbu Territory) and the latter was a part of the Sendai Clan (Date Territorry). In this study the four aspects of spatial organizations, i. e. 1) administrative areas, 2) social and cultural spaces, 3) economic spaces, and, 4) communal life spaces, and their changes from the beginning of the Meiji Period to the present are examined with special attention to the separation and integration of the above two districts, through an intensive field research. And we consider, through this research, the territoriality of a region where its institutional framework has been drastically changed.According to our research it is shown that each community of the two districts has had its own cohesiveness, to varying degrees, in each aspect of the spatial organizations through the history of the modern era (after the Meiji Revolution) of Japan. In other words the two districts discussed here have continued to show a strong feeling of territoriality even after the former feudal boundary was abolished. However, it is also true that integration of the two districts in administration as well as in educational activities were tried several times repeatedly, and cooperation and intercommunication in social and cultural lives were also often attempted, especially in recent times after Kitakami was established as a city in 1954. Namely, the opposing forces toward separation as well as integration have operated among these former border areas, and the relationship between these forces has created the essential character of the history in this region.Although it is not easy to indicate the exact factors which cause the above-mentioned phenomena, we can suggest some general notions. First, as for the conditions which have supported the separation and independence of each district, the following information can be summed up; 1) cultural differences and perception gap caused by a continuing barrier function of the former clan boundary, 2) differences in agricultural practices and irrigation systems which are closely related to the physical conditions of each district, and, 3) social secession which would be fed back to further separation in social organizations. Second, the backgrounds for the movements toward integration can be summarized by indicating following three factors; 1) geographical conditions, especially the lack of evident physical dividing lines at the border area, 2) enlargement of economic regions, especially the growing urbanization of Kitakami, and, 3) political situations, especially the formation of large administrative units such as Iwate Prefecture or the city of Kitakami.

Horsefly and “Magariya”

The essential approach and object of Linguistic Geography is to establish the history of words or some linguistic forms by analyzing distribution maps or linguistic atlases. But it is only the relative history of those forms that we can speculate on from the linguistic atlas and from some theories and rules about linguistic changes. So we have to make the most of other non-linguistic data at the same time in order to know the absolute history of the forms.In the center of Tohoku district (west-central part of Iwate prefecture and eastcentral part of Akita prefecture), we can recognize some local dialectical forms of the word for“horsefly”. The dialectical forms can be divided into four groups as follows, A; ((ushi-abu)), B; ((umasashi-abu)), C; ((hachi-abu)), D; the others, In order to see the conditions of their distribution, these groups can be arranged as A……→B……→C from the oldest to the newest.Analysis shows that the distribution area of the word “umasashi-abu” corresponds with that of the house type “magari-ya”, which is characteristic of this region. “magari-ya” has been produced functionally so as to be convenient to feed horses (“Nambu-goma”). The name “umasashi-abu” means “the troublesome horsefly which stings horses and cows and sucks their blood”, demonstrating the sympathy of mankind for horses.So, our conclusions are that these two must have developed almost simultaneously, and that the linguistic change from A to B occured in the early Edo period when the policy of the Nambu feudal clan recommending that people raise horses spread over its administrative territory.

The Industrial Heritage in Japan

Although Japan had begun to learn Western technology from the mid-sixteenth century, it was immediately before the Meiji Restoration in 1868 that the imminent necessity of industrialization was realized by a few farsighted leaders of some feudal clans. Thereafter, her industrialization made rapid progress down to the time of World War II, when much industrial equipment was lost in the massive air-raids.The loss of her pre-war plants was further aggravated by the extensive renewal of old-fashioned buildings and machines, carried out during the period of her economic growth in the 1960s. This paper attemps to describe how the surviving industrial monuments from several representative sections of industry are preserved either on site or in museums, and how their study has recently been taken up in Japan.

The Industrial Heritage in Japan

AbstractAlthough Japan had begun to learn Western technology from the mid-sixteenth century, it was immediately before the Meiji Restoration in 1868 that the imminent necessity of industrialization was realized by a few farsighted leaders of some feudal clans. Thereafter, her industrialization made rapid progress down to the time of World War II, when much industrial equipment was lost in the massive air-raids.The loss of her pre-war plants was further aggravated by the extensive renewal of old-fashioned buildings and machines, carried out during the period of her economic growth in the 1960s. This paper attemps to describe how the surviving industrial monuments from several representative sections of industry are preserved either on site or in museums, and how their study has recently been taken up in Japan.

藩債処分と商人資本

The purpose of this article is to analyze the influence of “Hansai-shobun” (藩債処分, the adoption and rejection of feudal debts) upon the Osadas (長田家, a big merchant in Osaka), and to take a general view of the reasons why many big merchants in Osaka declined after the Meiji Restoration and why the Finance Ministry decreed “Kawasegata” (為替方, the semi official organ having charge of revenue and expenditure of the Government) to place mortgage equal to the Government money on deposit in the 7th year of Meiji. The author begins this analysis by considering the influence upon them of “Ginme-haishi” (銀目廃止, the abolition of the silver standard in Osaka), for it was the first policy overtaking the Osaka merchants.In spite of being many studies about the merchants who tided over the upheaval of the Meiji Restoration and afterward became “Zaibatsu” (財閥, the big financial combine), there have been so far few studies about the merchants who couldn't do so.The conclusions of this article are following.First. Some causes that made the Osadas decline are (1) “Ginme-haishi”, (2) “Haihan-chiken” (廃藩置県, the abolition of feudal clans and the establishment of prefectures), (3) the decree to repay the Government the money of pre- “Hans, ” (4) the decree to repay the Government its money on deposit, and (5) “Hansai-shobun” ((イ) freezing of credits, (ロ) rejection of feudal debts, and (ハ) the current price of “Shin-Kyu Kosai” [新旧公債, new and old national bonds] being below face value). It is sure that the Osadas succeeded in tiding over (1), (2), (3), and (イ) of (5), but the Osadas couldn't obtain the new base of profit by managing jointly “Horaisha” (蓬莱社, a kind of bank), not only because, of the way of tiding over them but because of (4) and (ロ), (ハ) of (5). As a result the Osadas were compelled to decline.Among them the greatest causes are (ロ), (ハ) of (5), for the Osadas, who had a great amount of “Hansai” and nearly the half of whose “Hansai” were rejected, had overcome the monetary stringency, looking forward to the delivery of all “Hansai”.From this analysis, the author would like to take the general view as to the big merchants in Osaka that they were at first divided into the declining group and enduring group because of (1), but the latter were divided again into such two groups according to the influence of (4) and (ロ), (ハ) of (5) upon them in proportion to the degree of holding and embezzling the Government money, the degree of borrowed money in “Hansai”, and the degree of the other borrowed money.Secondly. The policy of the Finance Ministry to do with the Osadas after (4) was remarkably generous notwithstanding the embezzlement of the Government money. The Finance Ministry gave the Osadas convenience to maintain the family name.This is not only owing to the sympathy for the old illustrious family, but also owing to the inevitable circumstance for the Government to require big merchants such as the Osadas as “Kawasegata”. The Government was also to blame for that embezzlement. And the great amount of the loss of the Government money embezzled by Yamashiroya (山城屋), the Mitanis (三谷家), and the Takagis (高木家) as well as the Osadas made the Finance Ministry decide the reformation of the loose connection between the Government finance and “Kawasegata”. Thus the Finance Ministry decreed to place mortgage equal to the Government money on deposit in the 7th year of Meiji.

Fortress Ruins Distribution in Iwate Prefecture

In Iwate Prefecture, fortress ruins are densely distributed in Higashi Iwai-gun, former part of Sendai Territory, and abruptly less in the areas of former Nambu Territory over the territory border.The reasons for this are summarized as follows:Higashi Iwai-gun was (a) dividual into several independent areas by its land feature, (b) favored with a lot of gold mines, and (c) occupied by samurais of Sendai feudal clan.

A STUDY OF THE IRRIGATION SYSTEMS AMONG THE RURAL COMMUNITIES OF TONAMI DISTRICT IN THE EDO ERA

Analysing the structure of rural regions as well as nodal regions formed by central places is indispensable in order to comprehend the regional structure in the Edo era. From the viewpoint of spacial structure, this article chiefly aims to analyse the regional organizations among the rural communities in terms of irrigation. Firstly, with due regard to the process of cultivation and the development of irrigation systems in Tonami District of Toyama Prefecture, the author divided the area into eight regions Region A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C and D -in compliance with water systems. Secondly, the author examined the regional differences and the interrelations of various factors, i.e., natural conditions, the irrigation policy of the Kaga-han (feudal clan), the scales and the management systems of Yosui (irrigation associations), which were regarded to be related with the irrigation systems. The summarization of the study or each region is as follows Region Al on the Shogawa Alluvial Fan had abundant water supply from the Sho-gawa River and was cultivated rapidly at the beginning of the Edo era on account of the political stability, the flood prevention works and the improvement of irrigation systems. The scale of each Yosui was large and had a tendency to be enlarged. Sub-units of Yosui among communities were formed accordingly, and two different levels of managing Yosui possibly developed as a whole. After all, the irrigation system was open in spacial struc-ture and, at the same time, loose in the connection of communities. Further, there were found two other types of irrigation system ; Goko Yosui and Heigo Yosui. In Goko Yosui, a union of Yosui, they cooperated to draw water from the river, and yet each Yosui kept its individuality. In Heigo Yosui, a dominate Yosui annexed smaller or less powerful ones, and the weaker Yosui gradually lost its individuality being finally reduced to a sub-unit. Region B1 and A2 were similar to Region Al to some extent. Region C which was irrigated by small rivers or fountains had been cultivated early in the Edo era and maintained its own irrigation system. Since it suffered from water shortage, the irrigation system remained unimproved. The scales of Yosui were small and their areas had not been enlarged. After all, the irrigation system was close in spacial structure and, at the same time, tight in the connection of communities under the strict, traditional regulations of irrigation and cultivation. Both Region A3 and B3 were similar to Region C. Region B2 and D can be placed between Region Al and C. Therefore, the spacial structure, the management system and the water right in the irrigation system show remarkable regional differences which were caused by the scale of Yosui, the irrigation policy of Kaga-han and the degree of sufficiency of water supply. Thus, the regional differences correspond closely to the abovementioned regional divisions.

佐嘉本藩と蓮池支藩の境界紛争と境界石 (番号石) について

Many mark stones of the boundary still remain along the border between the two clans, Saga and Hasuike which was semi-independent and subordinate to the Saga. It is a strange case that such many stones were used for the boundary mark in the feudal Japan. In the early Shogunate, the Hasuike clan was established by the Saga lord as a subordinate one. However, the relation between these two clans was not friendly. When the Saga authorities found out the surplus territory of the Hasuike, the Saga confiscated almost of it in order to make up for their finance. The serious trouble occurred between these two clans. It came to an end in 1784. The Hasuike transferred most of the surplus of the territory to the Saga. At that time, the Hasuike built over 2000 border mark stones along the new boundary.After the Meiji Restoration many of those stones disappeared, but 60 still remain along the old border. The writer himself discovers them and shows in this paper the financial difficulties of feudal clans from the view point of the politico-economic geography.

The Size and Distribution of Outcaste Communities in the Feudary of the Kaga Clan (Kaga Han)

The purpose of this paper is to make clear the social meaning of the size and distribution of outcaste communities in the feudatory of the Kaga clan by means of mapping method. The size and distribution of outcaste (so-called “buraku”) will be significant for the macroscopic analysis of the “buraku” provided that the “buraku” can be said to be a phenomenon that stems from the problem of the social structure of power. A major premise of this analysis is that if outcaste communities had not had their own social functions and privileges, it would not happen that they have kept on being discriminated and segregated so long for the reason that they have been minorities against feudal authorities. That is, they had their own social functions and privileges peculiar to them. The functions and privileges were not the same for each community, because these functions and privileges were associated with the maintenance of the feudal order which had a very complex system in itself. Since the provinces of Kaga, Ecchu, and Noto had not been integrated before the Kaga clan was organized, total society had not existed before then. Each of these provinces had the principle of the social organization of its own. In the integrating process of the Kaga clan, the feudal lord (daimyo) could not help taking these principles into consideration. Consequently, most of the people who had been subordinated to manors (shoen), shrines, temples or villages were treated as the outcaste called Kawata or Tonai, while private servants who were subordinated to patriarchal families were not treated in the same way. The social change of the Kaga clan followed three stages : first, a militaristic society controlled by the samurai ; second, an agricultiral society consisted of uniform village communities, “mura”, and maintained by the recurrence of the same social production ; and third, an ascribed society maintained by an ascribed status system. The Kaga clan invited several people called Kawata to the castle towns, Kanazawa and Takaoka for processing leather that was necessary for arms in 1609. In the first stage of the Kaga clan, the control over building a military system was the moss important problem to establish the total society. In the second stage, the command of land tax was a pressing necessity for putting the finances of the feudal clan on a firm basis. For this reason, the Kaga clan enforced the low of Kaisaku which aimed at exploiting all the surplus labor of the peasants, and on the other hand, encouraged them to develop newly cultivated rice fields. As the result, some of the peasants deserted their villages and flowed into towns. However, as there were limits to finding employment in town, the number of beggers (Hinin) increased gradually since 1651. In 1670, Hiningoya (a hut for Hinin to live in) were set up at Kanazawa. And, since 1671, the Kaga clan appropriated people who were interned into Hiningoya for developing newly cultivated rice fields. However, there were limits to developing newly cultivated rice fields, too. Since 1677, as the third stage, the Kaga clan could not help emphasizing the maintenance of status system, which was based on the political system of the time. Consequently, in 1961, the police tasks were assigned to Tonai. In 1800, landownership of Tonai and Eta (Kawata) was prohibited. As mentioned above, Kawata (Eta), Tonai and Hinin had their own social functions which corresponded to the change of feudal society : first, military functions, second, developemental functions for newly cultivated rice fields, and third, political functions. At the first and second stages, discrimination was nothing but a extension of that of the Middle ages ; feudal discrimination and segregation began at the third stage.

版籍奉還の村絵図とその作成事情

Japanese feudal villages in the Shogunate had the duty to submit each village map and yearly statistics including housholds, population, livestocks, field area with its harvests and fertility, and irrigation system to the local administrators. Especially with respect to the village map a new administrator, in spite of yearly submission ordered to submit a revised map.The writer shows in this paper an example of the village map in the abolition of the feudal clans in 1869. The autholities Shinagawa Prefecture, Tokyo Metropolitan Area in the present, ordered to submit each village map according to the abolition of the feudal system. However, each village was obliged to submit an old map because of the sudden order. Therefore, The prefectural authorities orderd again to revise them four times in 1869. An example of the last edition, a map of Kyodo-Zaike village, shows the village statistics in the blank space of map. This is a special type of the sudmition. The other examples of the prefecture show almost the same pattern and they are rare examples of the reports of village status in the abolition period.

THE FORMATION OF FOREST-LAND OWNERSHIP IN THE UPPER BASIN OF RIVER NAKA, TOKUSHIMA PREFECTURE

There are regional differences of forest-land ownership in Japan which was formed by the land taxation reform in the early period of Meiji era. Generally, national forest-lands were succeeded to the feudal clans' forest lands in the Edo era. The forest-lands in Tokushima Prefecture were managed by the Tokushima feudal clan directly, so they should have become national forest-lands in the early period of Meiji era, but they came almost into the possession of private owners. The object of this study is to clarify the reason for the formation of the private forest-lands and the actual process of the formation of private possession. The author has found and investigated many papers of the early period of Meiji era relative to the land registers of shifting cultivation of the Edo era in Kito village which is located in the upper basin of River Naka. Tokushima Prefecture, eastern part of Shikoku island (Fig. 1). The results obtained are as follows: 1. The actual process of the formation of the private possession in the early Period of Meiji era is as follows: (1)The greater part of the forest-lands in this village was under shifting cultivation. So the shifting cultivation lands and their surrounding forest-lands were divided into the possession as private lands inventionally and equally. (2)This division was carried out on the basis of the land registers of shifting cultivation wrought out in the feudal age with respect to the land scale and its places. (3)The number of ownership was egual to the number of the farmers living in this village in the early period of Meiji era. The number of division was more than eight times that of the land registers of shifting cultivation. (4)The division was made based on the same family-name group which was coincided with the group using the same forest-lands for their lives, at first. Further subdivision was made in order that each farmer in the group of the same family name could get an equal value of land by considering the scale of possession and land productivity. (5)The forest-lands managed directly by the feudal clan were disposed for the common ownership of farmers. 2. Relatively high productivity of the shifting cultivation here was due to the realization of the private forest-lands. The shifting cultivation lands had supported the life of farmers and had sprawled into the forest-lands managed directly by the feudal clan. These conditions were favorable to realize the private and common forest-lands in the early period of Meiji era, and were admitted not only in this village, but also in other mountainous regions in Shikoku. These are different from the forest-lands in the northeastern part of Japan which had a much larger distribution of national forest-lands in which the productivity of shifting cultivation was low in the Edo era.

GROWTH OF THE URBAN AREA OF SENDAI

Most cities in Japan originated in the feudal days and have developed under the influence of modernization since the end of the former century. It is frequently in evidence that the areal structure of cities differs in accordance with the process of their development. Therefore it is important for urban geography to classify the cities according to the growth and structure of their urban areas through comparative studies. The present writer investigated the process of urban growth and the features of land use in urban area of today taking the example of Sendai, which was a castle town in the feudal days and has developed into the center of the fairly large Tohoku District. Its population is about 545, 000 in 1970. In the old castle town of Sendai, the castle area was situated on the western fringe of the town, and the high-class samurai quarter near the castle. The merchants' quarters were allocated in the central part of the town and along the highway. The middle-class samura: quarter occupied large areas around the merchants' quarters. The periphery of the town was composed of the temple quarter and the lower-class samurai quarters. Because of the social changes after the Meiji Renovation (Restoration) of 1868, the resi dential areas of the samurai class were deteriorated and in the outskirts, turned into agricultura. land. The castle area, other areas belonging to the feudal clan, and the high-class samura quarter changed to the sites of new government offices, schools and the military spaces. Orr the contrary, the merchants' quarters remained mostly untouched in their former location. Along the central shopping street banks and public institutions were built. After the construction of railway in 1887, the central commercial area expanded towarc the station and public offices and schools were added around it. Although some schools were built in the outer part, the abrupt expansion of urban built-up area did not take place. House: soon built at that time were mostly located around the central area where many vacant spaces were seen. So, an increase in the density of houses within the extent of old castle town was recognized. Such urbanization kept on until World War II. In the 1930's some schools, hospi tals and factories were built beyond the built-up area, and several housing estates were con structed by the municipal and prefectural governments. In 1945, the central part of the city was destroyed by the air raids. According to the cityplanning after the war, main streets in the damaged area were much broadened. Housing estates by the municipal and pref ectural governments and other establishments newly built in this period were arranged on the northern and southwestern hill-lands. After 1955, new housing suburbs were added on the hill-lands and eastern flat area in accordance with the increased population. On the eastern fringe industrial estates and distri-bution centers were constructed outside the new residential area. In this period, a number of recreational and educational establishments were removed from the old urban area to the west-ern hill-land. In the central business district large buildings have been constructed, and func-tinoal differentiation of streets is now in progress. The area around the CBD is dense residen-tial sections, since the area escaped the destruction of the war. As a result of the above-mentioned growth, the urban area of today is composed of various quarters characterized by different functions and formed in different periods. 1) Central business district. In the commercial areas, stores, banks, business offices, etc. are concentrated. They are composed of the old commercial quarters in the former castle town of the Edo period, and of the area newly developed after the construction of railway station.

The Regional Variation of Washi (Traditional Japanese Paper) Manufacturing during the Meiji Period

Focussing on the statistical data, the author tries to examine the outline of the local differenciating process in the traditional Japanese paper manufacturing during the Meiji period. Its summing up is following:1) Two phases are discerned in the Meiji period. The first half period was a shifting stage to get out of the manufacturing system under the feudal clan regime. The latter half period was the production increasing stage, -e.d. improvemant of output irrespective of decreasing number of houses. The latter will be termed as a period when a new manufacturing system, quite different from that which was kept up under the feudalism, had been coming out in the statistics.2) In reference to the output indices, the Washi manufacturing range was somewhat shrinking compared to that of the Early Meiji period. In adition to it, it seems that the agglomerated manufacturing areas in form of dispersed location have a tendency to nucleation.3) The indices of productivity and production scale (output and number of houses) point out that prefectures are to be classified in five categories at the end of the Meiji period.I) Prefectures on a large productive scalea) comparatively more commercially managed systemb) side line work systemII) Prefectures on the highest commercial basisIII) Prefectures on a small productive scalea) comparatively more commercially managed systemb) side line work systemAmong them only item III is found in the Töhoku or Northeast district. In Central and West-Southern Japan there are recognized every items. The prefectures where produced a great deal of hand-made Washi after the World War II are included in the items I and II.4) Washi areas, shaped up as the special product place under the feudal clan regime, turned into two different types throughout the Meiji period: a new manufacturing locality, concentrating a lot of productive measures nearby around a nucleus where had been hiherto a spot of more principal-occupational and enterprising activity; and another one, where people scarcely maintain its previous rural, domestic and side line work in gradually dwindling to the smaller scale manufacture.5) In pursuing further survey on the correlation between the above-mentioned categories with their locational limitation, it will fascilitate to approach the outgrowing process of the machine-made manufacturing regions through the Taisho period to the present time.

Scholars and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Japan: The Case of Nishi Amane

One of the interesting questions concerning the Meiji Restoration of 1868 is the degree to which the Western-oriented intellectuals of Japan compromised their scholarly curiosity about European civilization by serving the pre-Restoration Tokugawa government and its successor, the Meiji oligarchy. In what ways might their duties as civil servants colour their objectivity in studying the newly found academic disciplines of the West? What tensions did late Tokugawa and early Meiji scholar-bureaucrats perceive between their investigations of European knowledge and their service in a partisan regime? An examination of the career of Nishi Amane (1829–1897), who was an important scholar of Western philosophy as well as a bureaucrat in both the Tokugawa and Meiji governments, casts some light on the problem of the intellectual as public servant in early modern Japan. This study will concentrate on three important events in Nishi's life: his decision to flee his feudal clan in order to study the West in 1854; his refusal to join the Restoration movement in 1868; and his defence of the idea that scholars could serve the new state without compromising their objectivity in 1874.

8032 江戸幕府および諸藩における米蔵の架構法について

8032 江戸幕府および諸藩における米蔵の架構法について