Page 290 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 290
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
ties between individuals was unthinkable. Such family businesses protect-
ed individuals within the family, making proletarianisation the exception.
“The family was a management body; and therefore, members of the family
were expected to work hard within the family’s assigned professional call-
ing” (Murayama 2014, 13).
Agriculture, fisheries, and forestry constituted the backbone of the
subsistence economy and life community of most villages in Early Modern
times. Some villages concentrated on rice production for tax obligations
and for sale in the market, while other fresh or salt water fishing villages
specialised in fishing products and mountain villages offered timber prod-
ucts. A complex integrated economy consisting of all three factors (agricul-
ture, fishing, and forestry) in different compositions appears to have been a
common feature of many traditional Japanese villages. Most importantly,
rice production sites were located predominantly in areas with a high risk
of flooding because they needed a sufficient water supply.
Under the Tokugawa system, every piece of taxable land was assessed
in terms of its productive capacity and expressed in kokudaka (amount of
koku = putative rice yield). Used for all agricultural yields to determine
taxes payable, the kokudaka system begun in 1598. In the Tokugawa peri-
od it was widely held that 1 koku was enough yield to feed one person for
one year. According to calculations by Satoru Nakamura, the agricultur-
al output in the benchmark year of 1,700 was 169 kg, exceeding the crite-
ria of 150 kg (or 1 koku) per person (Nakamura 1968, 168–74), and increased
over time to reach 201kg in 1872 (Saito 2005, 86). Japan as a macro-region
would be expected to have been released from the constraints of a subsist-
ence rice economy in around 1700. However, the ratio of paddy fields to
upland fields (Saito 1985, 211)5 varied from region to region, depending on
ecological and geomorphological conditions, with agricultural output val-
ues in a wide range from under 0.5 to over 3 koku per capita, thus illustrat-
ing the great ecological variety observed in Early Modern Japanese villages.
In many villages, the land tax and other taxes were static or even
slightly reduced, although the productivity of land was generally on the
rise, and thus an increasing amount of “surplus” was generated (Smith
1988b, Land Tax, 70). The widely held notion that the land tax imposed dur-
ing the Tokugawa era was cruelly oppressive is unsupported (Smith 1988b,
Land Tax). Kokudaka did not reflect the actual productivity of a village, but
5 If the ratio is ‘one,’ paddy fields and upland fields represent the same proportion. Rice fields
cover a larger area.
288
ties between individuals was unthinkable. Such family businesses protect-
ed individuals within the family, making proletarianisation the exception.
“The family was a management body; and therefore, members of the family
were expected to work hard within the family’s assigned professional call-
ing” (Murayama 2014, 13).
Agriculture, fisheries, and forestry constituted the backbone of the
subsistence economy and life community of most villages in Early Modern
times. Some villages concentrated on rice production for tax obligations
and for sale in the market, while other fresh or salt water fishing villages
specialised in fishing products and mountain villages offered timber prod-
ucts. A complex integrated economy consisting of all three factors (agricul-
ture, fishing, and forestry) in different compositions appears to have been a
common feature of many traditional Japanese villages. Most importantly,
rice production sites were located predominantly in areas with a high risk
of flooding because they needed a sufficient water supply.
Under the Tokugawa system, every piece of taxable land was assessed
in terms of its productive capacity and expressed in kokudaka (amount of
koku = putative rice yield). Used for all agricultural yields to determine
taxes payable, the kokudaka system begun in 1598. In the Tokugawa peri-
od it was widely held that 1 koku was enough yield to feed one person for
one year. According to calculations by Satoru Nakamura, the agricultur-
al output in the benchmark year of 1,700 was 169 kg, exceeding the crite-
ria of 150 kg (or 1 koku) per person (Nakamura 1968, 168–74), and increased
over time to reach 201kg in 1872 (Saito 2005, 86). Japan as a macro-region
would be expected to have been released from the constraints of a subsist-
ence rice economy in around 1700. However, the ratio of paddy fields to
upland fields (Saito 1985, 211)5 varied from region to region, depending on
ecological and geomorphological conditions, with agricultural output val-
ues in a wide range from under 0.5 to over 3 koku per capita, thus illustrat-
ing the great ecological variety observed in Early Modern Japanese villages.
In many villages, the land tax and other taxes were static or even
slightly reduced, although the productivity of land was generally on the
rise, and thus an increasing amount of “surplus” was generated (Smith
1988b, Land Tax, 70). The widely held notion that the land tax imposed dur-
ing the Tokugawa era was cruelly oppressive is unsupported (Smith 1988b,
Land Tax). Kokudaka did not reflect the actual productivity of a village, but
5 If the ratio is ‘one,’ paddy fields and upland fields represent the same proportion. Rice fields
cover a larger area.
288
