Page 291 - 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. 291
disaster management and integr ated economy in early modern japan
Map 12.2: Amakusa in Japan
as a criterion commonly used within a region it allows us to compare re-
gional levels of land productivity. According to kokudaka comparisons in
the Kofu basin in central Japan, flood-prone areas prove to have been more
productive than mountainous areas, with kokudaka in the former as high
as 3.13 koku per capita, in contrast to 0.65 koku per capita in the latter (Miz-
oguchi 2002, 36). Flooding was not always a calamity, because flooded ar-
eas could be used to produce surplus rice for village inhabitants in nor-
mal years and could also be altered to retarding basins to protect against
289
Map 12.2: Amakusa in Japan
as a criterion commonly used within a region it allows us to compare re-
gional levels of land productivity. According to kokudaka comparisons in
the Kofu basin in central Japan, flood-prone areas prove to have been more
productive than mountainous areas, with kokudaka in the former as high
as 3.13 koku per capita, in contrast to 0.65 koku per capita in the latter (Miz-
oguchi 2002, 36). Flooding was not always a calamity, because flooded ar-
eas could be used to produce surplus rice for village inhabitants in nor-
mal years and could also be altered to retarding basins to protect against
289
