Page 293 - 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. 293
disaster management and integr ated economy in early modern japan
Records of nature-induced disasters, such as earthquakes and storms,
can be found at the top of each of those diary entries, as it was customary
for the shoya to briefly keep record of the weather and any earthquakes af-
ter the date, using terms such as ‘fine,’ ‘cloudy,’ ‘rainy,’ ‘stormy,’ ‘north wind,’
‘south wind,’ ‘severe wind,’ ‘earthquake in the afternoon,’ etc. During the
twenty year period studied, there were ten earthquakes, two of which were
of a large scale, and eight incidences of severe winds, but the village never
experienced serious damage in these events.
Floods, in contrast, repeatedly damaged the infrastructure of the vil-
lage, especially the irrigation systems used for agricultural production. The
diaries precisely describe the damage caused by the floods, the disaster
management learning process, and most importantly, mapping methods to
visualise the damage by means of measurement, first performed after the
devastating flood of 1803 (Kyowa 3).
The population of Takahama shifted from a stagnant phase to a grad-
ual growth phase, and increased from 3,086 in 1785 (Tenmei 3) to 3,470 in
1818 (Bunka 15). To consider how disasters affected the village population,
we must separately observe the three periods of population decline: the first
period from 1807 (Bunka 4) to 1809 (Bunka 6) when the population de-
creased by 63 people; the second period from 1813 (Bunka 10) to 1814 (Bun-
ka 11) when it decreased by 41 people; and the third period from 1815 (Bun-
ka 12) to 1816 (Bunka 13) when it dropped by 35 people.
Counting the number of disasters recorded across 24 shoya diaries
covering twenty years between the years 1783 and 1818, we have learned that
during this period there were five cases of harvest failure, eleven earth-
quakes, ten fires, including three large fires, seven floods, and eight severe
wind events, which are presumed to be storms. Two special outbreaks of
smallpox were recorded from 1807 (Bunka 4) to 1808 (Bunka 5) and in 1814
(Bunka 11).
The diaries report no deaths induced by nature-induced disasters (e.g.,
floods, storms, earthquakes, fires), with the exception of smallpox. Small-
pox was the cause of the first two demographic crises, taking the lives of
78 people and 52 people, respectively. A combination of disastrous effects,
such as the influence of large fires on subsequent living conditions and out-
breaks of diseases, must be considered regarding the third period.
In Early Modern Japan, epidemics – smallpox, in particular – and
famine were the major mortality factors. Although the diaries do not refer
to “famine,” the words kyō-saku or fu-saku, which both mean “harvest fail-
291
Records of nature-induced disasters, such as earthquakes and storms,
can be found at the top of each of those diary entries, as it was customary
for the shoya to briefly keep record of the weather and any earthquakes af-
ter the date, using terms such as ‘fine,’ ‘cloudy,’ ‘rainy,’ ‘stormy,’ ‘north wind,’
‘south wind,’ ‘severe wind,’ ‘earthquake in the afternoon,’ etc. During the
twenty year period studied, there were ten earthquakes, two of which were
of a large scale, and eight incidences of severe winds, but the village never
experienced serious damage in these events.
Floods, in contrast, repeatedly damaged the infrastructure of the vil-
lage, especially the irrigation systems used for agricultural production. The
diaries precisely describe the damage caused by the floods, the disaster
management learning process, and most importantly, mapping methods to
visualise the damage by means of measurement, first performed after the
devastating flood of 1803 (Kyowa 3).
The population of Takahama shifted from a stagnant phase to a grad-
ual growth phase, and increased from 3,086 in 1785 (Tenmei 3) to 3,470 in
1818 (Bunka 15). To consider how disasters affected the village population,
we must separately observe the three periods of population decline: the first
period from 1807 (Bunka 4) to 1809 (Bunka 6) when the population de-
creased by 63 people; the second period from 1813 (Bunka 10) to 1814 (Bun-
ka 11) when it decreased by 41 people; and the third period from 1815 (Bun-
ka 12) to 1816 (Bunka 13) when it dropped by 35 people.
Counting the number of disasters recorded across 24 shoya diaries
covering twenty years between the years 1783 and 1818, we have learned that
during this period there were five cases of harvest failure, eleven earth-
quakes, ten fires, including three large fires, seven floods, and eight severe
wind events, which are presumed to be storms. Two special outbreaks of
smallpox were recorded from 1807 (Bunka 4) to 1808 (Bunka 5) and in 1814
(Bunka 11).
The diaries report no deaths induced by nature-induced disasters (e.g.,
floods, storms, earthquakes, fires), with the exception of smallpox. Small-
pox was the cause of the first two demographic crises, taking the lives of
78 people and 52 people, respectively. A combination of disastrous effects,
such as the influence of large fires on subsequent living conditions and out-
breaks of diseases, must be considered regarding the third period.
In Early Modern Japan, epidemics – smallpox, in particular – and
famine were the major mortality factors. Although the diaries do not refer
to “famine,” the words kyō-saku or fu-saku, which both mean “harvest fail-
291
