Figure 1.--This magic latern slide shows the state of Japanese agriculture at the turn-of-the 20th century. This was a rice field, women and children are cutting anbs sheaving rice. . Japanese agriculture was inefficient because it was so labor intensive. Methods were little changed for centuries, although some imoprovemnts were made during the Shogunate. Notice the mountains and how little land is vailable for agriculture. Probably more than 20 Japanese agricultual workers were need to produce the same amount of food as a single American farmer. The need for food to feed Japan's growing industrial workforce would be a force driving Japanese aggression and imperial expansion. The source of this image is not identified, but we thinkn it is a Herbert Geddes image.

The economic history of Japan like most countries is dominated by agriculture. Hunter gather peoples in the Japanese islands by the Jomon Period (about c14,500 - c300 BC) began to harvest and eventually plant millet and edible grasses. Some evidence of crop cultivation have been found of slash and burn techniques (c5700 BC). Farming of specific areas an evidence of of the beginning of settled agriculture is believed have begun (c4,000 BC). Intensive agriculture in northeast Asia developed from the Chinese River valleys, especially the Yellow River. China was the last of the great river valley civilizations to merge (about 4,000 BC). Agriculture was slower to develop in Japan. The technology was not easily transferable as there are no great river valleys in Japan. The preferred staple crop throughout northeast Asia became rice. Rice was introduced to Japan by migrants from mainland Asia in the late Jomon Period (c1250 BC). The first actual; cultivation occurred much later (c800 BC). The first evidence of cultivation in wet fields dates occured two centuries later (c600 BC) when the technique was introduced, again by migrants from Asia, during the transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi Period. The first paddy fields appeared in the southwest and gradually spread northwards. Yayoi immigrants also introduced other crops such as azuki beans, soybeans, and wheat. The first agriculture in Japan was not the intensive agriculture we see in China. Millet was for the first millennia the staple crop. Millet began to be replaced by rice as the main staple food (300 BC). We only begin to see substantial development with the introduction of iron tools and farming techniques from Korea during the Kofun Period that efficient farming methods were adopted in Japan (3rd-6th century AD). Japanese farmers even during the Nara Period (8th century AD) were still using primitive tools. Limited areas were being farmed and irrigation techniques were still inadequate to prevent crop failures and periodic famine. Especially severe famines were experienced (about 730 and 1180 AD). Japan like Europe and many other countries had a feudal era. Warlords dominated the Home Islands and the Emperor's authority declined. It is during this era that the shoguns emerge. The feudal era emerged at about the same time as it did in Europe (8th century AD), but lasted longer (19th century). Agricultural development was slow. There apparently was some state support such as loans for seed-rice (9th century AD). The impact was, however, limited because of high interest rates (30-50 percent). Only in the Kamakura Period (1183-1333 AD) do we begin to see advanced techniques like double-cropping, seed selection, and more extensive use of fertilizer. Small farmers gravitated toward the landed aristocrats and their large estates (shoen). Security in a violent age was a factor. In addition, the land on the states was often irrigated providing a degree of harvest security. Small independent farmers on he other hands had to depend on the vagaries of precipitation. They were thus limited for dry field crops like millet and hemp or to a lesser extent barley, wheat, and buckwheat. The preferred and more marketable crop was rice, but it often had to be used to to pay taxes. Another crop was mulberry leaves needed for silk production. When the Meiji Restoration began to modernize Japan, the stunning changes in the cities were not repeated in the countryside. Land by the time of the Meiji Restoration was concentrated in the hands rich landlords. This led to great inequities in Japanese society. Often tenants only retained half of their crop. This meant that they were surviving at very close to subsistence levels and as Japan industrialized, they were falling further behind. [Myers and Saburo, p. 448.] The Japanese Government was using taxes on farmers to fund its industrialization efforts. School children were arriving at the schools being opened in rural areas without any food for lunch. Operating at subsistence levels, few farmers has the money to invest in improvements. Nor did the landowners, benefiting from a ready supply of low-income workers have any interest in making costly investments.

Hunter Gatherers

The economic history of Japan like most countries is dominated by agriculture. Hunter gather peoples in the Japanese islands by the Jomon Period (about c14,500 - c300 BC) began to harvest and eventually plant millet and edible grasses. Some evidence of crop cultivation have been found of slash and burn techniques (c5700 BC).

Development of Agricuture in China

Farming of specific areas an evidence of of the beginning of settled agriculture is believed have begun (c4,000 BC). Intensive agriculture in northeast Asia developed from the Chinese River valleys, especially the Yellow River. China was the last of the great river valley civilizations to merge (about 4,000 BC). Agriculture was slower to develop in Japan. The technology was not easily transferable as there are no great river valleys in Japan. The preferred staple crop throughout northeast Asia became rice. The other three river valley civilizations (Sumeria, Egypt, an Harapian) were all in touch with each other and shared the major first developed in Sumeria. Chinese civilization, seoarated by distance, desetrs, and mountains, developed in isolation and rice is just one element in its destintiveness. .

Ancient Japan

Rice was introduced to Japan by migrants from mainland Asia in the late Jomon Period (c1250 BC). The first actual; cultivation occurred much later (c800 BC). The first evidence of cultivation in wet fields dates occured two centuries later (c600 BC) when the technique was introduced, again by migrants from Asia, during the transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi Period. The first paddy fields appeared in the southwest and gradually spread northwards. Yayoi immigrants also introduced other crops such as azuki beans, soybeans, and wheat. The first agriculture in Japan was not the intensive agriculture we see in China. Millet was for the first millennia the staple crop. Millet began to be replaced by rice as the main staple food (300 BC). We only begin to see substantial development with the introduction of iron tools and farming techniques from Korea during the Kofun Period that efficient farming methods were adopted in Japan (3rd-6th century AD).

Medieval Era

Japanese farmers even during the Nara Period (8th century AD) were still using primitive tools. Limited areas were being farmed and irrigation techniques were still inadequate to prevent crop failures and periodic famine. Especially severe famines were experienced (about 730 and 1180 AD). Japan like Europe and many other countries had a feudal era. Warlords dominated the Home Islands and the Emperor's authority declined. It is during this era that the shoguns emerge. The feudal era emerged at about the same time as it did in Europe (8th century AD), but lasted longer (19th century). Japanese war lords consolidated their control of the land, becoming daimyos, akin to feudal lords in Euurope. The consolidation of power reached into northeastern Honshu -- what was becoming the most important of the Home Islands. Agricultural development was slow. but fairly steady. Much of the archipelago was heavily forested. Timber was a valuable commidity, needed for building as well as heating homes. The war lords or ruling elites encouraged land clearance in their domains. This had a double benefit. They could sell the timber. And it cleared land for asgiculture. This led to a perpetual benefit. It increased the planting of rice. And the peasants then made a regular payment to gthe daimyo who was the legal owner of the land. This might be called a tribute or tax, but it elematic of the various forms of forced labor prevalent ariund the globe. The daimyos engaged in continental meaning Chinese styles of architecture. SWe see that in both secular (palaces and mansion) and religious (temples and shrines). We see imopressive monumental structures in the cities which began to appar including Nara (c710) and Heian (c795). We begin to see cities of 100,000-200,000 people. [Totman] This increased increased the value of agricultural production. But agriculturalm production also meant power. The daimyo taxed their peasants in rice. He yuse the rice ton pay servants and samurai warriors with rice. This essentially meant that the more rice he got out of his peasants, the more samurai warriors he could retain for his army and the more powerful and influential he became. Welasth was primarily based on agriculture abd rice oproduction. This meant that the daimyos did their best to expand to expand their area of agricultural land available. And this could primasrily be done without war by cutting down clear the area for agriculture. There apparently was some state support such as loans for seed-rice (9th century AD). The impact was, however, limited because of high interest rates (30-50 percent). Only in the Kamakura Period (1183-1333 AD) do we begin to see advanced techniques like double-cropping, seed selection, and more extensive use of fertilizer. Vast quantities of wood were used to build the damiyo's magnificent residences and castles a few of which survive to this day. These castles were of particular importance during the Ashikaga Shogunate (1338-1568) when endemic warfare prevailed among the daimyos. it was thuis a major era od castles construction. Small farmers gravitated toward the landed aristocrats and their large estates (shoen). Security in a violent age was a factor. In addition, the land on the estates were often irrigated providing a degree of harvest security. Small independent farmers on he other hands had to depend on the vagaries of precipitation. They were thus limited for dry field crops like millet and hemp or to a lesser extent barley, wheat, and buckwheat. The preferred and more marketable crop was rice. Thus was what the peaantry grew for his taxes./trinuture. The peasabntry often ate millet whuich was easier to grow. Another crop was mulberry leaves needed for silk production. One impact of centuries of agricutural expnsion was the deforestation of lasge areas suitable for agriculture. Anoither impact of the expanded was a slow , but substantial growth of popuilation. One estimate suggests thst from med- Heian period (1000) to the end of the Ahikaga period (c1600), Japan's population nearly doubled -- from 6.5 million people to 12 million people.

Tokagawa Shogunate (1603-1868)

The Tokugawa Shogunate is too often seen as a backward time of Japanese economic development until replaced by Meiji Restoration (1868). In fact there were signiciant advances duruing the Tokugawa Shogunate One imprtant impact was a huge increase in population due to peace and stability the Tokugawa Shoguns fostered and the resulting economic growth which meant primarily increased agricultural production. As a result, the population almost tripled to over 30 million people (1600-1750). Rice cultivation was a major factor in Japanese politics and economy throughout the Tokugawa Shogunate. Japanese agriculture coninued to be dominated by the tenant farming system that evolved during the medieval era. This was actually a form of firced labor. Very few Japanese peasants owned the land they worked. Tennant farming is not the best term as it suggests a degree of voluntary contracts. This was not the case. For the mast majority of the population there was not real alternative. This is important to understand because historians in the United States fail to recognize how unique land ownrship patterns in the United States were. With the social justice woke focus on slavery, there is no recognition that around the world the great bulk of humanity was involved in various forms of forced labor. Actual ownership of land by the Japanese peasantry who worked the land was common in the United States was very rare in Japan. The Ameriacn family farm which involved the great bulk of gricultural land in the country and not slavery was what made Anmeruca unique. Japan is just one example of the vrious forms of forced labor that dominates economies around the world. The Shogun won military victories which united Japan. The military strenth of the Shogun kept Japan unified. One innovation designed to maintain unitty was to require the daimyos, their families and retainers to move every other year and live in Edo (Tokyo). This was designed to work against a tendency to build an independent poweer base. (French King Louis XIV adopted a similarv approacvh at Versailles.) This was a factor in the urbanization of Japan whuich had reached about 10 prcent by 1700. This is avery little level today, but at te time was reaktively high. Major citoes were froming in Jaoan, including Edo, Osaka and Kyoto. Edo had a population of 1 million people, almost twice the population of London at the time. This was only possible because of expanding agricultural production. It also required a huge supply of wood to build homes in the growing cities. This exacerbated what was already a growing problem in Japan--deforestation. The Shogunate addressed the problem of deforestation in two ways. First. the Shogunastre promoted aricultural reforms which improoved agrucultural production rsther than cutting down forests to increase agricultural land. Second, the Shongunate initiated reforestation efforts. The agricultural improvements promoted included double cropping (growing two or more crops at the same time), improved species of rice, and applying fertiliser. They also introduced new farming tools which helped which increased labor effiency such as threasing tools. Guidebooks were published to teach how to produce crops more effectively and efficiently. We are not sure hiw effective this was because the peasantry was largely illiterate. The daimyos and their staff were literare,so thy cvould instruct the peasantry. This helped increased rice and other harvests without clearing more forest areas for farming. The Tokugawa Shogunate insituated strict regulationsd of forestry. In some areas the cutting down of trees was entirely prohibited. The Shogunate extended beyond just the Shogun's own forests. The Tokugawa Shogunate enforced these regulations throughout Japan. They worked to prevent the daimyos from destroying their forests. There was even a sysdtem of irregular inspections of the other daimyos from violsting the looging regulations. There was a dual putrpose. They not only protected the country's depleted forests but the regulstions served to help control the daimyos. The Shogunate also adopted policies to restore forests. As a result, tree planting began. They planted seedlings, often conifers like Sugi and Hinoki. Rge daivoes were also encouraged to tend to growth of the seedklings, a task passed on to the peasants woring their lands.

Japanese Empire (1870-1945)

When the Meiji Restoration began to modernize Japan, the stunning changes in the cities were not repeated in the countryside. In fact rural declined into a more feudal system. The major goal of the Meiji Government was to industrialize so Japan could could avoid Western colonial exploitation as experienced in China. To industrialize, Japan needed capital. To obtain capital, Meiji reformers had to turn to agriculture, the primary economic activity in the country. The Meiji government instituted land taxes to generate the capital needed for industrialization, The Land Tax Reform expanded landlordism (1873). The land of many peasant farmers was confiscated because they could not pay their taxes. Aristocratic land lords were thus able to expand their estates. The process was expanded by he deflationary Matsukata Fiscal Policy pursued (1881–85). This depressed rice prices, the primary cash crops causing more peasant bankruptcies. There were rural uprisings against the government, but were brutally suppressed. By the end of the Meiji Era, nearly 70 percent of peasant families descended into tenancy. Land during the Meiji Era became increasingly concentrated in the hands aristocratic landlords who acquired vast estates. The result was major inequities in Japanese society. Farm productivity as a result stagnated. Tenants commonly paid rents in kind, usually half of their harvest. This meant that they were surviving at very close to subsistence levels and as Japan industrialized, they were falling further behind. [Myers and and Saburo, p. 448.] The situation was so oppressive, that wives and daughters often had to work in textile mills. Selling daughters into prostitution was not uncommon to pay taxes. Meiji landowners landowners y played a major role in the development of agriculture. They were virtually the only source of financing available to peasant farmers. The mainstay of Japanese agriculture continued to be rice. As a modernizing step, schools were opened in the countryside for the first time. Conditions were often stark, Children often arrived at school without any food for lunch. Operating at subsistence levels, few farmers has the money to invest in improvements. Nor did the landowners, benefiting from a ready supply of low-income workers have any interest in making costly investments. This is why so many Japanese peasant farmers tried to emigrate to America and Hawaii before the islands were annexed by the United States (1898). The Japanese were embarrassed that so many of their people desired to emigrate. American historiography accurately depicts that both Chinese and Japanese immigrants experienced discriminatory treatment. But what is rarely if ever mentioned is that as bad as the anti-Asian discrimination was, they were treated better in America than in their home country. We know that because they chose to emigrate to America and to stay once they arrived. If conditions were better in China, they would have returned. Agricultural cooperatives appeared at the turn-of-the 20th century. The government promoted the cooperatives, providing farm subsidies, loans, and education to help modernize farming methods. The creation of cooperatives was debated in the diet. Shinagawa Yajirō and Hirata Tosuke promoted the idea as a way of modernizing Japanese agriculture and shift it to as cash sector., Cooperatives came to play an important in rural areas, serving as credit unions and helping to market crops. Japan for mist of its history was self sufficient in food production. This changed with the Meiji Restoration and the industrialization of Japan. With the growth of large industrial cities, Japan with its limited area arable land was no longer able to feed itself. Japan had to import large quantities of food to feed its teeming cities. This almost led to the greatest disaster in Japanese War. During World War II, wherever the Japanese Army went, hunger followed, and in many areas famine (China, Indonesia, and Vietnam). Unlike NAZI Germany, it was more incompetence than malice. As a result of the American naval blockade, ten of millions of Japanese could have starved.

Modern Japan

Sources

Myers, Ramon and Yamada Saburo. "Agriculture develoment in the Empire,' in Ramon H. Myers and Mark R. Peattie, The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945 (Princeton Universty Press: Princeton, N.J., 1984).

Totman, Conrad. Japan's Forests: Good Days and Bad --Rhythms of Damage and Recovery

Created: 2:13 PM 10/1/2018
Last updated: 2:18 AM 12/8/2022