Page 195 - Changing Living Spaces

Wet-Rice Agriculture and Economic Growth in Pre-Industrial Japan

Figure 1 Regional Division in Japan Sources: Saito (1983) and Kito (1996)

means that the pattern of economic growth no longer relied on the pro-
duction of staple grains, which depended on the natural environment, as
it did in ancient and mediaeval times.
To explore the above concerns, this paper provides a quantitative over-
view of arable land and agricultural production before modern Japan,
from the eighth to the nineteenth century, using primary quantitative
data and estimates from previous studies. However, the quantitative
analysis depends on the availability of data. Data were available for cer-
tain periods before the modern period. For example, national data were
available in ancient times, and extensive micro-level and village-lev-
el data were available in the Medieval period. Regional data and mac-
ro-level data were not available in antiquity or the Medieval period. Due
to the limited data availability, the results of a single reference year shall
be used as a representative case for a long period, including the results of
the reference year. In this context, it should be noted that an overview of
long-term trends may lead to reconsidering the conventional theory that
rice is Japan’s main crop and new historical implications may be gained.
The remainder of this chapter is organised as follows. Section 2 reviews
information on agricultural production in pre-industrial Japan. Section 3
examines the differences in agriculture across the Japanese archipelago

193