Page 209 - Changing Living Spaces

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

Table 8 Agricultural Output from the Pre-Modern to the Early Meiji Period, 1605–1873
(in koku)
Region 1605 1644 1697 1831 1873
East Japan East Tōhoku 1,729,000 1,431,060 1,921,935 2,874,239 3,739,862
West Tōhoku 870,000 965,674 1,126,249 1,295,324 2,076,048
East Kantō 1,531,378 1,703,639 1,957,109 2,207,586 2,593,176
West Kantō 1,963,524 2,286,892 2,699,617 2,975,388 4,747,434
Tōsan 836,124 832,662 913,311 1,136,549 3,260,416
Mid Japan Niigata 2,428,449 2,644,431 3,008,195 3,622,489 4,231,738
and Hokuriku
Tōkai 1,916,518 1,995,702 2,200,375 2,415,984 2,977,010
West Japan Kinai 1,398,762 1,475,118 1,555,485 1,615,528 2,907,945
Around Kinai 3,026,222 3,110,731 3,185,013 3,507,165 5,613,579
Sanin 679,332 724,392 802,299 883,233 1,372,300
Sanyō 1,537,914 1,586,478 1,807,604 2,559,582 3,617,902
Shikoku 946,024 963,204 1,077,904 1,351,239 2,995,965
North Kyūshū 2,125,510 2,025,973 2,186,681 2,569,636 4,157,528
South Kyūshū 1,347,659 1,347,648 1,359,651 1,437,888 2,550,031
East Japan 6,930,026 7,219,927 8,618,221 10,489,086 16,416,936
Central Japan 4,344,967 4,640,133 5,208,570 6,038,473 7,208,748
West Japan 11,061,423 11,233,544 11,974,637 13,924,271 23,215,250
West Japan (incl. Mid Japan) 15,406,390 15,873,677 17,183,207 19,962,744 30,423,998
Total 22,336,416 23,093,604 25,801,428 30,451,830 46,840,934
Sources Figures for 1605–1831 taken from Takashima (2017); for 1873 from Nakamura
(1968).

The period from 1867 to 1831, in the middle of the early modern pe-
riod, marks the emergence of proto-industrialisation in Japan. Natural
shocks, such as the Great Kyōhō Famine (1732–1733) and the Tenmei
Famine (1782–1788), affected the entire Japanese economy. In the long
run, however, agricultural production enjoyed a smooth increase na-
tionwide. An important factor was the encouragement by local daimyō
to produce local specialties on behalf of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa
Yoshimune. The rise of the publishing culture also contributed to this
growth. Several instructional books on agricultural techniques, called
nōsho (agricultural books), were published and distributed throughout
Japan. Even today, many agricultural textbooks can be found in ware-
houses in rural areas of Japan.
Between the two reference years, a great famine occurred. With 12,000
people starving to death in the Kyōhō Famine and over 300,000 starving
to death in the Tenmei Famine, the impact of the famine on the econo-
my and production was significant (Kikuchi 2014). In the long run, how-

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