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Agricultural Crises Due to Flood, Drought, and Lack of Sunshine


            Table 1  Disasters in Takahama, 1793–1818
            Year     Bad    Flooding   Drought**  Water    Severe  Earth-quake  Fire  Small-
                  Harvest  (times)       Shortage**   Wind               pox****
            1793      0        0       0        8        0        0    0     2
            1794     uk*      uk      uk       uk       uk       uk   uk    uk
            1795      0        0       0        0        0        0    0     1
            1796      uk      uk      uk       uk       uk       uk   uk    uk
            1797      0        0       2        4        0        0    0     0
            1798      0        0       0        9        0        1    0     2
            1799      1        0       3       11        0        0    1     0
            1800      uk      uk      uk       uk       uk       uk   uk    uk
            1801      1        1       0        1        0        0    1     3
            1802      0        0       0        5        0        0    0     0
            1803      1        2       0        0        0        0    0     3
            1804      0        4       0        2        0        0    0     1
            1805      0        0       0        3        0        2    0     1
            1806      1        1       0        6        0        1    0     0
            1807      0        1       0        0        0        0    1    83
            1808      0        0       1        2        1        1    2    126
            1809      1        0       1        7        0        0    1     8
            1810      0        1       0        0        2        0    0    11
            1811      uk      uk      uk       uk       uk       uk   uk    uk
            1812      0        0       0        2        0        0    1     1
            1813      uk      uk      uk       uk       uk       uk   uk    uk
            1814      0        0       0        6        2        0    1    100
            1815      0        0       0        3        1        2    2     1
            1816      1        0       0        0        1        1    0     2
            1817      0        2       1        0        1        1    0     2
            1818      1        0       4        9        0        2    0     4
            Total     7        12     12       78        8       11   10    351
            Notes  *uk= unknown; **= Number of days when drought was at issue ; ***= Number of
            days delegated for rain making rituals; ****= Number of smallpox patients
            Source  Original digitised database from Amakusa-cho Kyoiku-iinkai (1985–1998);
            UkM, Ueda Yoshiuzu Diaries.

            curity of local administration. However, it is rare to find such diaries. In
            addition to diaries, all local historical documents such as population reg-
            isters, correspondence, official letters, and village budgets from the eight-
            eenth and nineteenth centuries are safely preserved and available today.
            The position of shoya was usually hereditary, and thus the village’s his-
            torical materials were long kept in the home of the village head’s family.
               The village head (shoya) of Takahama and Imatomi kept diaries de-
            scribing the administration of the village community. The archives of the


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