CHAPTER XL_The foundations of Japan

THE PROBLEMS OF JAPAN

Concerning these things, they are not to be delivered but from much

intercourse and discussion.--PLATO

Emigrants do not willingly seek a climate worse than their own. This

is one of the reasons why the development of Hokkaido has not been

swifter. The island is not much farther from the mainland than

Shikoku, but it is near, not the richest and warmest part of the

mainland, but the poorest and the coldest. If we imagine another

Scotland lying off Cape Wrath, at the distance of Ireland from

Scotland, and with a climate corresponding to the northerly situation

of such a supposititious island, we may realise how remoteness and

climatic limitations have hindered the progress of Hokkaido.

"Our mode of living is not suited to the colder climate," an

agricultural professor said to me. "Poor emigrants do not have money

enough to build houses with stoves and properly fitting windows."

To what extent the modified farming methods rendered necessary by the

Hokkaido climate have had a deterring effect on would-be settlers I do

not know. It has never been demonstrated that the Japanese farmer

prefers arduous amphibious labour to the dry-land farming in which

most of the world's land workers are engaged; but the cultivation of

paddy or a large proportion of paddy is his traditional way of

farming. Rice culture also means to him the production of the crop

which, when weather conditions favour, is more profitable than any

other. In Hokkaido, as we have seen, the remunerative kind of

agriculture is mixed farming, and, in a large part of the country,

rice cannot be grown at all. Against objections to Hokkaido on the

ground of the strangeness of its farming may probably be set,

however, the cheapness of land there.

An undoubted hindrance to the colonisation of Hokkaido has been land

scandals and land grabbing. Many of what the late Lord Salisbury

called the "best bits" are in the hands of big proprietors or

proprietaries. Some large landowners no doubt show public spirit. But

their class has contrived to keep farmers from getting access to a

great deal of land which, because of its quality and nearness to

practicable roads and the railway, might have been worked to the best

advantage. In various parts of Japan I heard complaints. "The land

system in Hokkaido," one man in Aichi said to me, "is so queer that

land cannot be got by the families needing it, I mean good land."

Again in Shikoku I was assured that "the most desirable parts of the

Hokkaido are in the hands of capitalists who welcome tenants only." In

more than one part of northern Japan I was told of emigrants to

Hokkaido who had "returned dissatisfied." A charge made against the

large holder of Hokkaido land is that he is an absentee and a city man

who lacks the knowledge and the inclination to devote the necessary

capital to the development of his estate. Of late the rise in the

value of timber has induced not a few proprietors to interest

themselves much more in stripping their land of trees than in

developing its agricultural possibilities.

The development of Hokkaido may also have been slowed down to some

extent by a lower level of education among the people than is

customary on most of the mainland, by a rougher and less skilful

farming than is common in Old Japan and by the existence of a residuum

which would rather "deal" or "let George do it" or cheat the Ainu than

follow the laborious colonial life. But no cause has been more potent

than a lack of money in the public treasury. I was told that for five

years in succession Tokyo had cut down the Hokkaido budget. Necessary

public work and schemes for development have been repeatedly stopped.

At a time when the interests of Hokkaido demand more farmers and there

is a general complaint of lack of labour, at a time when there are

persistent pleas for oversea expansion, there are in Japan twice or

thrice as many people applying for land in the island as are granted

entry. The blunt truth is that the State has felt itself compelled to

spend so much on military and naval expansion that the claims of

Hokkaido for the wherewithal for better roads, more railway line and

better credit have often been put aside.[273]

One thing is certain, that slow progress in the development of

Hokkaido gives an opening to the critics of Japan who doubt whether

her need for expansion beyond her own territory is as pressing as is

represented by some writers. However this may be, Hokkaido is stated

to take only a tenth of the overplus of the population of Old Japan.

The number of emigrants in 1913 was no larger than the number in 1906.

A usual view in Hokkaido is that the island can hold twice as many

people as it now contains. "When 3,625,000 acres are brought into

cultivation," says an official publication, "Hokkaido will be able

easily to maintain 5,000,000 inhabitants on her own products."

Very much of what has been achieved in Hokkaido has been done under

the stimulating influence of the Agricultural College, now the

University. The northern climate seems to be conducive to mental

vigour in both professors and students. If in moving about Hokkaido

one is conscious of a somewhat materialistic view of progress it may

be remembered that an absorption in "getting on" is characteristic of

colonists and their advisers everywhere. It is not high ideals of life

but bitter experience of inability to make a living on the mainland

which has brought immigrants to Hokkaido. As time goes on, the rural

and industrial development may have a less sordid look.[274] At

present the visitor who lacks time to penetrate into the fastnesses

of Hokkaido and enjoy its natural beauties brings away the unhappy

impression which is presented by a view of man's first assault on the

wild.

But he must still be glad to have seen this distant part of Japan. He

finds there something stimulating and free which seems to be absent

from the older mainland. It is possible that when Hokkaido shall have

worked out her destiny she may not be without her influence on the

development of Old Japan. Those of the settlers who are reasonably

well equipped in character, wits and health are not only making the

living which they failed to obtain at home; they are testing some

national canons of agriculture. Face to face with strangers and with

new conditions, these immigrants are also examining some ideals of

social life and conduct which, old though they are, may not be

perfectly adapted to the new age into which Japan has forced herself.

One evening in Hokkaido I saw a lone cottage in the hills. At its door

was the tall pole on which at the _Bon_ season the lantern is hung to

guide the hovering soul of that member of the family who has died

during the year. The settler's lantern, steadily burning high above

his hut, was an emblem of faith that man does not live by gain alone

which the hardest toil cannot quench. In whatever guise it may express

itself, it is the best hope for Hokkaido and Japan.

During my stay in the island I had an opportunity of meeting some of

the most influential men from the Governor downwards; also several

interesting visitors from the mainland. We often found ourselves

getting away from Hokkaido's problems to the general problems of rural

life.

Of the good influences at work in the village, the first I was once

more assured, was "popular education and school ethics, a real

influence and blessing." The second was "the disciplinary training of

the army for regularity of conduct." ("The influence of officers on

their young soldiers is good, and they give them or provide them with

lectures on agricultural subjects and allow them time to go in

companies to experimental farms.")

Someone spoke of "the influence of the religion of the past." "The

religion of the past!" exclaimed an elderly man; "in half a dozen

prefectures it may be that religion is a rural force, but elsewhere in

the Empire there is a lack of any moral code that takes deep root in

the head. After all Christians are more trustworthy than people

drinking and playing with geisha."

On the other hand a prominent Christian said: "There is a weakness in

our Christians, generally speaking. There is an absence of a sound

faith. The native churches have no strong influence on rural life.

There is often a certain priggishness and pride in things foreign in

saying, 'I am a Christian.'"

Another man spoke in this wise: "I have been impressed by some of the

following of Uchimura. They seem ardent and real. But I have also been

attracted by strength of character in members of various sects of

Christians. The theology and phraseology of these men may be curious,

may be in many respects behind the times, but their religion had a

beautiful aspect.[275] Many of our people have got something of

Christian ethics, but are no church-goers. Some Japanese try to

combine Christian principles with old Japanese virtues; others with

some soul supporting Buddhistic ideas. We must have Christianity if

only to supply a great lack in our conception of personality. People

who have accepted Christianity show so much more personality and so

much more interest in social reform."

When we returned to agricultural conditions, one who spoke with

authority said: "In Old Japan the agricultural system has become

dwarfed. The individual cannot raise the standard of living nor can

crops be substantially increased. The whole economy is too small.[276]

The people are too close on the ground. They must spread out to

north-eastern Japan, to Hokkaido, Korea and Manchuria. The population

of Korea could be greatly increased. There is an immense opening in

Manchuria, which is four or five times the area of the Japanese Empire

and sparsely populated. There is also Mongolia."[277]

"But in Korea," one who had been there said, "there are the Koreans,

an able if backward people, to be considered--they will increase with

the spread of our sanitary methods among a population which was

reduced by a primitive hygiene and by maladministration. And as to our

people going to the mainland of Asia, we do not really like to go

where rice is not the agricultural staple, and we prefer a warm

country. In Formosa, where it is warm, we are faced by the competition

of the Chinese at a lower standard of life.[278] The perfect places

for Japanese are California, New Zealand and Australia, but the

Americans and Australasians won't have us. I do not complain; we do

not allow Chinese labour in Japan. But we think that we might have had

Australasia or New Zealand if we had not been secluded from the world

by the Tokugawa régime, and so allowed you British to get there first.

It is not strange that some of our dreamers should grudge you your

place there, should cherish ideas of expansion by walking in your

footsteps. But it is wisdom to realise that we cannot do to-day what

might have been done centuries ago or make history repeat itself for

our benefit. It is wiser to seek to reduce the amount of

misapprehension, prejudice and--shall I say?--national feeling in

Japan and America and Australasia, and try to procure ultimate

accommodation for us all in that way. But not too much reduce,

perhaps, for, in the present posture of the world, nationalist

feeling and--we do not want premature inter-marriage--racial feeling

are still valuable to mankind."

A speaker who followed said: "Remember to our credit how our area

under cultivation in Old Japan continually increases.[279] Bear in

mind, too, what good use we have made of the land we have been able to

get under cultivation--so many thousand more _chō_ of crops than there

are _chō_ of land, due, of course, to the two or three crops a year

system in many areas."[280]

"As for the situation the emigrants[281] leave behind them in Old

Japan," resumed the first speaker, "the experiment should be tried of

putting ten or so of tiny holdings[282] under one control, and an

attempt should be made to see what improved implements and further

co-operation[283] can effect. I suppose the thing most needed on the

mainland is working capital at a moderate rate. Think of 900 million

yen of farmers' debt, much of it at 12 per cent. and some of it at 20

per cent.! I do not reckon the millions of prefectural, county and

village debt. Of what value is it to raise the rice crop to 3 or 4

_koku_ per _tan_ (60 or 80 bushels per acre)[284] if the moneylender

profits most? The farmers of Old Japan are undoubtedly losing land to

the moneyed people.[285] Every year the number of farmers owning their

own land decreases[286] and the number of tenants increases and more

country people go to the towns.[287] And, as an official statement

says, 'the physical condition of the army conscripts from the rural

districts is always superior to that of the conscripts of the urban

districts.'"

Some Western criticism of Japanese agriculture cannot be

overlooked.[288] Criticism is naturally invited by (1) Japanese

devotion to what is in Western eyes an exotic crop--but owing to

exceptional water supplies, favourable climatic conditions and

acquired skill in cultivation, the best crop for all but the extreme

north-east of Japan;[289] (2) the small portions in which much of that

crop is grown--of necessity; (3) the primitive implements--not

ill-adapted, however, to a primitive cultural system; (4) the

non-utilisation of animal or mechanical power in a large part of the

country--due as much to physical conditions as to lack of cheap

capital; (5) what is spoken of as "the never-ending toil"--against

which must be set the figures I have quoted showing the number of

farmers who do not work on an average more than 4 or 5 days a week;

and (6) the moderate total production compared with the number of

producers--which must be considered in reference to the object of

Japanese agriculture and in relation to a lower standard of living.

Japanese agriculture, as we have seen, has shortcomings, many of which

are being steadily met; but with all its shortcomings it does succeed

in providing, for a vast population per square _ri_, subsistence in

conditions which are in the main endurable and might be easily made

better.

Paddy adjustment has clearly shown that paddies above the average size

are more economically worked than small ones, but these adjusted

paddies are on the plains and a large proportion of Japanese paddies

have had to be made on uneven or hilly ground where physical

conditions make it impossible for these rice fields to be anything

else than small and irregular. Japanese agriculture is what it is and

must largely remain what it is because Japan is geologically and

climatically what it is, and because the social development of a large

part of Japan is what it is. Comparisons with rice culture in Texas,

California and Italy are usually made in forgetfulness of the fact

that the rice fields there are generally on level fertile areas, in

America sometimes on virgin soil. In Japan rice culture extends to

poor unfavourable land because the people want to have rice

everywhere.[290] The Japanese have cultivated the same paddies for

centuries, Some American rice land is thrown out of cultivation after

a few years. In fertile localities the Japanese get twice the average

crop. It must also be remembered that Japanese paddies often produce

two crops, a crop of rice and an after-crop. Japanese technicians are

well acquainted with Texan, Californian and Italian rice culture, and

Japanese have tried rice production both in California and Texas.

"They talk of Texan and Italian rice culture," said one man who had

been abroad on a mission of agricultural investigation, "but I found

the comparative cost of rice production greater in Texas than in

Japan. Some Japanese farmers who went to Texas were overcome by weeds

because of dear labour. In Italian paddies, also, I saw many more

weeds than in ours. It is rational, of course, for Americans and

Italians to use improved machinery, for they have expensive labour

conditions, but we have cheap labour. The Texans have large paddies

because their land is cheap, but ours is dear. In these big paddies

the water cannot be kept at two or three inches, as with us. It is

necessarily five inches or so, too deep, and the soil temperature

falls and they lose on the crops what they gain by the use of

machinery. Further, it must be remembered that we are not producing

our rice for export. It is a special kind for ourselves, which we

like;[291] but foreigners would just as soon have any other sort. We

have no call, therefore, to develop our rice culture in the same

degree as our sericulture, which rests mainly on a valuable oversea

trade."

"On this general question of improvement of implements and methods,"

said another member of our company, "we must use machinery and

combine farming management when industrial progress drives us to it;

but why try to do it before we are compelled? Concerning horses, the

difficulty which some farmers have in using them is the difficulty of

feeding them economically. Concerning cereals, our consumption is not

less than that of Germany, but Germany imports more than twice the

cereals we do, so there would seem to be something to be said for our

system."

[Illustration: CUTTING GRASS]

"Some revolutionising of Japanese farming is necessary, in combined

threshing, for instance," the expert who had opened our discussion

said. "This combined threshing is now seen in several districts, and

combined threshing will be extended. But there is the objection to the

threshing machine that it breaks the straw and thus spoils it for

farmers' secondary industries. It should not be impossible to invent

some way of avoiding this, but the threshing machine is also too heavy

for narrow roads between paddies. It is difficult to deliver the crops

to the machine in sufficient bulk. Necessity may show us ways, but

small threshing machines are not so economical. Of course we must have

much more co-operative buying of rural requirements, and certainly

there is room in some places for the Western scythe made smaller, but

our people, as you have seen, are dexterous with their extremely

sharp, short sickle, and fodder is often cut on rather difficult

slopes, from which it is not easy to descend loaded, with a scythe.

Some foreigners who speak so positively about machinery for paddies,

and for, I suppose, the sloping uplands to which our arable farming is

relegated, do not really grasp the physical conditions of our

agriculture. And they are always forgetting the warm dankness of our

climate. They forget, too, that implements for hand use are more

efficient than machinery, and, if labour be cheap, more economical.

They forget above all that we are of necessity a small-holdings

country."

Is it such a bad thing to be a small-holdings country? Does the rural

life of countries which are pre-eminently small-holding, like Denmark

and Holland, compare so unfavourably with that of England? I wonder

how much money has been sunk--most of it lost--during the past quarter

of a century in attempts to increase small holdings in England.

"Because we have much remote, wild, uncultivated land," the speaker I

have interrupted continued, "that is not to say that most of it, often

at a high elevation, or sloping, or poor in quality, as well as

remote, can be profitably broken up for paddies. Much of this land can

be and ought to be utilised in one fashion or another, but we have

found some experiments in this direction unprofitable, even when rice

was dear. But it may be said, Why break up this wild land into

paddies? Why not have nice grassy slopes for cattle as in Switzerland?

But our experts have tried in vain to get grass established. The heavy

rains and the heat enable the bamboo grass to overcome the new fodder

grass we have sown. The first year the fodder grass grows nicely, but

the second year the bamboo grass conquers. In Hokkaido and Saghalien

we are conquering bamboo grass with fodder grass. The advice to go in

largely for fruit ignores the fact of our steamy damp climate, which

encourages sappy growth, disease and those insects which are so

numerous in Japan. We cannot do much more than grow for home

consumption."

"The advice to draw the cultivation of our small farms under group

control has not always been profitable when followed by landlords,"

one who had not yet spoken remarked. "They have not always made more

when they farmed themselves than when they let their land. All the

world over, land workers do better for themselves than for others.

Proposals further to capitalise farming which, with a rural exodus

already going on, would have the effect of driving people off the land

who are employed on it healthily and with benefit to the social

organism, do not seem to offer a more satisfactory situation for

Japan. No country has shown itself less afraid of business combination

than Japan, and the world owes as much to industry as to agriculture,

and I am not in the least afraid of machinery and capital; but

production is not our final aim. Production is to serve us; we are not

to serve production. If people can live in self-respect on the land

they are better off in many ways than if they are engaged in industry

in some of its modern developments."

"The world is also better off," my interpreter in his notes records me

as saying when I was pressed to state my opinion. "The day will come

when the uselessness and waste of a certain proportion of industry and

commerce will be realised, when the saving power of an export and

import trade in unnecessary things will be questioned and when the

cultivator of the ground will be restored to the place in social

precedence he held in Old Japan. With him will rank the other real

producers in art, literature and science, industry and commerce. The

industrialisation of the West and its capitalistic system have not

been so perfectly successful in their social results for it to be

certain that Japan should be hurried more quickly in the industrial

and capitalistic direction than she is travelling already.[292] If she

takes time over her development, the final results may be better for

her and for the world. I have not noticed that Japanese rural people

who have departed from a simple way of life through the acquirement of

many farms or the receipt of factory dividends have become worthier.

On the question of the alleged over-population of rural Japan, one

Japanese investigator has suggested to me that as many as 20 per

cent. could be advantageously spared from agricultural labour. But he

was not himself an agriculturist or an ex-agriculturist. He was not

even a rural resident. Further, he conceived his 20 per cent. as

entering rural rather than urban industry.

"A great deal of afforestation and better use of a large proportion of

forest land, much more co-operation for borrowing and buying, improved

implements where improved implements can be profitably used, animal

and mechanical power where they can be employed to advantage, paddy

adjustment to the limit of the practical, more intelligent manuring, a

wider use of better seeds,[293] the bringing in of new land which is

capable of yielding a profit when an adequate expenditure is made upon

it, a mental and physical education which is ever improving--all

these, joined to better ways of life generally, are obvious avenues of

improvement, in Northern Japan particularly, not to speak of

Hokkaido.[294] But it is not so much the details of improvement that

seem urgently to need attention. It is the general principles. I have

been assured again and again by prefectural governors and agricultural

experts--and in talking to a foreigner they would hardly be likely to

exaggerate--that considered plans for the prevention of disastrous

floods, for the breaking up of new land, for the provision of loans

and for the development of public intelligence and well-being were

hindered in their areas by lack of money alone. The degree to which

rural improvements, with which the best interests of Japan now and in

the future are bound up, may have been arrested and may still be

arrested by erroneous conceptions of national progress and of the ends

to which public energy and public funds[295] may be wisely devoted is

a matter for patriotic reflection.[296] No impression I have gained

in Japan is sharper than an impression of ardent patriotism. For good

or ill, patriotism is the outstanding Japanese virtue. What some

patriots here and elsewhere do not seem to realise, however, is what a

quiet, homely, everyday thing true patriotism is. The Japanese, with

so many talents, so many natural and fortuitous advantages, and with

opportunities, such as no other nation has enjoyed, of being able to

profit by the social, economic and international experience of States

that have bought their experience dearly and have much to rue, cannot

fairly expect to be lightly judged by contemporaries or by history. If

the course taken by Japan towards national greatness is at times

uncertain, it is due no doubt to the fascinations of many

will-o'-the-wisps. There can be one basis only for the enlightened

judgment of the world on the Japanese people: the degree to which they

are able to distinguish the true from the mediocre and the resolution

and common-sense with which they take their own way."

"Our rural problems," a sober-minded young professor added, after one

of those pauses which are usual in conversations in Japan, "is not a

technical problem, not even an economic problem. It is, as you have

realised, a sociological problem. It is bound up with the mental

attitude of our people--and with the mental attitude of the whole

world."

FOOTNOTES:

[273] A high authority assured me that 100 million yen (pre-War

figures) could be laid out to advantage. A Japanese economist's

comment was: "Why not touch on the extraordinary proportion of land

owned by the Imperial Household and also by the State for military

purposes?"

[274] In driving through what seemed to be one of the best streets in

Sapporo, I noticed that some exceptionally large houses were the

dwellings of the registered prostitutes. Each house had a large

ground-floor window. Before it was a barrier about a yard high which

cleared the ground, leaving a space of about another yard. Such of the

public as were interested were able, therefore, to peer in without

being identified from the street, for only their legs and feet were

visible. In Tokyo and elsewhere this exhibition of girls to the public

has ceased. The place of the girls is taken by enlarged framed

photographs. I found on enquiry that the Sapporo houses are so well

organised as to have their proprietors' association. At a little town

like Obihiro an edifice was pointed out to me containing fifty or more

women.

[275] The classification is 101,671 Protestants, 75,983 Roman

Catholics and 36,265 Greek Church.

[276] "'Spade farming' is an apt designation of the system of farming

or rather of cultivation, for little is done in the way of raising

stock."--PROFESSOR YOKOI.

[277] See Appendix XXX.

[278] But surely the basic reason against a large emigration of

farmers and artisans to Formosa, or to Manchuria, Mongolia or Korea,

with the intention of working at their callings, is that the standard

of living is lower there? The chief attraction of America and

Australasia is that the standard of living is higher. The question of

over-population must be considered in relation to the facts in

Appendices XXV, XXX and LXXX, and on page 331. It is not established

that the Japanese have now, or are likely to have in the near future,

a pressing need to emigrate.

[279] See Appendix LXXII.

[280] See Appendix LXXIII.

[281] See Appendix LXXIV.

[282] Between 1909 and 1918 the average area of holdings rose from

1.03 to 1.09 _chō_ or from 2.52 to 2.67 acres or 1.02 to 1.08

hectares.

[283] There were in 1919 some 13,000 co-operative societies of all

sorts. The number increases about 500 a year.

[284] For rise in production per _tan_, see Appendix LXXV.

[285] See Appendix LXXVI.

[286] See Appendix LXXVII.

[287] See Appendix LXXVIII.

[288] See, for example, C.V. Sale in the _Transactions of the Society

of Arts_, 1907, and J.M. McCaleb in the _Transactions of the Asiatic

Society of Japan_, 1916.

[289] For the question, is rice the right crop for Japan? See Appendix

LXXIX.

[290] Dr. Yahagi in an address delivered in Italy pointed out to his

audience that Japan had 15 times as large an area under rice as Italy

and that, while the Italian harvest ranged between 42 and 83

hectolitres per hectare, the Japanese ranged between 55 and 130. The

area under rice in the United States in 1920 was 1,337,000 acres and

the yield 53,710,000 bushels. The area under rice has steadily

increased since 1913, when it was only 25,744,000 bushels.

[291] A well-informed Japanese who read this Chapter doubted the

ability of his countrymen to distinguish between native and Korean,

Californian or Texan rice. Saigon is another matter. See Appendix

XXIV.

[292] "Some of our statesmen," notes a Japanese reader of this

Chapter, "are carried away by ideas of an industrial El Dorado." Such

men have no understanding of the relation of rural Japan to the

national welfare. They are as blind guides as the Japanese who, caught

by the glamour of the West, threw away the artistic treasures of their

forefathers and pulled down beautiful temples and _yashiki_. Japan has

much to gain from a wise and just industrial system, but not a little

of the present industrialisation is an exploitation of cheap labour, a

destruction of craftsmanship and social obligation, and an attempt to

cut out the foreigner by the production of rubbish.

[293] The chairman of Rothamsted declares as I write that the standard

of English farming could be raised 50 per cent. Hall and Voelcker have

estimated that 20 million tons of farmyard manure made in the United

Kingdom is wasted through avoidable causes.

[294] For a discussion of the question of inner colonisation versus

foreign expansion, see Appendix LXXX.

[295] For figures bearing on the relative importance of agriculture,

commerce and industry, see Appendix LXXXI. For armaments, see Appendix

XXXIII.

[296] There are many Britons who now reflect that millions which have

gone into Mesopotamia might have been better spent by the Ministries

of Health and Education.

The blessing of her sun-warmed days;

Her sea-spun cloak of wet;

Her pointing valleys, veiled in haze,

Where field and wood have met;

When we have gone our differing ways

These we shall not forget.

L.T., in _The New East_.

APPENDICES

The sermon was bad enough, but the appendix was abominable.--MR.

BOWDLER.

THE INCOME OF A MINISTER OF STATE FROM THE LAND[I]. The speaker began

by inheriting 3 _chō_ (7-1/2 acres). He farmed a _chō_ of rice field

and about a third of a _chō_ of dry land. With rent from the part he

let, with gains from the part he farmed and with interest on 2,000 yen

spare capital, he had at end of the year a balance of 370 yen. With

the money gained from year to year more and more land was bought. At

the time of his talk with me he owned 8 _chō_. His net income, after

deducting cost of living, was 1,200 yen (including 500 yen from the

land that was let). In the future, when he farmed 7 _chō_ (15-1/2

acres), he believed that his balance would be 4,500 yen, which is the

salary of a Governor! Or was, until the rise in prices when Governors'

salaries were raised about another 1,000 yen, with an additional

allowance of from 600 to 400 yen in the case of some prefectures. See

also Appendix III.

"GETA" [II]. The _geta_ is a flat piece of hard wood, about the length

of the foot but a little wider, with two stumpy pieces fastened

transversely below it. The foot maintains an uncertain and, in the

case of a novice whose big toe has not been accustomed to separation

from its fellows, a painful hold by means of a toe strap of thick rope

or cotton. To persons unused from childhood to the special toe grip

and scuffle of the _geta_, it seems odd to associate with this

difficult clattering footgear the idea of "luxury." But no pains are

spared by the _geta_ makers in choosing fine woods and pretty cords.

BUDGETS OF LARGE PROPERTY OWNERS [III]. Two landlords, A and B, kindly

allowed me to look into their budgets:

yen

80 _chō_ of rural land 320,000

20 _chō_ of rural land 60,000

20,000 _tsubo_ of city land 130,000

Negotiable instruments 150,000

Dwelling and furniture 150,000

_______

Total property 810,000

=======

EXPENDITURE OF PAST YEAR

yen

House 2,100

Food and drink 1,350

Clothing 1,000

Social intercourse 1,500

Public benefit 800

Miscellaneous 1,000

Taxes 5,000

______

12,750

======

owns 62 _chō_ 4 _tan_ and receives in rent 623 _koku_ 7 _to_. Members

of family, 11; servants, 8.

EXPENDITURE OF PAST YEAR

yen

House 519

Food and drink (18 sen each per day for members of

family; 13 sen each for servants) 1,102

Fuel 156

Light 36

Clothing 770

Education (3 middle-school boys at 20 yen per month;

3 primary-school boys and girls at 2 yen) 312

Social intercourse 120

Amusements (journey, 100 yen; summer trip, 231;

others, 50) 381

Miscellaneous (servants, 480 yen; medicine, 150; other

things, 150) 780

Donations 300

Taxes 3,976

______

8,451

======

THE "BENJO" [IV]. I never noticed a case in which earth was thrown

into the domestic closet tub according to Dr. Poore's system. I have

come across attempts to use deodorisers, but the application of a

germicide is inhibited because of the injury which would be caused to

the crops. Farmers are chary about removing night soil which has been

treated even with a deodoriser. I ventured to suggest more than once

that Japanese science should be equal to evolving a deodoriser to

which the farmer, who in Japan seems to be so easily directed, could

have no objection. The drawback to using Dr. Poore's system is that

the added earth would greatly increase the weight of the substance to

be removed. There would be the same objection to the use of _hibachi_

ash (charcoal ash), but there is not enough produced to have any

sensible effect. The truth is that there is no lively interest in the

question of getting rid of the stink for everyone has become

accustomed to it. The odour from the _benjo_--the politer word is

_habakari_--which is always indoors, though at the end of the _engawa_

(verandah), often penetrates the house. (_Engawa_ [edge or border] is

the passage which faces to the open; _roka_ is a passage inside a

house between two rooms or sometimes a bridgelike passage in the open,

connecting two separate buildings or parts of a house.) Emptying day

is particularly trying. This much must be said, however, that the

farmers' tubs are washed, scrubbed and sunned after every journey and

have close-fitting lids. And primitive though the _benjo_ is, it is

scrupulously clean. Also, if it is always more or less smelly, it is

contrived on sound hygienic principles. There is no seat requiring an

unnatural position. The user squats over an opening in the floor about

2 ft. long by 6 ins. wide. This opening is encased by a simple

porcelain fitting with a hood at the end facing the user. The top of

the tub is some distance below the floor. In peasants' houses there is

no porcelain fitting. Manure is so valuable in Japan that farmers

whose land adjoins the road often build a _benjo_ for the use of

passers-by. Although the traveller in Japan has much to endure from

the unpleasant odour due to the thrifty utilisation of excreta, the

Japanese deserve credit for the fact that their countryside is never

fouled in the disgusting fashion which proves many of our rural folk

to be behind the primitive standard of civilisation set up in

Deuteronomy (chap, xxiii. 13). The Western rural sociologist is not

inclined to criticise the sanitary methods of Japan. He is too

conscious of the neglect in the West to study thoroughly the grave

question of sewage disposal in relation to the needs of our crops and

the cost of nitrogenous fertilisers. See also Appendix XX.

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS [V]. In Mr. Yamasaki's school there was dormitory

accommodation for 200 youths, some 40 lived in teachers' houses,

another 15 were in lodgings, and 45 came daily from their parents'

homes. Lads were admitted from 14 to 16 and the course was for 3

years. The students worked 30 hours weekly indoors and the rest of

their time outside. Upper and lower grade agricultural schools number

280 with 23,000 students. In addition there are 7,908 agricultural

continuation schools with more than 430,000 pupils. The ratio of

illiteracy in Japan for men of conscription age (that is, excluding

old people and young people), which had been over 5 per cent. up to

1911, was reported to be only 2 per cent. in 1917.

CRIME [VI]. In 1916 the chief offences in Japan were:

Dealt with at police station 445,502

Gambling and lotteries 81,649

Larceny 81,063

Fraud and usurpation 49,772

Assaults 19,022

Robbery 10,383

Arson 9,533

Accidental assaults 3,277

Obscenity 2,796

Wilful injury 2,032

Murder 1,886

Abortion 1,252

Abduction 907

Rioting 813

Official disgrace 481

Military and naval 387

Desertion 315

Forgery 307

Coining 206

PROSTITUTES [VII]. The chief of police was good enough to let me have

a copy of the form to be filled up by girls desiring to enter the

houses in the prefecture. It is under nine heads: 1. The reason for

adopting the profession. 2. Age. 3. Permission of head of household.

If permission is not forthcoming, reason why. 4. If a minor, proof of

permission. 5. House at which the girl is going to "work." 6. Home

address. 7. Former means of getting a living. 8. Whether prostitute

before. If so, particulars. 9. Other details.

When I was in Japan there were reputed to be about 50,000 _joro_

(prostitutes), about half that number of geisha and about 35,000

"waitresses."

PHILANTHROPIC AGENCIES [VIII]. In 1917 the number of paupers, tramps

and foundlings relieved by the State did not exceed 10,000. The number

of institutions was 730 (of which 40 were run by foreigners), with the

expenditure of about 5-1/2 million yen.

CHANGES IN RURAL STATUS [IX]. It seemed that during 47 years 18

tenants had become peasant proprietors, 14 peasant proprietors had

become landowners (that is men who make their living by letting land

rather than by working it), 8 tenants had stepped straightway into the

position of landowners, 7 landowners had fallen to the grade of

peasant proprietors and 7 more to that of tenants, while 114

householders had changed their callings or had gone to Hokkaido.

HOURS OF WORK PER DAY [X]. One of these villages showed that during

January and February it worked 6 hours, during March and April 8

hours, from May to August 12-1/2 hours, during September and October

9-1/2 hours, and during November and December 9 hours. There was a

further record of labour at night. In January and February it worked

from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., during March and April and September and

October from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and in November and December from 7

p.m. to 10 p.m. As in the period from May to August inclusive the day

working hours were from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., there then was no night

labour.

DILIGENT PEOPLE AND OTHERS [XI]. The adults of the village were

classified as follows: Diligent people, men 294, women 260; average

workers, men 270, women 236; other people, men 242, women 191. One

supposes that, in considering the women's activities, all that was

estimated was the number of hours spent in agricultural work or in

remunerative employment in the evening.

FARM AREAS AND DAYS WORKED IN THE YEAR [XII]. The information

concerned three typical peasant proprietors, A, B and C, living in the

same county. The areas of their land are given in _tan_:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------

A |In hills |6 |3 |1 | -- |3 |2 |

B |On plain |6.6 |2.6 |.5 |2 paddy |3 |2 |

C |Near town |6 |4 |1 | -- |3 |- |

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Next we are told the number of days that not only A, B and C but their

wives and their parents worked and did not work during the year:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

{A |254 | 28 |25 | 6 |52

Husbands {B |239 | 37 |25 | - |64

{C |231 | 49 |19 | 2 |64

| | | | |

{A |239 | 54 | 7 | - |64

Wives {B |150 |128 |26 | - |64

{C |141 |174 | 9 | - |41

| | | | |

{A |144 | 47 |85 |18 |72

Fathers {B |205 | 69 |40 | - |51

{C | - | - | - | - | -

| | | | |

{A | 15 |324 | 6 | - |20

Mothers {B | 82 |220 |23 | - |41

{C | - | - | - | - | -

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It will be seen that men only were ill! [See next page.]

For average of hours worked elsewhere, see page 232 and page 237.

FARMERS' EARNINGS AND SPENDINGS [XIII]. If the reader should feel that

the following details are lacking in comprehensiveness or

definiteness, he should understand that reports of a national and

authoritative character on the economic condition of the farmer were

not available. There existed certain reports of the Ministry of

Agriculture, but they were subjected to criticism. The National

Agricultural Association had set on foot an elaborate enquiry as to

the condition of the "middle farmer," but it was suggested that too

much reliance was placed on arithmetical calculations and too little

on known facts. I have had to rely, therefore, on official and private

investigations made in various prefectures and villages, and I give a

selection for what they are worth. Of the general condition of the

agricultural population the reader is offered the impressions recorded

in my different Chapters.

INCOMES AND EXPENDITURES OF PEASANT PROPRIETORS.--

The incomes and expenditures of the three households referred to in

Appendix XII were:

-----------------------------------------

|Income |Expenditure |Balance in hand

-----------------------------------------

|yen |yen |yen

A |477 |449 |28

B |915 |838 |77

C |971 |703 |68

-----------------------------------------

HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES.--The household expenditures of the three

families were, in yen:

-------------------------------------------

|A |B |C

-------------------------------------------

|yen |yen |yen

Food |192.76 |216.64 |189.57

House | 2.32 | 2.24 | 1.20

Clothes | 18.72 | 15.16 | 10.08

Fuel | 12.72 | 13.53 | 21.00

Tools and furniture | 10.97 |160.18 | 1.66

Social intercourse | 9.58 | -- | 6.05

Education | 1.56 | -- | 4.15

Amusement | 3.30 | 2.03 | 18.00

Unforeseen | 7.85 | 13.72 | 22.33

Miscellaneous | 6.43 | 7.71 | 11.15

|-------|-------|------

|266.21 |431.21 |285.19

-------------------------------------------

It will be observed that the expenditure of B under the

heading of furniture, 160 yen, is out of all proportion with the

expenditures of A and C, 10 yen and 1 yen respectively. This

is due to the fact that B had to provide a bride's chest for a

daughter.

A balance sheet given me by a peasant proprietor in Aichi

(5_tan_ of two-crop paddy and 5 _tan_ of upland) showed a balance

in hand of 27 yen.

An agricultural expert said to me, "The peasant proprietors

are the backbone of the country, but the condition of the backbone

is not good. The peasant proprietors can make ends meet

only by secondary employments." The expert showed me average

figures for 18 farmers for 1891, 1900 and 1909. The average

land of these men was a little over a _chō_ of paddy and 5 _tan_ of

upland and some woodland. They had spent 39, 63 and 86

yen on artificial manures as against 100, 153 and 204 yen on

food. The balance at the end of the year for the three years

respectively was 27, 40 and 29 yen. "The figures reflect the

general condition," I was told.

INCOMES AND EXPENDITURES OF TENANTS.--I may also note the

circumstances of the largest and of the smallest tenant in an Aichi

village I visited. The largest tenant family showed a balance in hand,

93 yen; the smallest tenant, 23 yen.

The accounts of 16 tenants for 1891 showed an average sum of 3 yen in

hand at the end of the year, for 1900 a loss of 5 yen and for 1909 a

gain of 1 yen. These men had an average of 9 _tan_ of paddy and 2

_tan_ of upland. The man who gave me the data said that in the

north-east of Japan "the condition of the tenants is miserable--eating

almost cattle food." The only bright spot for tenants was that, as

compared with peasant proprietors, they were free to change their

holdings and even their business.

INCOMES OF TENANTS AND PEASANT PROPRIETORS (SHIDZUOKA).--One tenant,

who pays 159 yen in rent and taxes, shows a total income of 374 yen

and an expenditure of 538 yen, with a _net loss of 164 yen_. "Farmers

of this class," notes the local expert on the memorandum he gave me,

"are becoming poorer every year." This tenant spent 2 yen on medicine

and 5 yen on tobacco. ("Nothing else for enjoyment," pencils the

expert.) In addition to parents, a man, a woman and a girl of the

family worked. Food cost 321 yen (cost of fish and meat, 4-1/2 yen)

and clothing 34 yen.

In a "model village," where "the farmers are always diligent," a

small tenant's income was 508 yen and expenditure 527 yen; _loss_, 19

_yen_. Clothes cost 95 yen and food 190 yen. (Cost of fish and meat,

4-3/4 yen.) There was an expenditure on medicine of 1-1/2 yen and on

tobacco and _saké_ ("only enjoyment") 10 yen.

Twenty per cent, of the farmers, I was told, "lead a middle-class life

and occupy a somewhat rational area of land." The budgets often of

these men, who own their own land, show a _balance of 85 yen_. "If

they were tenants they would not be in such a good condition." "We

think the farmer ought to have 2 _chō_."

BUDGETS OF FARMERS ON THE LAND OF THE HOMMA CLAN, YAMAGATA (page

186).--A tenant had 3 _chō_ of paddy and a small piece of vegetable

land. There lived with him his wife, two sons and the widow and child

of the eldest son. After paying his rent he had 30 _koku_ of rice

left. The cost of production and taxes, 100 yen or a little more, had

to come out of that. This tenant had a debt of 250 yen.

A sturdy wagoner with a sturdy horse lived with his wife and three

children and his old mother. He hired 1 _chō_ for 28 _koku_ of rice

and his crop was 40 _koku_. He spent 30 yen on manure and 4 yen went

in taxes.

A middle-grade farmer owned a house and a little more than 1 _chō_ and

rented 3 _chō_ of paddy and a patch for vegetables. His rent was about

38 _koku_. He spent 100 yen on manure and 128 yen for taxes, temple

dues and regulation of the paddy. He employed at 2-1/2 _koku_ a man

who lived with the family, also temporary labour for 48 days. His crop

might be 100 _koku_ or more. He had no debt.

A third man was above the middle grade of farmer. His taxes were 240

yen and his manure bill 130 yen. His payment for paddy-field

regulation, to continue for ten years, was 60 yen. He had three

labourers and he also hired extra labour for 100 days. He had three

unmarried sons of 40, 29 and 25. There were 260 yen of pensions in

respect of the war service of one son and the death of another.

INCOME OF PEASANT PROPRIETORS (HOKKAIDO).--The following statistics

for the whole of Hokkaido are based on the experience of peasant

proprietors. The 2-1/2 _chō_ men are rice farmers--rice farming means

farming with rice as the principal crop. The 5-_chō_ men are engaged

in mixed farming:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

| yen | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen

2-1/2 | | | | | | |

chō | 366 | 43 | 409 | 107 | 276 | 382 | 27

| | | | | | |

5 chō | 441 | 33 | 474 | 119 | 301 | 423 | 52

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It will be seen that mixed farming is the more profitable.

Income of Tenants (Hokkaido).--Professor Takaoka was kind enough to

give me the following summaries of balance sheets of tenants of

college lands in different parts of Hokkaido in 1915. (In all cases

the accounts have been debited with wages for the farmer's family.)

Five _chō_. Income, 447 yen; _net return, 37 yen_. (Rye, wheat, oats,

corn, soy, potatoes, grass, flax, buckwheat and rape. One horse and a

few hens.)

Five _chō_. Income, 763 yen; _net return, 58 yen_. (Rye, wheat, oats,

rape, soy, potatoes, corn, grass, flax and onions. Three cows, one

horse.)

Ten _chō_. Income, 1,015 yen; _net return, 122 yen_. (Same crops with

two cows and one horse and some hired labour.)

Five _chō_ (peppermint on 3 _chō_). Income, 882 yen; _net return_, 93

_yen_.

Three _chō_. Income, 1,195 yen; _net return, 332 yen_. (Vegetable

farming. 206 yen paid for labour.)

Thirty _chō_. Income, 1,979 yen; _net return, 61 yen_. (Mixed farming;

632 yen paid for labour.)

Model _5-chō_ farm without rice. Made 604 yen, and 107 yen _net

return_, farm capital being 1,487 yen. (208 yen allowed for labour,

interest 128 yen, amortisation 27 yen, and taxes 13 yen.)

Milk farmer, 12 _chō_ and 90 cattle. Income, 12,280 yen; _net return

of 3,641 yen_.

2,120 _chō_ (1,235 forest, 402 pasture, 110 artificial grass and 42

crops; 111 cattle). Income, 66,205 yen; _net return, 1,011 yen_. (Milk

and meat farming.)

Average income and expenditure of 200 tenants of University land whose

budgets Professor Morimoto (see Chapter XXXIV) investigated:

yen

Crops 451.66

Wages earned 61.33

Horses 20.09

Poultry and eggs .96

Pigs .85

Manure (animal, 35 _kwan_; human, 14 _koku_) 24.50

Other income 29.64

------

589.03

yen

Cultivation, etc. 206.32

Cost of living 303.33

------

509.65

------

Profit 79.38

======

The returns of capital yielded the following averages:

yen

Tenant right in respect of 5-16 _chō_ 750.82

Buildings (32.2 _tsubo_) 195.95

Clothing 162.82

Horse (average 1.23) 108.48

Furniture 58.47

Implements 51.23

Poultry (average 2.58) 1.15

Pigs (average .12) .87

--------

Total 1,329.79

========

VALUE OF NEW PADDY [XIV]. More delicious rice could be got, I was

told, from well-fertilised barren land than from naturally fertile

land. The first year the new paddy yielded per _tan_ an average of 1.2

_koku_, the second 1.6, the third 2, and this fourth year the yield

would have been 2.3 had it not been for damage by storm.

AREAS AND CROPS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF RICE [XV]. In 1919 there was

grown of paddy rice 2,984,750 _chō_ (2,729,639 ordinary, 255,111

glutinous) and of upland rice 141,365 _chō_. Total, 3,126,115 _chō_.

The yield (husked, uncleaned) was of paddy 61,343,403 _koku_

(ordinary, 56,438,005; glutinous, 4,905,398); of upland, 1,839,312.

Total, 63,182,715 _koku_; value, 2,352,145,519 yen.

In 1877 the area is reputed to have been 1,940,000 _chō_ with a yield

of 24,450,000 _koku_ and in 1882 2,580,000 _chō_ with a yield of

30,692,000 _koku_. The average of the five years 1910-14 was 3,033,000

_chō_ with a yield of 57,006,000 _koku_; of the five years 1915-19,

3,081,867 _chō_ with a yield of 94,817,431 _koku_.

In a prefecture in south-western Japan I found that 2 _koku_ 5 _to_

(or 2-1/2 _koku_, there being 10 _to_ in a _koku_) per _tan_ was

common and that from 3 _koku_ to 3 _koku_ 5 _to_ was reached. "A good

yield for 1 _tan_," says an eminent authority, "is 3 _koku_, or on the

best fields even 4 _koku_." The average yield in _koku_ per _tan_ for

the whole country has been (paddy-field rice only): 1882, 1.19;

1894-8, 1.38; 1899-1903, 1.44; 1904-8, 1.57; 1909-13, 1.63; 1914-18,

1.86; 1919, 1.99; 1920, 2.05 (ordinary, 2.06; glutinous, 1.92). Upland

rice in 1920, 1.30 as against 1.02 in 1909. All these figures are for

husked, uncleaned rice.

BARLEY AND WHEAT CROPS [XVI]. The following table (average of five

years, 1913-17) shows the yields per _tan_ of the two sorts of barley

and of wheat and the average yield all three together in comparison

with the rice yield (all quantities husked):

_go_ _go_

Barley 1,672 | All three together 1,307

Naked barley 1,172 | Rice 1,808

Wheat 1,073 |

Naked barley is grown as an upland crop, as are ordinary barley and

wheat; but it is more largely grown as a second crop in paddies than

either barley or wheat. The barleys are chiefly used for human food

with or without rice. Wheat is eaten in macaroni, sweetstuffs and

bread. It is also used in considerable quantities in the manufacture

of soy, the chief ingredient of which is beans. There was imported in

the year 1920 wheat to the value of 28-1/2 million yen, and flour to

the value of 3-1/4 million yen. Macaroni is largely made of buckwheat

as well as of wheat. The other grain crop is millet, which is eaten by

the poorest farmers. In 1918, as against 60 million _koku_ of rice,

there were grown 5 million _koku_ of beans and peas. The crops of

barley were 17 million, of wheat 6 million, of millet 3-1/4 million,

and of buckwheat 3/4 million. More than a million _kwan_ of sweet

potatoes were produced and nearly half a million of "Irish" potatoes.

(The figures for barley and wheat are for 1919.)

COST AND PRICE OF RICE [XVII]. The annual figures (from Aichi) for the

years 1894 to 1915 (page 384) show the cost of producing a _tan_ of

rice, that is the summer crop. The amounts per _tan_ are calculated on

the basis of the expenses of a tenant who is cropping 8 _tan_. The

totals for the winter crop are also given. The figures which appear on

the opposite page were described to me by the farmer concerned as

"compiled on the basis of investigations by the chairman of the

village agricultural association and by its managers and still further

proved and quite trustworthy." It will be seen that the value of the

winter crop is low; a secondary employment is usually a better thing

for the farmer. In one or two places there is a sen or so difference

in the additions which may have been made by the transcriber from the

Japanese original. The difference in amounts of rent is due to

difference in fields rented and also to reduction allowed owing to bad

crops. The difference in the income from crops is usually due to

destruction by hail or wind.

COST AND PRICE OF RICE (see page 383)

|Year

| |Yield in

| |_koku_

| | |Reserved for Rent

| | |and Seeds (_koku_)

| | | |Market Price per

| | | |_koku_ (yen)

|------|------|------|-------|-------|-----|----|------|-------|------|-------|-------|

| 1894 | 2.23 | 1.05 | 7.66 | 9.81 | 2 | 21 | 2.21 | 7.60 | 2.5 | 2.51 | 10.11 |

| 1895 | 2.13 | 1.05 | 8.09 | 8.71 | 2 | 21 | 2.26 | 6.45 | 21.5 | 2.48 | 8.92 |

| 1896 | 1.53 | .80 | 8.67 | 6.89 | 2.4 | 22 | 2.58 | 4.31 | 21.5 | 3.38 | 7.69 |

| 1897 | 1.88 | 1.05 | 11.53 | 10.63 | 2.9 | 23 | 3.13 | 7.50 | 21.5 | 5.22 | 12.72 |

| 1898 | 2.39 | 1.05 | 14.62 | 21.13 | 3.2 | 25 | 3.40 | 17.73 | 21.5 | 5.50 | 23.23 |

| 1899 | 1.75 | .88 | 12.05 | 11.48 | 3.8 | 30 | 4.11 | 7.37 | 21 | 2.22 | 9.99 |

| 1900 | 2.14 | 1.05 | 11.11 | 13.24 | 4.1 | 31 | 4.40 | 8.84 | 21 | 4.22 | 13.06 |

| 1901 | 2.10 | 1.05 | 10.53 | 12.06 | 4 | 32 | 4.35 | 7.71 | 21 | 3.87 | 11.58 |

| 1902 | 1.86 | .99 | 12.99 | 12.40 | 3.1 | 38 | 3.51 | 8.89 | 21 | 4.11 | 13 |

| 1903 | 2.06 | 1.04 | 12.50 | 13.85 | 3.4 | 49 | 3.79 | 10.05 | 21 | 6 | 16.85 |

| 1904 | 2.24 | 1.03 | 12.20 | 16 | 2.6 | 53 | 3.11 | 9.89 | 21 | 6.06 | 15.95 |

| 1905 | 1.77 | .99 | 13.42 | 11.60 | 2.1 | 46 | 2.55 | 9.05 | 21 | 6.67 | 15.71 |

| 1906 | 1.96 | 1.05 | 15.15 | 15 09 | 4 | 56 | 4.61 | 10.49 | 21 | 5.79 | 16.27 |

| 1907 | 1.98 | 1.14 | 16.39 | 16.69 | 4.4 | 42 | 4.83 | 11.84 | 21 | 8.60 | 20.43 |

| 1908 | 2.21 | 1.14 | 14.29 | 16.80 | 5.1 | 42 | 5.54 | 11.26 | 21 | 10.79 | 22.05 |

| 1909 | 2.27 | 1.14 | 11.63 | 14.39 | 3.7 | 99 | 4.64 | 9.75 | 21 | 11.49 | 21.24 |

| 1910 | 2.02 | 1.14 | 14.09 | 13.37 | 4.5 | 80 | 5.27 | 8.51 | 21 | 12.41 | 20.91 |

| 1911 | 2.22 | 1.14 | 16.67 | 19.72 | 4.4 | 78 | 5.13 | 14.59 | 21 | 13.49 | 28.08 |

| 1912 | 2.02 | .90 | 21.74 | 26.48 | 5.9 | 75 | 6.60 | 19.88 | 21.5 | 3.73 | 23.6 |

| 1913 | 2.31 | 1.14 | 20.83 | 24.67 | 6.5 | 79 | 7.30 | 17.37 | 21.5 | 12.62 | 30 |

| 1914 | 2.48 | 1.14 | 12.50 | 18.29 | 5.8 | 78 | 6.53 | 11.75 | 21.5 | 11.54 | 23.30 |

| 1915 | 2.36 | 1.20 | 11.77 | 14.91 | 5.8 | 82 | 6.67 | 8.24 | 21.5 | 9.67 | 18.91 |

This table may be supplemented by the following prices for

(unpolished) rice in Tokyo: 1916, 13 yen 76 sen; 1917, 19 yen 84 sen;

1918, 32 yen 75 sen; 1919, 45 yen 99 sen.

In the spring of 1921 the League for the Prevention of Sales of Rice

at a Sacrifice proposed that rice should not be sold under 35 yen per

_koku_. The price passed the figure of 35 yen in July 1918. At the

time the League's proposals were made the Ministry of Agriculture was

quoted as stating that the cost of producing rice "is now 40 yen per

_koku_." The accuracy of the figures on which the Ministry's estimates

are made is frequently called in question.

CULTIVATED AREA IN JAPAN AND GREAT BRITAIN [XVIII]. In 1919 there were

in Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the

Channel Islands) 15,808,000 acres of arable, 15,910,000 of pasture and

13,647,000 of grazing, or a total of 45,365,000 acres out of a total

area of 56,990,000 acres. In Japan there were 15,044,202 acres of

paddy and of cultivated upland, 46,958,000 acres of forest and

8,773,000 acres of waste; total 70,775,000, out of 90,880,000 acres.

The area of the United Kingdom without Ireland is 56,990,080 acres;

that of Japan Proper, 75,988,378 acres. The population of the United

Kingdom without Ireland (in 1911) was 41,126,000, and of Japan Proper

(in 1911) 51,435,000. (See also Appendix XXX.)

HUMAN LABOUR _v_. CATTLE POWER [XIX]. The Department of Agriculture

stated in 1921 that "from 200 to 300, sometimes more than 500 days'

labour [of one man] are required to grow a _chō_ of rice." The area of

paddy which is ploughed by horse or cattle power was 61.89 per cent.

The area of upland so cultivated was only 38.97 per cent. The "average

year's work of the ordinary adult farmer" was put at 200 days. The

Department estimated an average man's day's work (10 hours) as

follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Nature of Work | Tools used |Output by one

| | Man per Day

---------------------------------------------------------------------

| |hectare

Tillage of paddy |_Kuwa_ (mattock) | 0.06

" " " |_Fumi-guwa_ (heavy spade) | 0.1-0.15

Transplanting rice |Hand work | 0.07-0.1

Weeding |Sickle and weeding tools | 0.1

Cutting the rice crop |Sickle | 0.1-0.15

Mowing grass |Sickle (long handle) | 0.5

" " |Scythe | 0.5

---------------------------------------------------------------------

But I have never seen a scythe in use in Japan!

MANURE [XX]. The value of the manure used in Japan in a year has been

estimated at about 220 million yen, but for the three years ending

1916 it averaged 241 millions, as follows:

Produced or obtained by the Farmer | Purchased

yen | yen

Compost 63,500,000 | Bean cake 32,000,000

Human waste 54,000,000 | Mixed 17,000,000

Green manure 9,600,000 | Miscellaneous 16,000,000

Rice chaff 5,000,000 | Sulphate of ammonia 15,000,000

| Superphosphate 12,000,000

| Fish waste 12,000,000

Dr. Sato puts the artificial manure used per _tan_ at a sixth of that

of Belgium and a quarter of that of Great Britain and Germany. See

also Appendix IV. An agricultural expert once said to me, "Japanese

farmer he keep five head of stock, his own family."

SOWING OF RICE [XXI]. A common seeding time is the eighty-eighth day

of the year according to the old calendar, say May 1 or 2.

Transplanting is very usual at the end of May or early in June. In

Kagawa, Shikoku, I found that rice was sown at the beginning of May or

even at the end of April, the transplanting being done in mid-June.

The harvest was obtained 10 per cent. about September 10th, 30 per

cent. in October and 60 per cent. about the beginning of November. The

winter crop of naked barley was sown in the first quarter of December

and was harvested late in May or early in June, so there was just time

for the rice planting in mid-June.

In Kochi the first crop is sown about March 15, the seedlings are put

out in mid-May and the harvest is ready about August 10. The second

crop, which has been sown in June, is ready with its seedlings from

August 13 to August 15, and the harvest arrives about November 1 and

2. The first crop may yield about 3 _koku_, the second 1-1/2 _koku_.

A good deal depends in raising a big crop on a good seed bed. This is

got by reducing the quantity of seed used and by applying manure

wisely. Whereas formerly as much as from 5 to 7 _go_ of seed was sown

per _tsubo_, the biggest crops are now got from 1 _go_.

The Japanese names of the most widely grown varieties are Shinriki,

Aikoku, Omachi, Chikusei and Sekitori. At an experiment station I

copied the names of the varieties on exhibition there: Banzai,

Patriotism, Japanese Embroidery, Good-looking, Early Power of God,

Bamboo, Small Embroidery, Power of God, Mutual Virtue, Yellow Bamboo,

Late White, Power of God (glutinous), Silver Rice Cake and Eternal

Rice Field.

There are several thousand _chō_ in the vicinity of Tokyo where, owing

to the low temperature of the marshy soil, the seed is sown direct in

the paddies, not broadcast but at regular intervals and in thrice or

four times the normal quantities.

RATE OF PLANTING [XXII]. I have been told that an adult who has the

seedlings brought to his or her hand can stick in a thousand an hour.

The early varieties may be set in clumps of seven or eight plants;

middle-growth sorts may contain from five to six; the latest kind may

include only three or four. The number of clumps planted may be 42 per

_tsubo_, which, as a _tsubo_ is nearly four square yards, is about ten

per square yard. The clumps are put in their places by being pushed

into the mud. A straight line is kept by means of a rope. The success

of the crop depends in no small degree on skilful planting.

HOW MUCH RICE DOES A JAPANESE EAT? [XXIII]. The daily consumption of

rice per head, counting young and old, is nearly 3 _go_. (A _go_ is

roughly a third of a pint.) A sturdy labourer will consume at least 5

_go_ in a day, and sometimes 7 or even 10 _go_. The allowance for

soldiers is 6 _go_. These quantities represent the rice uncooked. In

recent years more and more rice has been eaten by those who formerly

ate barley or mainly barley. And some who once ate a good deal of

millet and _hiye_ are now eating a certain amount of rice. The

average annual consumption per head of the Japanese population (Korea

and Formosa excluded from the calculation) was: 1888-93, 948 _go_;

1908-13, 1,037 _go_; 1913-18, 1,050 _go_. The averages of 25 years

(1888-1912) were: production, 42,756,584 _koku_; consumption,

44,410,725 _koku_; deficit, 1,984,970 _koku_; population, 45,140,094;

per head, 0.980 _koku_. In 1921 the Department of Agriculture,

estimating a population of 55,960,000 (see Appendix XXX) and an annual

consumption per head of 1.1 _koku_ per year, put the national

consumption for a year at about 61,550,000 _koku_. See also Appendix

XXVI.

IMPORTED AND EXPORTED RICE [XXIV]. "Good rice" is imported from Korea

and Formosa. The objection is to "Rangoon" rice. But most of the

imported rice does not come from Rangoon but from Saigon. The figures

for 1919 were in yen: China, 283,011; British India, 1,012,979;

Kwantung, 15,053,977; Siam, 29,367,430; French Indo-China,

116,313,525; other countries, 39,918; total, 162,070,840. The exports

in 1919 were in yen: China, 1,354; Australia, 6,570; Asiatic Russia,

165,463; Kwantung, 213,633; British America, 356,600; United States,

476,756; Hawaii, 3,046,598; other countries, 60,707--all obviously in

the main for Japanese consumption. The total imports and exports were

in _koku_ and yen over a period of years:

--------------------------------------------------------

| Imports | Exports |

Year |-----------------------|-----------|-----------|

--------------------------------------------------------

1909 | 1,325,243 | 13,585,817| 422,513 | 5,867,290 |

1910 | 918,627 | 8,644,439| 429,251 | 5,900,477 |

1911 | 1,719,566 | 11,721,085| 216,198 | 3,940,541 |

1912 | 2,234,437 | 30,193,481| 208,423 | 4,367,824 |

1913 | 3,637,269 | 48,472,304| 204,002 | 4,372,979 |

1914 | 2,022,644 | 24,823,933| 260,738 | 4,974,108 |

1915 | 457,606 | 4,886,125| 662,629 | 9,676,969 |

1916 | 309,158 | 3,087,616| 686,479 |11,197,356 |

1917 | 564,376 | 6,513,373| 769,129 |14,662,546 |

1918 | 4,647,168 | 89,755,678| 264,565 | 8,321,965 |

1919 | 4,642,382 |162,070,840| 95,219 | 4,327,690 |

1920 | 471,083 | 18,059,194| 116,249 | 5,897,675 |

--------------------------------------------------------

The twenty-five years' average (1888-1912) of excess of import

over export was 1,339,493 _koku_. See also Appendix XXVIII.

INCREASE OF RICE YIELD AND OF POPULATION [XXV].

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

| 1882 | 1913 | of | 1918 | of

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Population |36,700,000 |53,362,000 | 45 |66,851,000 | 55

Rice crop |30,692,000 |50,222,000 | 63 |53,893,000 | 75

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* 1882-1918. The degree to which the increase in production will

be maintained is of course a matter for discussion. As far as rice is

concerned, it must be borne in mind that there is an increasing

consumption per head.

FARMERS' DIET [XXVI]. It is officially stated in 1921 that "the common

farm diet consists of a mixture of cooked rice and barley as the

principal food with vegetables and occasionally fish." The barley is

what is known as naked barley. Ordinary barley is eaten in northern

Japan, but two-thirds of the barley eaten elsewhere is the wheat-like

naked barley, which cannot be grown in Fukushima and the north. The

husking of ordinary barley is hard work. The young men do it during

the night when it is cool. They keep on until cock-crow. Their songs

and the sound of their mallets make a memorable impression as one

passes through a village on a moonlight night. Another substitute for

rice beyond millet is _hiye_ (panic grass). In the south it is

regarded as a weed of the paddies, but in the north many _tan_ are

planted with this heavy-yielding small grain.

TAXATION [XXVII]. Before 1906 national taxation was 2.5 per cent. of

the legal price of land. In 1900 it was 3.3 per cent., in 1904 5.5 per

cent., in 1911 4.7 per cent, and in 1915 4.5 per cent. But local

taxation increased in greater proportion.

FLAVOUR OF RICE AND PRICE FLUCTUATIONS [XXVIII]. Japanese rice has a

fatty flavour which the people of Japan like. Therefore the native

rice commands a higher price in Japan than Chinese or Indian rice.

With the exception of a small quantity exported to Japanese abroad,

Japanese rice is consumed in Japan. The supply of it and the demand

for it are exclusively a Japanese affair. Naturally, when the crop

fails the price soars, and when there is a superabundant harvest the

price comes down to the level of foreign rice. Here is the secret of

the enormous fluctuations in the price of Japanese rice with which

the authorities have so often endeavoured to cope.

The Government granary plan is the third big effort of authority to

manage rice prices. The Okuma Government, under the administration of

which rice went down to 14 yen per _koku_, had a Commission to raise

prices. The Terauchi Ministry, at a time when prices rose, touching 55

yen, had a Commission to bring prices down.

AREA AND CLIMATE [XXIX]. Japan Proper comprises a main island, three

other large islands in sight of the main island, and

archipelagos--4,000 islets have been counted. The main island, Honshu,

with Shikoku behind it, lies off the coast of Korea; the next largest

and northernmost island, Hokkaido, off the coast of Siberia, and the

remaining sizeable island and the southernmost, Kyushu, off the coast

of China over against the mouth of the Yangtse. The area of this

territory, that is of Japan before the acquirement of Formosa, Korea,

southern Saghalien and part of Manchuria, is about 142,000 square

miles in area, which is that of Great Britain in possession not of one

Wales but of four, or nearly 1 per cent. of the area of Asia. But

there are several million more people in Japan than there are

inhabitants of Great Britain and thrice as many as there are Britons

in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. (See also

Appendix XXX.) Japan, which lies between the latitudes of Cairo and

the Crimea, may be said to consist of mountains, of which fifty are

active volcanoes, with some land, either hilly or boggy, at the foot

of them. It is nowhere more than 200 miles across and in one place is

only 50. A note on the ocean currents which exercise an influence on

agriculture will be found on page 195. The protection afforded to the

eastern prefectures by mountain ranges is obvious. Generally the

summer temperature of Japan is higher and the winter temperature is

lower than is recorded in Europe and America within the same

latitudes.

"The mild climate and abundant rainfall," says the Department of

Agriculture, "stimulate a luxuriant forest development throughout the

country which in turn provides ample fountain heads for rivers. The

rivers and streams run in all directions, affording opportunity for

irrigation all over the country. The insular position of the country

renders its humidity high and its rainfall abundant when compared with

Continental countries. The rainy season prevails during the months of

June and July, making this season risky for the harvest of wheat and

barley; on the other hand it affords a beneficent irrigation supply to

paddy-grown rice, which is the most important crop. The characteristic

feature of the climate in the greater part of the islands is the

frequency of storms in the months of August and September. As the

flowers of the rice plant commence to bloom during the same period,

these late summer storms cause much damage."

The weather in Tokyo in 1918 was as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

|Jan.|Feb.|Mar.|Apl.| May|June|July|Aug.|Sept.|Oct.|Nov.|Dec.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

snow (mm.)| 10| 65| 163| 108| 123| 149| 82| 78| 202| 135| 142| 80

Temp. (C.) | 1.6| 3.6| 6.7|11.7|16.7|20.2|26.0|26.0| 22.6|16.0|10.4|3.9

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The varied climate of Japan is indicated by the following statistics

for centres as far distant as Nagasaki in the extreme south-west and

Sapporo in Hokkaido:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------|--------|-------|------|---------|--------|---------

snow | 179 | 176 | 144 | 218 | 229 | 216

temp. (C.) | 14.9 | 13.6 | 13.8 | 12.5 | 9.4 | 7.3

Maximum | 36.7 | 37.2 | 36.6 | 39.1 | 36.0 | 33.4

Minimum | _5.6_ | _11.9_| _8.1_| _9.7_ | _19.0_ | _25.6_

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The italicised temperatures are below zero. Average dates of last

frost: Tokyo, April 6; Nagoya, April 13; Matsumoto, May 17.

POPULATION OF JAPAN, MANCHURIA AND MONGOLIA [XXX]. The population of

the Empire according to the 1920 census was 77,005,510, which included

Korea, 17,284,207; Formosa, 3,654,398; Saghalien, 105,765; and South

Manchuria (that is, the Kwantung Peninsula), 80,000. In Old Japan

(Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu with the near islands, and Loo-choos and

Bonins) there were 53,602,043, and in Hokkaido (including Kuriles)

2,359,097.

Tokyo is the largest city, 2,173,000, followed by Osaka, 1,252,000.

Kobe and Kyoto have a little more than half a million; Nagoya and

Yokohama four hundred thousand apiece. Ten other cities have a hundred

thousand odd.

In the following table the populations and areas of Japan, Great

Britain and the United States are compared:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Country | Area | Population | Population

| | | per sq. mile

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Japan (excluding Korea, Formosa | | |

and Saghalien) | 142,000 | 55,961,140 | 394

| | (1920) |

British Isles | 121,636 | 47,306,664[*] | 388

| | (1921) |

United States (excluding Alaska | | |

and oversea possessions) |3,000,000| 105,683,108 | 35

| | (1920) |

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Ireland taken at 1911 census figures.

Japan's 394 per square mile is lowered by the population of Hokkaido

(2,359,097), which is only 66 per square mile. The population of the

three chief Japanese islands is: Honshu, the mainland (41,806,930),

471; Shikoku (3,066,890), 423; and Kyushu (8,729,088), 511. (These

figures are for 1920.) "As regards density per square kilometre,"

writes an official of the Imperial Bureau of Statistics in the _Japan

Year-book_, with the figures antecedent to the 1920 census before him,

"it is calculated at 140 for Japan and this compares as follows with

Belgium (1910) 252, England and Wales (1911) 239, Holland (1909) 171,

Italy (1911) 121, Germany (1910) 120 and France 44. When comparison is

made on the basis of habitable area Japan may be considered to surpass

all as to density, for while in Japan it constitutes only 19 per cent,

of the total area, the ratio is as high as 74 for Belgium, 73 for

England and Wales, 67 for Holland, 76 for Italy, 65 for Germany and 70

for France." The Professor of Agricultural Science at Tokyo University

says: "The area under cultivation, even in the densely populated

parts, is comparatively smaller than in any other country."

In a statement issued in 1921 the Department of Agriculture reckoned

the population at 145 per square kilometre and recorded the mean rate

of increase "in recent years" as 12.06 per 1,000. It stated that the

density of the rural population was 44 per square kilometre or 9.42

per hectare of arable, in other words that the density "is higher

than that of France, Belgium, Switzerland and some other countries

where the agriculture is marked by fairly intensive methods." Mr.

Nikaido, of the Bureau of Statistics, writes in the _Japan Year-book_

that the annual increase of Japan's population was 14.78 per 1,000 for

1909-13 and 12.06 for 1914-18, "a rate greater than in any civilised

country, with the exception of Germany and Rumania in the pre-War

years."

The birth rate is high, but so is the mortality. The death rate of

minors is thrice that of Germany and Great Britain. Here the

increasing industrialisation of the country is no doubt playing its

part. The ratio of still births has steadily risen since the eighties.

The ratio of births, other than still births, per 1,000 of population,

which in 1889-93 was 28.6, increased by 1909-13 to 33.7; but the death

rate fell only from 21.1 to 20.6. The ratio of unmarried, 63.22 in

1893, was 66.22 in 1918.

The following figures for Japan Proper are printed by the _Financial

and Economic Annual_, issued by the Department of Finance:

---------------------------------------------------------

Year. | Total. |Annual Increase |Average Increase per

| |of Population. |1,000 Inhabitants.

---------------------------------------------------------

1910 | 50,716,600 | -- | 14.09}

1911 | 51,435,400 |718,800 | 14.17}

1912 | 52,167,000 |731,600 | 14.22} 14.21

1913 | 52,911,800 |744,800 | 14.28}

1914 | 53,668,600 |756,800 | 14.30}

| | |

1915 | 54,448,200 |779,600 | 14.53}

1916 | 55,235,000 |786,800 | 14.45}

1917 | 56,035,100 |800,100 | 14.49} 14.50

1918 | 56,851,300 |816,200 | 14.57}

1919 | 57,673,938 |822,638 | 14.47}

1920 | 55,961,140 | -- | --

---------------------------------------------------------

It will be seen that for the year 1920 there was a big drop. The

population of 55,961,140 for the year 1920 is the actual population as

returned by the census; the figures of the preceding years are

"based," it is explained to me, "on the local registrars' entries. The

national census has demonstrated that the figures were larger than the

actual number of inhabitants, the discrepancies being partly due to

erroneous and duplicate registration and partly to the exodus of

persons to the colonies or foreign countries whilst retaining their

legal domiciles at home. But the table serves to show the rate of

increase." A million and three-quarters is a substantial figure,

however, to account for in this way. It would seem reasonable to

suppose that the increased cost of living, marriage at a later age

than formerly and increased mortality due directly or indirectly to

the factory system have arrested the rate of increase of the

population in recent years. For trustworthy figures of the Japanese

population we must await the next census and compare its figures with

those of the 1920 census, the first to be taken scientifically.

A considerable part of Japan is uninhabitable. Of how much of the

British Isles can this be said? The fact that there are in Japan fifty

more or less active volcanoes, about a thousand hot springs and two

dozen mountains between 12,000 and 8,000 ft. high speaks for itself.

Ben Nevis is only 4,400, Snowdon only 3,500 ft.

The population of Korea in 1920 (17,284,207) was 239 per square mile.

According to _Whitaker_ for 1921 the population of Manchuria (11

millions) is 30 per square mile, and of Mongolia (3 millions) 2.8.

SMALL FARMS DECREASING [XXXI].

------------------------------------------------------

|_tan_ |_tan_ |_chō_ |_chō_ |_chō_ |_chō_

------------------------------------------------------

1908 |37.28 |32.61 |19.51 |6.44 |3.01 |1.15

1912 |37.14 |33.25 |19.61 |5.96 |2.83 |1.21

1918 |35.54 |33.30 |20.70 |6.33 |2.82 |1.31

1919 |35.36 |33.18 |20.68 |6.21 |2.83 |1.74

----------------------------------------------------