Frontmatter

pp. N/A

Page  [unnumbered] Occasional Papers CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES No. Univerfity of Aiickigan Pre4 Ann Arbor 1952

Page  [unnumbered] Copyright 1952 University of Michigan Lithoprinted in U.S.A. EDWARDS BROTHERS, INC. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 1952

Page  [unnumbered] CONTENTS Page Materials for the Study of Local History in Japan: Pre-Meiji Records Patterns of Japanese Salt Production and Trade A Note on the Emerging Administrative Structure of the Post-Treaty Japanese National Government Cooperative Forms in a Japanese Agricultural Community A Translation of Otsuki Gentaku's Ransetsu Benwaku John Whitney Hall John D. Eyre Ardath W. Burks Robert J. Smith 1 15 47 59 Grant K. Goodman 71

Page  [unnumbered] TOKUGAWA AND CONTEMPORARY VILLAGES IN WAKE GUN - - - I.1.1 / / / Legend — cRivoers,?Roads Contemporary village boundaries o Tokugmwa villages -—.- County boundaries * Contempnorary hlamlets retaining --- Prefectural boundaries T'oku-,awa vill.ge names [ Fujino group

Materials for the Study of Local History in Japan: Pre-Meiji Records

John Whitney Hallpp. 1-14

Page  1 MATERIALS FOR THE STUDY OF LOCAL HISTORY IN JAPAN: PRE-MEIJI VILLAGE RECORDS John Whitney Hall In recent years there have appeared a large number of studies of Japanese villages byboth Japanese and American scholars. This interest in Japan's rural society, while undoubtedly accentuated by the postwar land reform measures, is not by any means a new trend. Before the war, Japanese scholars, realizing that many of the answers to problems of social or economic development were only to be found in the rural area, had begun the specialized study of small village communities. Before the war also, American anthropologists in search of a social unit of manageable size had selected the rural settlement group for study. Both Japanese and American scholars aimed at much the same thing, to reach an understanding of problems common to the nation or to a society through the analysis of patterns of behavior at the village level. Such studies are not to be thought of as academic. The village community, especially the rural settlement group, has constituted a fundamental unit of society and economy throughout much of Japanese history. Today rural Japan represents over fifty per cent of the total population of Japan and continues to act as a conservative balance to the more rapidly changing urban areas. Any analysis of the effectiveness of recent political reforms or any prognosis for Japan's political future must take into consideration the reservoirs of traditional behavior which remain in rural Japan. Village studies have been approached in many ways. The folklorist, anthropologist or geographer has relied heavily on actual field study. The historian or economist has tended to draw his data from documents and statistical literature. In general Japanese scholars have employed written records while Westerners have relied more heavily on field work or statistical materials. The emphasis on field observation has accounted for both the strength and weakness of the non-Japanese studies. For although the method has given to such studies a closeness to actuality and a minuteness of contemporary detail, it has failed to provide a depth of historical perspective obtainable only through the use of past records. This sparse use of written documentation is doubtless explained in part by the difficulty of handling such materials without specialized training in the art of reading old handwritten records. Such a skill is not common even among Japanese scholars and hence is out of the question for the non-Japanese. Another obstacle is the fact that not all locations considered desirable for field study have preserved sufficient records for adequatehistoricalresearch. This fact has accounted in Japan for a rather sharp demarcation between two types of studies: the contemporary field survey, and the purely historical investigation. Between these two approaches a distinct gap remains to be filled by scholars who can combine field study with historical methodology. While it must be admitted that the actual spadework of such historical research must remain the responsibility of Japanese scholars, it is nonetheless imperative that the non-Japanese student of village society acquaint himself with the types and possible uses of local documents. Such information will enable him to know what materials to look for and give him a sense of the various problems which can be approached historically. 1

Page  2 2 JOHN W. HALL Japanese have long made use of so-called village documents (murakata shiry6o A jt A). So far they have made little attempt, however, to analyze such materials in order to arrive at their formal classification. It is perhaps inevitable that the native scholar, able to handle the contents of obscurely written documents, should be less concerned with the external aspects of category and variety. Recently, however, with the establishment in Tokyo of the Shiryokan: /4( (Archival Center)l and the trend toward group studies of villages, some consideration has been given to the problem of the external analysis of village documents. Here again, however, the Japanese have placed emphasis on content rather than type. A recently published study of local materials, prepared by a group consisting largely of members of the Shiryokan, has been widely used by Japanese scholars. 2 This study classifies all such materials under fifty-eight general headings according to content. While such a list is unquestionably essential at certain stages in the development of any research project, it is nevertheless far from the most desirable way of making an initial classification of village documents. It would seem that the initial approach would logically be through function rather than content. In other words, the historian must first know the machinery which produced suchwritten records as he will wish to use. And to do this he must know not only the contents of such records but the general outlines of village administration and social organization. With these problems in mind, the author, in cooperation with members of Tokyo University and Okayama University faculties, 3 conducted in the summer of 1952 a field investigation of pre-Meiji records held by the Mannami j5iJfamily, in the village of Fujino, $, Okayama Prefecture. The Mannami materials were particularly susceptible to external study. Members of the family had served in various capacities as village officials throughout the Toku - gawa period. Their storehouse today contains a wide range of official and private documents touching on all phases of Tokugawa life. While it is true that this collection is a product of local conditions in the Okayama domain, it should not be supposed that such conditions differed greatly from those in other parts of Japan. The following report is based primarily on the experience gained at Fujino. It is supplemented, however, by reference to other collections of village records and to published analyses of such materials. 4 Public Documents By far the greater portion of Mannami documents consists of public records appertaining to the operation of local government. Thus their analysis must be preceded by an understanding of the Tokugawa machinery of village administration. Fujino village (son 4f) is today one of eighteen administrative village units comprising Wake county (gunny). While modern administrative divisions have changed somewhat in the past hundred years it is clear that county boundaries have remained the same and that the eighteen modern villages are comprised of hamlets (oaza Ax l) which with very few exceptions are equivalent to the Tokugawa villages. (See map. ) Differences in names are largely accounted for by the fact that some ninety-six Tokugawa villages have been consolidated into sixty-nine contemporary hamlets. Thus it is not difficult to work out a fairly exact correspondence between Tokugawa and contemporary settlement groups. In Tokugawa times the administration of local affairs in the Okayama domain came under the surveillance of the Deputy of Local Affairs (gundai -Pi ). Under him each county was administered by a County Magistrate (kori bugyo 4-4-f ), who, as was common in most other Tokugawa domains, was the lowest of the centrally delegated officials. Under him the county consisted of villages which were directly administered by officials of village origin. These were the Senior Headman (ojoya )x Ad), 5 the Headmen (nanushi i), 6 and the Elders (goningumi gashira _i A ). 7

Page  3 V ew e of southern po rtion eo Fujino vllage, a:nnami House surrounded by trees in the foreground. Courtartd ef nan i House. Paln n was used aring the Toegwa peried when the family h d was a seniotr headan.,

Page  4 4 JOHN W. HALL Senior headmen were given jurisdiction over a Village Group (kumi.L), and it was the general practice of the Ikeda daimyo who ruled Okayama to divide their counties into groups of from ten to twenty-five villages. In Wake county the number of groupings fluctuated until 1749 when they were fixed at five. The senior headman was appointed from among influential peasant families, generally those whose wealth and lineage made them eligible for headman status. He was held responsible for all matters which transcended the individual villages within his group. Below him were the headmen, generally one to a village, while within the village one or two elders acted as administrative assistants to the headman. One official of the Okayama domain whose counterpart is not generally found in other areas was the Sub-Official (shita yakunin -$4 ). This post was the highest to which a man of nonsamurai origin could rise, and appointment to it automatically gave the recipient the privileges of a samurai. Sub-officials were placed directly under the office of the deputy of local affairs and at the side of the county magistrates. Chosen from among the senior headmen, there were generally five such men who circulated about the entire domain investigating and reporting upon problems which were too large for the senior headmen to handle. Such is the general outline of local administration as it existed in the Okayama domain. One of the remarkable aspects of this system was the quantity of paper work which was involved in its operation. Throughout the Tokugawa period a veritable stream of documents made their way up and down the chain of administrative hierarchy. As in any complex bureaucratic machine the flow of paper work consisted mainly of laws, directives, and decisions coming down from above and petitions, statistics, and reports moving up from below. Such official papers, as they came to rest in various combinations and concentrations in the possession of one or another official, constitute the bulk of local records remaining today. The Mannami collection embraces three levels of the local bureaucracy. 8 From 1654 to 1870, except for minor gaps, members of the Mannami family held the position of senior headman. For several of these years they concurrently held the post of headman. And, during a brief period from 1811-1813, one Mannami rose to the post of sub-official. Fortunately, also, the last of the Tokugawa Mannami continued in high village office until well into the Meiji period. His family, therefore, was absolved of the necessity of turning over the documents it held to any other family. Though a few maps and land registers were recently made public, these remain in the village office where they are available to all. 1. Village Headman Records As the one official in direct contact with the entire peasant population, the village headman was in one way or another involved in nearly every event which transpired in the village. It was through him that the domain authorities carried out the actual administration of the rural populace and through him that the villagers made petitions or received permission for any activity which broke the sanctioned routine of peasant life. The headman thus functioned as a middleman receiving and carrying out orders from above and representing the interests of the peasants from below. In performing his duties the headman was obliged to handle a great variety of records. Of central importance to his office was the transmission of orders and petitions up and down the chain of administration. Few originals of the orders coming from above now remain, but copies of them were faithfully kept in the headman's register. Of the petitions, both copies and originals often remain owing to the practice of returning such petitions to the headman after the superior had endorsed them with his decision. These documents were generally interleaved into the register where previously copies had been recorded.

Page  5 PRE-MEIJI VILLAGE RECORDS 5 Registers were of various types and differed considerably according to location. A general office register (tomech6 JGJ) was in almostuniversaluse. In Fujino the register was usually entitled General Register of Directives and Petitions (sho-goy6 negaiage tomecho;Aip A d J i, - ). 9 Such registers offer a most detailed commentary on the life of the village since they reveal the official regulations under which the villagers lived, together with the major problems that they faced. What is most evident from a study of such registers is that the peasant could make hardly a move without reporting to the officials or gaining official sanction. Marriage, adoption, divorce, entry into the priesthood or change of sect, travel of any kind, repair of houses, boats, or canals, a choice of a trade or business, a change of crops, and many other activities required the prior approval of the domain authorities. Details concerning these matters were carefully kept by the headman, and any other extraordinary events reported to his superiors. Unquestionably the single most important function which the headman performed was that of cadastral clerk and tax collector. These two functions were intimately related, and the paper work which they involved form a compact and important section of all village documents. The basis of land taxation in Tokugawa Japan was the Cadastral Survey (kenchi4*_), conductedby the domain authorities to record all land in actual use as paddy, dry field, dwelling, or forest land. The results of such a survey were recorded in the Cadastral Register (kenchi-cho ~ bJe), a copy of which was deposited with the headman. The Cadastral Register, though varying in form from location to location, had certain basic properties in common throughout Japan. Land was recorded in village units and within the village in single parcels (ippitsu- j). For each parcel the quality, type, area and ownership of land was recorded. Frequently also the tax rate and tax yield were indicated. So far as such registers are trustworthy, it is obvious that they can supply basic source material for the study of land use, tax rates, social differentiation, tenancy, and many other related subjects. It must be realized, however, that hiding of land was common and that this practice often affected the results of surveys. Thus it is only by checking against the more reliable early Meiji registers that the degree of accuracy of the Tokugawa Cadastral Registers may be tested. An important adjunct to the rather infrequently compiled Cadastral Registers were the yearly records of adjustments in the land area. Records of changes in cultivated area were kept in various forms, but in general they involved two types of documents: (1) records of additions in the form of newly reclaimed land, or (2) subtractions in the form of land turned to waste. The latter was called in Fujino the Report on Inspectionof Waste Land in Fujino Son for the Current Year (Fujino-son dembata t6are aratame-cho k t' i f eS Ai g _ t. The former was contained in the Report of Newly Cultivated Land (hatchi kakidashi-ch6o {IP q~ ). 10 Subtractions were analmost yearly phenomenon. Additions, as might be expected, were infrequently reported. With the Cadastral Register as a foundation the domain officials were in a position to levy land taxes. Two methods of tax assessment were in general use during the Tokugawa period. The Fixed Tax system (j6men r,) imposed upon a village a tax predetermined according to the average yield for some past period of years. The Inspection system (kemi c P ) called for a yearly evaluation of the rice crop and a tax assessment based on the current harvest. In the Okayama domain the fixed tax was most commonly used. This did not mean, however, that inspections did not take place. On the contrary, since villagers were permitted appeal in case of poor harvest, inspections of various kinds were frequent. The most general of these was the Initial Inspection (shita-mitori -] 'LJX ), an analysis of the harvest made by village officials of a neighboring county. The Initial Inspection, if it revealed the inability of the peasants to meet their tax payments, was used as the basis of an appeal for tax reduction.

Page  6 6 JOHN W. HALL The appeal was then investigated andreporteduponby the sub-official and other higher village authorities. This investigation was called the Review Inspection (ato-kemi, tJ ). According to its outcome, adjustments were made, and the village was given a tax demand. The demanded tax was then equitably divided among the villagers and collected by the headman, who in turn supervised its delivery to the domain authorities. As can be imagined, the complicated process described above generated a large number of documents. Of these the most commonly met with are: (1) the Entry Book by Fields of the Initial Inspection (on kemi shitatsumori nodori-ch6o ta 0% Fjl ' Gj i ); (2) the Inspection Register (kemi-cho-5 A. t t ); (3) the Fixed TaxDemand(sadame-okujomennokoto ',|[S ); (4) the Adjusted Tax Demand (gonengu osamubeki waritsuke no koto p — ir. j 4^ _ ); (5) the Tax Rice Allotment Register onenmai tokuwari-cho $-, 1,); (6) Entry Book of Rice Tax Collections (o-nengumai toritate sany-cho let; _ _ a ' X); (7) Report of Payment of the Rice Tax (gonengu jono tetsuzuki-cho Gt._o 5A, ); and (8) the Tax Payment Certification (nengu kaisai mokuroku ttb q ). A number of these documents are of outstanding importance. The InitialInspection records, if available over a long period of time, give an excellent indication of actual land productivity. TheAllotment Register provides a check upon the basic Cadastral Register. And the Certificate of Payment gives detailed information on the actual method of tax payment, for it contains a complete breakdown of the tax assessment together with an indication of how each item was paid, whether in kind or cash. For his part in the work of allotting taxes, the village headman prepared a detailed catalogue by ownership of fields, their quality and assessment rate. This catalogue, entitled in Fujino the Register by Ownership (Fujino-son nayose-ch6o &c'f~ -rf ), provided the same information contained in the Cadastral Register but in different arrangement. It is thus useful as a check against the Cadastral Register and is more conveniently arranged for the study of social class problems, the tracing of the history of some individual family, or the problems of tenantry. Frequently also headmen are in possession of maps which indicate the boundaries of each parcel of land. These are of special value in tracing changes in land use or the development of irrigation systems. Aside from the land tax, villages were subject to several varieties of labor service and public works imposts. While such levies were originally paid in actual labor, by the Tokugawa period they were generally commuted to rice or money payments. Village records, such as those of Fujino, thus contain a large number of documents apportioning the labor tax burden among village members. Such are the Fujino Village... Service Apportionment List (Fujino-son... yakuwarifu-cho M -... 4,~J1 pp), and the Public Works Assessment List gofushin fuyaku yose-ch5o & — ]j{ 6 ). Such records offer valuable data on the comparative wealth of villagers. Also, since it was often the labor service tax that imposed most arbitrarily upon the peasantry, records of this nature are a significant source of information on the economic deterioration of the village in late Tokugawa. Although the greatest financial responsibility of the village was to pay its yearly taxes, the village as a cooperative entity had its own financial records. Villages as a whole had certain yearly expenses such as salaries of village officials, travel expenses, expenses for public works, entertainment for domain officials who visited the village, wages for laborers who worked off the labor service, festivals, and many other expenses. As the village organism became more complex, numerous other items of corporate expenditure were taken on. The village sometimes borrowed money to meet tax requirements. This created the necessity of later interest and principal payments. Records of such matters of general village finance were kept by the village headman, who also supervised the apportionment of the joint village

Page  7 garden., Portion oi f the house at left waas us8ed ficials. headman's office. Ar — chitectur~e dates from

Page  8 8 JOHN W. HALL financial burden upon the individual peasants. Records kept by the headman in this connection were numerous and extremely varied, especially as areas became economically advanced. The Fujino records in this category were complex and difficult of classification. From them the following documentary types have been selected as being of most general occurrence in Fujino as well as other areas. A Record of Village Expenses (mura'nyuyo-ch6o tXfS f ) was kept in most villages. A detailed listing of village expenditures, it also included the report of payments by villagers into the village expense fund. Such a record is valuable in that it affords an entry into the economic development of the village and documents the spread of money economy in rural Japan. A counterpart to the Record of Village Expenses was a document which recorded the allotment of shares of the total village expense to individual villagers. It is even more detailed. Most commonly called the DetailedApportionment of Village Expenditures (muranyuyo kowari-ch6 f x j I A ), it occurred in various forms in the Mannami collection. Beyond his duties as tax collector and cadastral clerk the headman was required to report upon the comings and goings of the members of his village. Strict control was exercised not only over the movement of all villagers, but over their beliefs. In its fear of the spread of Christianity in Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate orderedall Japanese to be registeredas members of some Buddhist sect. Such registration was to prove their disavowal of Christianity and their loyalty to the Tokugawa regime. The August Report on Investigation of Christianity (Kirishitan shiimon on-aratame hachigatsu hangyo-cho tn7 a njt4 3 / F \ r J a fg ^ )12 contained a complete listing by household of every member of the village according to the temple in which each was registered. To it every family head affixed his seal each month as proof of authenticity and at its conclusion the headman was obliged to vouch for the antiChristian loyalty of the villagers. Once a year this register was passed on to the higher domain authorities, while a cbpy was left with the headman. This document, though it never lost its anti-Christian name, later became little more than a census report, eventually listing not only the human population but also the horses and cows. The Report of the Investigation of Religionthus is an invaluable source of information on population, social structure, family system, and the use of draft animals. More complete than the Cadastral Register or the Register by Ownership which listed only tax paying family heads, the Report of Investigation of Religion is of special importance because it brings to light the existence of bound or semi-free person attached to the families of wealthy peasants. Another document paralleling the above Report of the Investigation of Religion was the Register of Five-man Groups (gonin-gumi-cho a.A % t n). This register was not universally used in Tokugawa Japan, and the Okayama domain seems not to have required it of its villages. In those areas directly or indirectly under shogunate control, however, the Register of Five-man Groups formed an important link in the chain which bound the feudal subject to his place and occupation. In contrast to the anti-Christian nature of the Investigation of Religion, it functioned as a document of allegiance to the temporal laws of the feudal regime. Under the so-called Five-man Group system each household became a member of a mutually responsible group of households bound together under the laws and edicts of the domain. The conditions of this mutual responsibility were set forth in a Prologue (maegaki AJ * ) to the register, while a complete roster of individual family members was attached as in the Investigation of Religion. The village headman also had to be approached by villagers who wished to leave the village for any reason, as well as by outsiders seekingpermission to enter the village. Such requests were generally contained in the General Register of Directives and Petitions. Specialized requests, however, were brought together into separate record books such as the Register of Those Leaving and Entering the Village for Purposes of Employment (h6k6nin deiri tomech6 At* N ), ~ ), a valuable document for tracing the movement of villagers to the cities during the late Tokugawa. Usually also a person leaving his place of residence obtained a Certificate of Religion (shflmon tegata ~, S, ), a type of passport and birth certificate.

Page  9 PRE-MEIJI VILLAGE RECORDS 9 Aside from the above major duties the village headman had numerous other responsibilities, each of which left its trace in the written records of the village. Problems concerning water and forest land rights were for the most part written up in the General Register or were reported on in lengthy individual reports. A separate Assignment of Irrigation Canal Guard Duties (mizuban yosecho 7z(4j-*tf ), for instance, was set up to maintain the irrigation system. Maps of irrigation networks were also common. The mass of written material on irrigation and water rights indicates the importance of water to the Japanese method of rice production and underlines the fact that the problems involved in the use of water were both social and technological. Collection of relief rice or cash was another common occurrence, and such documents as the Report on Distribution of Relief to the Needy (hinja on-sukui warifu kakiagech6o ' ip[Ipj,' M, ) reveal a great deal about conditions during times of famine or disaster. It was also customary for villagers to put aside barley for relief purposes. Many varieties of requisition lists exist as a result of this fact. Finally, the headman was required to investigate and report upon any number of village matters and problems. These reports were generally written and presented individually13 and hence are extremely difficult to classify. Copies of them remain in the possession of the headman where they generally constitute one of the most bulky categories of headman records. One report almost universally required of the headman was the Village Handbook (mura meisaich6o -. 8eQ. j, or mura-kagami^.fi {). This document is perhaps the most importantof all village records, for it provides a general summary of the data contained in the Cadastral Register, the Report of the Investigation of Christianity and numerous other miscellaneous statistics on temples and shrines, firearms, water works, ponds, shipping, roads, historical sites, and distances to neighboring cities. As a general description of the various physical aspects of the Tokugawa village, the Village Handbook is indispensable. It should be used as the starting point for most research concerning village history. 2. Senior Headman Records Documents pertaining to the office of senior headman are basically little different from those of the headman. They are, however, more limited in their variety and wider in their geographic coverage. The senior headman had jurisdiction over a group of villages numbering from ten to more than twenty. Within this area of jurisdiction he was not directly involved in the routine affairs of tax collecting and census checking. Instead, his duties transcended the individual villages and concerned themselves with the actual relationship between the village and the domain authorities. The two most important public documents at the senior headman level were the registers of official directives and of petitions. The General Register of Directives (sho-goyo tomecho -- {ip to _4 ), which was kept by the senior headman, is a repository of high level orders and policy decisions pertaining to local affairs. The General Register of Petitions (sho-negai tomecho6; t.. qt<) contains a record of requests by members of the various villages of the entire group. Thus these registers are uniformly more valuable than the similar village registers. The Village Handbook kept by the senior headman is also of great value in that it contains information on some twenty villages rather than one. Since such handbooks were compiled for the senior headman's own use and not for official purposes, they frequently provided even more data than would a routine summary of the Village Handbook under his control. Often they cover an entire county. Another document similar to the Handbook was the Copy Book of Petitions (sho-negai ambun-shilu >c,c ), a book in which the senior headman kept sample copies of the various types of petitions which he might be obliged to write. It has been seen that the yearly taxation procedure sometimes involved the participation of the senior headman. Copies of the Initial Inspection from his village group were kept in his hands. He also participated in the Initial Inspection in other counties and in the Review In

Page  10 10 JOHN W. HALL spection within his own area. Documents remaining in the Mannami collection, such as the Entry Book by Fields of the Inspection of Villages in Oku County (Oku-gun mura-mura gokemi nodome-ch6o ~ AJ S f..p 4j { ) or the Inspection Memorandum (on-kemi oboe -f p,; ), are typical of the senior headman's holdings in this category. The great bulk of records kept by the senior headman were not in collected form but consisted of memoranda or reports on individual problems. Documents entitled Memoranda (oboe, ) were generally concerned with the internal affairs of the village group and indicated the senior headman's ability to bring about agreement on strictly local problems. Reports (kakiage k A ) were made to the superior authorities and varied from routine statistical notes on the village group to the reporting of various disputes or the commendation of peasants for good behavior. One especially interesting type of report was the notice announcing village elections of group heads and headmen. The appointment of such officials was made on the basis of votes cast by the responsible heads of taxpaying peasant households. Results of the voting were reported to the authorities who confirmed the appointments. A special function of the senior headman was to act as local spokesman on the occasion of visits by domain officials or to supply transportation facilities for other dignitaries passing through his area. Since the individual villages along the route of travel could not handle the the (1) Report of Expenses Incurred at the Time of the Official Inspector's Visit (o-junkensama sho-anyyo kakiage-cho J2p L *k 4% tJ$ J. q' ), (2) Apportionment of Expenses Incurred at the Time of the Nagasaki Magistrate's Progress (Nagasaki bugyo sho-shiharaiwari k krJM 5 A ajtif ), (3) Report on the Billeting of Lord Ikeda's Party (Ikedasama on y narabini o-shitayado waricho 5t a4 i4f ~ $J41 X ). Such materials, though they are largely concerned with extraordinary events, reveal much about the transportation system of Tokugawa Japan and about the general results of the burden placed upon the peasantry by such extraordinary imposts. 3. Sub-Official Records The sub-official carried out his duties at a level considerably above the headman and senior headman. Nonetheless his concern was strictly with local affairs, and the documents which he handled are of value for the light they shed on the larger problems involved in the administration of the peasantry. The sub-official's main function was to keep in touch with the Office of Local Affairs (k6ri kaisho p-~-'fr ) and to participate in inspections or sit in upon hearings of local disputes. It is difficult, therefore, to categorize rigidly the types of documents which should remain in his possession. In the Mannami collection the bulk of the sub-official documents concern petitions for adjustment in the Cadastral Registers or disputes over water and forest rights. The following titles give some idea of the types of problems which the sub-official handled: (1) Petition for the Deduction of Taxable Land Due to the Construction of an Irrigation Ditch (y6suimizoshiki hikichi negaiage-ch6o )j ]ej(4/ g/?&. _k A ), (2) Petition by Kaimen Village, J6t6 County to Have Land Damaged by the Inundation of Hyakken River Considered as "Land Under Reclamation"14 (Joto gun Kaimen mura Hyakken Gawa uchi k6zui aresho kuashita negaiage ch6 -fi / 7 i ~S ///W., 7,< f 79 I ), (3) Report on the Inspection of the Dispute Between Hayashi Village and Uematsu Village of Kojima County over the Building of an Irrigation Dam' (Kojima gun Hayashi mura Uematsu mura yosui izeki-ron gimmi no setsu shorui XL ~ v -, J, ),J] n - i- _ t_ ~ — ). For the most part, such records are too specialized for general use and will be helpful only in limited instances.

Page  11 Fieled teat ivestlfiltng the AMnnami documents. The tover ~ a sGeneral Register of Pettions and Directlves, ofujinm, ilage dated X 8X,

Page  12 12 JOHN W. HALL Private Records Private records are more elusive and more difficult to analyze than public documents. They are nevertheless essential to any study of local history. The private records kept by such families as the Mannami show many individual idiosyncrasies, since such records were not kept at official request, but according to the needs or whims of past members of such families. Although there is little uniformity between locations or between families, there are certain types of documents which one may expect to be preserved by the family of a former village headman, owing to its social or economic status. These documents are often of extreme importance in filling in the gaps in the more impersonal public materials. Reflecting the social position of families which held office during the Tokugawa period are such written documents as genealogies and chronological histories. Genealogies (keizu A 1 or kafu -) usually consisted of bare listings of genealogical data, but they frequently shed light on the historical origins of important peasant families and on the marriage practices of the class to which they belonged. Chronological histories (rireki JY ) are more useful in that they provide brief surveys of local history as seen through the eyes of the headman or senior headman. In the case of the Mannami family its chronological history, entitled Mannami aj,, t, was of fundamental importance in unraveling the intricate machinery of local government and providing information necessary for the classification of the public Mannami documents. In other words, a family history aids immensely in the task of determining the post or particular incident to which individual documents pertain. Akin to the chronological histories are the personal dairies kept by local officials. These too can be of use in supplementing public documents. Diaries frequently fill in the story behind such records and provide a commentary on internal political movements which seldom can be obtained elsewhere. Finally, the actual physical remains of the house and grounds of traditionally important families should not be forgotten. Such architectural remains together with objects of personal use afford living documentation of the way Tokugawa village officials lived and conducted their business. Such remains can also frequently be supplemented by charts and drawings kept by the family. The economic position of houses which produced village officials was such that a considerable volume of private records had to be kept by them. While the method of keeping such records was seldom uniform, the situations out of which they grew were common to most of Japan. It was usual that the village headman or senior headman was at the same time a land owner and a money lender. The records which he kept in these two capacities are valuable supplements to the public documents. As a land owner, such an official kept records of his fields and their production, his tenants, and the buying and selling of land. As a money lender and pawnbroker, he kept detailed accounts of his financial transactions. While some of the public documents mentioned above can provide information on the problems of tenancy or the economic forces behind changes in the social structure of the village, it is primarily to such private documents that the researcher in these fields must turn. On certain subjects such as agricultural technology and production, land rent rates, the introduction of commerce and industry into rural Japan, social tensions within the village, or the personal finances of peasant families, public documents are of little value. One reason why such subjects have as yet been little studied is that it is difficult to obtain the private records which alone can provide the data for such research. Conclusions The previous pages have set forth a system of categorizing pre-Meiji local documents based upon an analysis of the administrative operations and private situations which produced such documents. Naturally it has not been possible to fit all possible types into this scheme

Page  13 PRE-MEIJI VILLAGE RECORDS 13 or to comment upon all variants to the titles of such records. A country as decentralized as Tokugawa Japan contained much local variation in both type and nomenclature, so that no system will adequately include them all. Nevertheless enough uniformity exists to afford the historian reasonable assurance in looking for certain patterns when he goes into the field. A knowledge of these types will give him some appreciation of the problems for which he may expect to find documentation. There are signs of great change in the field of local history in Japan today. With the creation of numerous prefectural universities and the consequent decentralization of scholarly personnel, new interest has been generated in local studies. At the same time the documentary collections which form the basis of such studies are in a state of great flux. The postwar land reform has struck harshly at the class of traditional landlords which has preserved village records of the Tokugawa period. Such families, cut off from their sources of land income, are now in desperate circumstances and have been selling off their prized possessions at a rapid rate. This can be fortunate for the local historian, who is often able to buy up historical records quite cheaply. But many collections of village materials have been lost forever to the historian, because he is frequently outbid by paper dealers who pay high prices for old hand-made paper. The next few years are thus extremely critical. The future of local history in Japan depends largely upon the ability of native historians to develop their knowledge of local documents, forestall their destruction, and gather them into libraries for their own and the following generations' use. Notes 1. Formerly the Mitsui Library, this institution is now under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. It is actively engaged in collecting village materials of the Tokugawa period. 2. Kinsei Shomin Shiry6 Chosa Iinkai;60.IE,T A: 1 f f (Committee for theInvestigation of Popular Records of the Modern Period), Kinsei shomin shiry6 chosa narabini mokuroku kisai yoko fi -t!t A. g A, - ), iv f Q.& X --- (An investigation of popular records of the modern period together with a system for their classification), by the committee, 1950, 8 pp. 3. The following men participated in the investigation: (1) from Tokyo University, Furushima Toshio, Sugiyama Hiroshi, and Kanai Madoka; (2) from Okayama University, Fujii Shun and Taniguchi Sumio. The author is greatly indebted to these men for their effort in making the enterprise a success. He wishes also to express his debt to Mr. Hattan Kohachi for his help in copying documents and making certain private materials available for the study. 4. The author has had access to the documentary collection of several families in Okayama Prefecture as well as to the private collection of the local historian Nagayama Usaburo. Recent published studies of local documents used in this article include the following: Furushima Toshio -; j 4fi and Oishi Shinzabur65 9k X J/ P "Chihoshi kenkyiu-ho".ti~_{ ~, (Methodology for local history), Nihon rekishi koza t1 s\ o $J (Japanese historical series), TOkyo, Kawade Shob5, 1952, v. 8, pp. 172-230; and Maruyama Jir5 A _L 4L gp and Kodama Kota 7 -~', Rekishigaku no kenkyu-ho (Historical methodology), Tokyo, Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1952, 164 pp.

Page  14 14 JOHN W. HALL 5. Originally called jisson kimoiri -+-;. 1fT. 6. This term was used almost interchangeably with shoya jD j throughout Tokugawa Japan. 7. The more common title for this post was toshiyori.4f# while goningumi gashira was generally used to refer to the responsible heads of small groups of peasant families. 8. See Mannami monjo 1~ (Mannami documents), Mannami kajo Y9 ',, (Mannami family history). 9. More generally the headman kept two registers, one for directives and one for petitions. 10. The more common title for this document was the Shinkai aratame-ch6o ~j '. 11. Most frequently it was entitled the Apportionment List of Silver Certificates for Village Expenses (mura shonyuyo ginsatsu warifu-ch6o -f x ] L $/I, t ). Individual shares of village expenses were also frequently paid in labor. 12. The more general title for this document was simply Shumon aratame-ch6. The Okayama registers were begun in the eighth month and were completed and handed to the authorities in the following seventh month. 13. The Japanese call such records One-Page Documents (ichimai-monjo -- $jfj ). Written on rolls of paper, they are sometimes extremely long. 14. This would bring about a reduction of taxes upon the land.

Pattern of Japanese Salt Production and Trade

John D. Eyrepp. 15-46

Page  15 PATTERNS OF JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION AND TRADE* John D. Eyre Of the major problems facing post-war Japan, none is more critical or perplexing than that of securing sufficient food and industrial raw materials to satisfy her minimum domestic requirements. This dilemma is not new or unusual to the Japanese experience. Even in the centuries of self-sufficient agrarian economy preceding the beginnings of industrialization in the late nineteenth century, desperate measures had to be taken to expand the cultivated land acreage and to press into use all available resources within the limits of a simple technology. The advent of industrialization signaled only an intensified demand for food stocks to supply the rapidly growing urban population, and for energy sources and raw materials to maintain mushrooming industrial establishments. The demands of a growing population and industry have been met in Japan only through an increasing reliance on supplies imported from more favored parts of the world and the uneconomic exploitation of local resources. Rice, coking coal, petroleum, iron ore, cotton, and a host of additional raw materials which flow annually in a spectacular stream to the Japanese islands are obtained with credits won by the exportation of manufactured goods. Simultaneously the Japanese have had to indulge in the unprofitable exploitation of existing resources, a practice often justified as being strategically necessary. Japan's recent colonial expansion can be explained in large part by the eagerness of her industry to obtain easy access to resources in areas outside Japan proper. At the same time, however, much of the upsurge in industrial requirements of the 1930's was traceable to military expansion for continental conquest. During the past decade, many studies have been made in the United States and Japan of the principal raw materials needed to keep Japanese industry going. Attention has centered on the extent and nature of utilization of domestic supplies, nature and amount of consumption, amount imported, and identification of areas supplying imports. With few exceptions, commodity studies of this type offer concrete evidence in support of the above generalizations. Although overlooked in favor of more spectacular imports, the case study of salt, an essential food and industrial raw material, affords penetrating insight into characteristics and problems common to many of the raw materials in short supply in Japan. The objectives of the following study are to describe and analyze the basic geographic patterns of Japanese salt industry and trade. In more precise terms, this involves analysis of the locational factors of the domestic salt industry, and the identification of foreign salt sources upon which the Japanese are dependent. Conclusions are based upon personal research in Japan in 1950-51 under the auspices of the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies. From the Center's field station at Okayama major salt production units along the shores of the Inland Sea were *Field work was made possible by a Social Science Research Council World Area Training Fellowship. Data on which the paper is based were obtained through the kind cooperation of Japanese Monopoly Public Corporation and salt field personnel. My thanks to Mr. T. Inagawa, formerly director of the Salt Division, Okayama Branch of the Monopoly, for furnishinguseful information and advice during the field study. 15

Page  16 16 JOHN D. EYRE within easy reach. Data assembled in these areas through on-the-spot observation and interviews have been supplemented by further information from the Japanese Monopoly Corporation, the government organ controlling the national production and distribution of salt, tobacco and camphor. Like any industry having a long historical development, Japanese salt manufacture displays many local and regional variations. In this initial reconnaissance study, however, subtleties are disregarded in favor of broader consideration of general characteristics, problems and trends. Distribution of Salt Fields Japan is exceptionally deficient in salt; it has neither terrestrial deposits nor a climate allowing easy exploitation of salt from sea water by solar evaporation. Nevertheless, the sea furnishes the only local source for Japanese salt. Japanese have long exploited this resource by lavish use of manpower and relatively expensive and ingenious methods of recovery. The manufacture of salt from sea water is by no means peculiar to Japan, but flourishes in many maritime countries having the requisite combination of a dry climate, long periods of clear weather, and an ample supply of cheap labor. In general such areas depend on solar heat to crystallize the salt. Sea water is put into shallow evaporating pools exposed to the sun, where its water content is soon dissipated, leaving a deposit of salt. In Japan, however, the heavy annual rainfall and the high relative humidity that prevail rule out this simple solar method. Also experimentation has shown that direct boiling of sea water uses too much fuel and yields unprofitable amounts of salt. Consequently the Japanese have been forced to invent a unique variation of the solar process, designed not to yield salt but to achieve a brine sufficiently concentrated so that it can be reduced economically with artificial heat. Units constructed for this purpose are known by the Japanese as salt fields (enden A v ). Such salt fields are a striking feature of parts of the indented coastal landscape. Across their broad sandy surfaces runs a network of main and secondary canals, interspaced with precise rows of half-submerged leaching vats; squat boiler and brine collection sheds line the field edges; and beyond lies the sea, which supplies the raw material essential to the process. The extensive littoral of the Japanese islands would suggest unlimited possibilities for the establishment of salt fields, providing labor and fuel were available in all localities. However, when existing salt making units are plotted cartographically, the result shows an extremely uneven national distribution. Most of the fields, including the largest and most productive, are concentrated in the Inland Sea region, along the shores of southern Chuigoku and northern Shikoku. Possessing a more favorable combination of climate and terrain, and aided by long historical development, this area accounts for more than ninety per cent of the nation's domestic salt output. The remaining ten per cent comes from a large number of small, widely scattered fields facing the Pacific Ocean or the Sea of Japan. Their individual unit output is relatively low and many operations are of a marginal nature. In these scattered locations climatic extremes have been a deterrent to higher yields and further expansion. The present distribution of fields has changed little during the past three centuries. Perhaps the greatest change has been an elimination, duringthepastforty years, of many unprofitable enterprises, especially in the northern areas. In consequence efficient Inland Sea fields have become increasingly important, as seen in the national production chart for 1949. These and the following statistics originated in the Monopoly offices in T6kyo.

Page  17 17 m - - m DISTRIBUTION OF SALT FIELDS IN JAPAN. i~- '-''' ''>1 aMAJOR PRODUCTION AREA,_| HONSHU ' '-_ - 38~ MINOR PRODUCTION AREA X R''4 - At-{ j --- O ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5 0 too 2 00 — H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SCALE IN MILES _ _ KYUSHO -- MINOR PROUNG TION AEYRE ~-'Lr /"I _ ~_~,.j~~~~~~~_ ~~~I I~~~'" _~ ~/ ~~~~~~~~~~'-..' I r i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- ~ ~~~~ ~ -- - ~., ~ ''.-:, i r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,_.YY ~-. /',..,..,.~,,.-. )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. // - -- ( ~. ~,. -L.,, ~. ~ '.., ~ ~ _~~~ _~ s~* i ~, i ~.." k.~ '" xrI..,i~ ~. ".._, ~~~? _,." I c.~~~~~-. _ j~ ~ [ - ~ ~L-= _ _ i.. _ ~-A(~~_ __..... L.-_ -- r'- ---- -( - KYSH -- -Y~ -=-~ ~ ~~~~~a. LON. EYRE L~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!, I c I t l -- I

Page  18 18 JOHN D. EYRE Salt Production by Prefectures (figures are in metric tons) Kagawa 115,259 Kagoshima 2,666 Mie 239 Hyogo 55,447 Miyagi 2,019 Fukushima 213 Okayama 41,704 Niigata 1,734 Kumamoto 205 Hiroshima 40,589 Ishikawa 1,464 Hokkaido 190 Tokushima 38,944 Chiba 1,350 Kochi 74 Yamaguchi 37,562 Toyama 1,338 Iwate 51 Ehime 27,722 Kanagawa 1,180 Shimane 51 Oita 7,945 Wakayama 624 Miyazaki 40 Nagasaki 7,045 Fukuoka 352 Ibaraki 28 Aichi 6,411 Fukui 341 Tokyo 28 Shizuoka 2,872 Yamagata 282 Of the forty-six Japanese prefectures, thirty-two produce some salt; among these the eight leaders border on the Inland Sea. The heaviest producer, Kagawa, makes twice as much as any other prefecture and alone accounts for thirty to forty per cent of Japan's output. Farther down the list, Nagasaki ranks higher than might be expected, owing to the recent development of methods utilizing brine from natural hot springs in the Shimabara Peninsula. Pleasant Tokaido winters and a long historical association with key centers of Japanese life explain the relative prominence of Aichi and Shizuoka in the prefectures of central and northern Japan. All of the northern prefectures except Aomori are represented, strong in numbers but weak in actual salt production. Conspicuously absent are the areas of northern Chugoku, facing the Sea of Japan; a harsh climate and traditional isolation from more advanced parts of the economy may be the answer. These peculiarities in the distribution of Japan's salt industry are graphically presented in the accompanying map. Two additional variants in the national pattern not shown on the map, however, are the number of fields and the size of individual units. The former is difficult to determine precisely. Nevertheless there appear to be in excess of 2,000 established salt fields, with an aggregate surface area of 12,000 acres. These in turn are concentrated in approximately 250 general locations (that is, within the confines of a city, town or village). Regional differences in field size are quite marked. In the Inland Sea region the tendency is toward exceptionally large fields with high yields per unit, while elsewhere fields are often numerous but are smaller and produce trifling amounts of salt. To illustrate, in Kagawa salt fields have an average size of 7 acres; in two northern prefectures, Miyagi and Ishikawa, the average is 2.5 acres and.3 acres, respectively. Production Methods Ninety-five per cert of the Japanese domestic salt production is obtained from fields of the inshore (irihama., i )type, whose layout and operation have been modified little during the

Page  19 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 19 past three hundred years. While modern machinery is gradually replacing more primitive evaporating units in the final production stage, field operations still involve cumbersome, labor-consuming techniques to achieve a concentrated brine by solar evaporation. Lying in the open, units are subject to every climatic whim, a fact reflected in fluctuating seasonaland annual production figures. Still, it is argued, even such antiquated and costly means of production save Japan from being completely dependent upon imported salt; hence domestic production should be continued at any price. Others feel, however, that only through the perfection of more efficient techniques can domestic salt stocks be increased in quantity and lowered in price. Salt manufacturers are moved by both arguments; they continue to use the inshore type of fields, and place their reliance upon government technicians to design superior production methods. Field construction, maintenance and operation are controlled by the physical environment, so that extreme care must be exercised in the selection of site. Once a favorable spot has been selected in accordance with certain rigid criteria, a sturdy sea wall is set up enclosing the area to be transformed into a production unit. The dike, of solid rock, is of special design to afford stout resistance to the wind and waves that will batter it and threaten interior fields with destruction. Once it is completed, enclosed water is pumped out, leaving a section of sandy beach and the zone formerly under water on which to lay the foundation and working surface of the salt field. A heavy clay base, either natural or artificially deposited, is covered with layers of sand of varying degrees of coarseness. The bottom stratum is coarsest, often mixed with pebbles and other rock materials,the layers superimposedupon it being successively finer. The top layer is the most important to salt production and must be of exceptionally fine quality. Upon its surface the evaporation of sea water takes place. Deposits of this high-grade sand are scarce, so that dealers near sources of supply have built up a profitable business with field owners. Across the level, sand-covered surface, main and secondary canals are laid out in a rectangular pattern. Their function is to transport sea water throughout the surface area; in short, they are the agency which brings the raw material to the place of utilization. Water enters the canals through sluice gates fitted into the sea wall. When the gates are opened at high tide, the water level is higher than the field surface, providing an easily controlled gravity flow. This technique represents the main advance over the more primitive upshore (agehama,g )type of field, which used sea water drawn from the ocean and sprinkled by hand on similarly built fields. Inshore units can also be drained with facility at low tide. Inshore fields are, in effect, man-made and man-operated extensions of the natural shoreline in which soil texture and water supply are controlled specifically. As water gushes through the sluice gates, it first enters a collection pool so that it will not rush in with too great force and cause damage. From there, it passes into a main canal through a pipe and circulates eventually through the associated canal network. Care is taken that the water does not flow onto the field surface, since the operating principle requires it to remain in the canals. The main canals divide the broad field surface into smaller units of equal size. In the center of each lies an uninterrupted succession of half-submerged leaching vats from ten to sixteen yards apart. Rectangular in shape, they are made now of concrete, but in earlier times were of wood or hardened clay. On the bottom of each is stretched some sort of grating, usually bamboo wickerwork topped with coarse straw matting, which acts as a filter in the process of leaching the salt-impregnated sand taken from the field surface. Sea water admitted into the canals seeps slowly into the bottom layer of coarse sand and reaches the surface by capillary attraction. Bright sunshine and wind draw its moisture content into the air, leaving its saline content adhering to the fine sand grains on the surface. Barefooted workmen rake the entire field periodically in order to expose a maximum amount

Page  20 20 JOHN D. EYRE of the wet sand to the action of sun and wind. Workers use specially designed rakes having long bamboo handles and removable wooden teeth. In the event that the surface sand becomes too dry and an insufficient amount of water is rising from the bottom sand layers, a skilled workman sprinkles water across the field with a long-handled dipper. Known by the picturesque term "calling water" (yobimizu t-<.J ), this action stimulates capillary attraction. After sufficient drying the salt-impregnated sand is raked into piles at the edge of the leaching vats and dumped on top of the filter. Additional sea water poured over the sand dissolves adhering salt particles, resulting in a concentrated brine that is drawn off by underground pipes to collection sheds on the field edges. After being leached three times, the sand is taken from the vats and respread on the field with rakes to begin the process anew. To permit the fields ample time to dry, parts of some are worked every day and others in their entireties on alternate days. This system permits the sand to rest and helps it retain its powers of absorption. Actual work in the fields is sporadic. While the sun and wind carry out their assignments, the fields are deserted; raking occurs only twice a day when the weather is suitable, generally from six to eight in the morning and between four and six in the afternoon. In the meantime, employees keep busy fixing equipment or carrying out succeeding steps in the process. Part-time workers often seek other employment to keep busy until they are called again by their salt making duties. Concentration of the brine marks the final function of the salt fields; artificial heat must be applied to obtain granular salt from the brine. An interesting intermediate step before the brine enters the evaporators takes place along the Okayama coast. The brine is allowed to trickle down over rows of bare bamboo branches suspended from racks erected on top of brine storage sheds. During its slow movement some evaporation further concentrates the brine, so that less fuel will be needed in the crystallization process. This device also helps remove the calcium sulfate, or gypsum, which exists as an impurity in the brine. The gypsum forms a coating on the branches from which it is knocked off easily and discarded. There are numerous evaporating devices ranging in complexity from simple open pans to intricate steam operated, quadruple-effect evaporators. Ownership varies from individuals to large cooperatives. After the final drying, workers pack the dull grey salt into straw sacks and store it in warehouses, where government inspectors sample it for water content andpurity. While the above process is by far the most popular in Japan today, a few fields operated by the older upshore method are still in operation in the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture and in scattered localities of northern Honshu. During pre-Meiji times this method was in vogue in additional localities along the Sea of Japan coast, where it provided part-time employment to farmers and fishermen who lacked the capital for investment in more substantial salt works. Actually the upshore method is more adapted to the rugged physical qualities of the western coast, where violentwind and wave action, and an emerging shoreline with few useable sandy stretches rule out use of the more productive inshore fields. Located high enough to be free from any contact with the sea, upshore units are composed of a sand surface dotted with rows of large wooden leaching tubs. Sea water, transported laboriously from the seaside to the fields in buckets slung from a carrying pole over the shoulder of a workman, is sprinkled on the sand with long-handled dippers. The salt-impregnated sand obtained subsequent to evaporation is leached in the wooden vats and is then reduced by artificial heat. The principal drawbacks to the upshore method are the inefficient simplicity of field design and operation, and the small output per unit. That fields worked in this fashion still supply almost five per cent of Japan's salt annually is explained by the fact that they provide one of the few opportunities for employment in a remote and underdeveloped part of the country.

Page  21 wii Sal xf ield Myeut, Sakaide. )-A

Page  22 s sn L;I tfsns alt jlgo,

Page  23 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 23 Field Site The delicate adjustment of Japanese salt fields, especially of the inshore variety, to a complex of physical factors calls for extreme care in the selection of a new site. Salt manufacturers are agreed upon the following physical factors as criteria for a proper site: sound soil structure; isolation from rivers, paddies and ponds; favorable density of sea water; facility of intake and outlet of sea water; moderate tidal range and wave action; available sand supply; and favorable climatic conditions. Shortcomings in any one of these features can cause delay in production and losses to operators. Viewed in this context, the degree of success achieved by current extractive methods is all the more remarkable. Field construction procedures demand a sound soil structure for the erection of the seawall, laying of the field foundation, and eventual operation. Field histories are replete with instances of poor starts on sites where unsuitable sub-soil caused depression of sections of the surface and slipping of the seawalls. The best bottom is a sand-clay mixture; neither sand or clay by itself is adequate to support superimposed sand layers. Even when engineering skills and experience have provided a fairly accurate measure of the structural strength of the soil, the unpredictable crustal instability of the site represents a risk of unknown proportions. The Japanese coastline, especially the portion facing the Pacific Ocean, is noted for its instability and periodic movement. Although the Inland Sea coastline is relatively stable, salt manufacturers in that area are never free from concern. In April, 1948, most of the Inland Sea region was shaken by the unusually severe Nankai earthquake which depressed the coastline in some places as much as fifty-five centimeters. Small though this displacement seems, it sufficed to upset the carefully balanced drainage system of many salt fields in the stricken areas. Seawalls were cracked or broken, permitting widespread flooding. The slight depression hindered drainage of the fields at low tide; and the use of pumps, pressed into service to remove the surplus water, brought additional expenses to an already uneconomic enterprise. In areas of least subsidence, about ten centimeters, drainage became poor after hard rains and at low tide. Although government rehabilitation funds aided salvage and reconstruction efforts, production in the key salt making zone of northern Shikoku was lowered drastically. Coastal changes of this severity are not common but they demonstrate in dramatic fashion the vulnerability of the salt fields to the vagaries of uncontrollable physical elements. Seepage is another constant concern; for fresh water oozing into the bottom of the fields reduces salt content and slows down the crystallization process. Thus, fields must be located where there are no large rivers and ponds, and, if possible, away from encroaching paddies. River-borne deposits of silt in front of the seawalls are another hazard which disturbs the balance of the fields. Since the position of pipes leading from sea to field is adjusted to insure the swift intake of sea water of high saline content, and to allow drainage of discarded water at ebb tide, siltage must be reduced by means of bamboo barriers erected some distance from shore. It is also necessary to guard against wave and wind action by choosing a site which provides shallow offshore waters and sheltering interior highlands. In view of the above requirements, the ideal location for a salt field is at the head of a well-defined bay, along the sea edge of an alluvial deposit. Rugged headlands that usually form the sides of the indentation are excellent barriers against destructive winds and diminish the force of currents sweeping in from the open sea. Also, shallow waters offshore keep wave action to a minimum and lessen the possibility of damage to the seawalls. Fields are often built at sites where offshore islands afford additional protection.

Page  24 24 JOHN D. EYRE Climatic Limitations Even when fields have been set up with careful adjustment to the terrain, there still remains the problem of climate. It must be recognized that Japan is far from an ideal place in which to make salt by solar evaporation. The constantly high relative humidity slows evaporation to a minimum. When Japanese boast of the Inland Sea as a suitable place for salt making they mean only in relation to other parts of the country. Actually, the Inland Sea air is wringing wet when compared to that of such areas as the Mediterranean and Red Sea borderlands, where solar salt manufacture is a primary local industry. This means that a continual climatic handicap rules Japanese production units, dictating when profitable operations are possible. Many localities outside the Inland Sea region have the requisite terrain features for the erection of salt fields but are of secondary importance because of inhibiting climatic conditions. Inland Sea leadership stems from summers marked by relatively high temperatures, continuous days of bright sunshine, limited rainfall and a low relative humidity. At some sites in the eastern sector fine winter weather permits uninterrupted year-round production. Parts of northern Japan also have a limited mean annual rainfall; however, this advantage is more than offset by prevailing low temperatures, high relative humidity and much cloudy weather. The Inland Sea region owes its more favorable climate to the encircling Chugoku Range of Honshu and the Kii Mountains of Shikoku; both mountain systems bar the entry of moisturebearing winds from the surrounding oceanic masses. The elevations block other climatic extremes and account for the pleasant winters for which the region is noted. This does not mean that the Inland Sea is a homogeneous climatic region; on the contrary, there exist significant local climatic variations. Fields in the eastern section are operated under more favorable conditions than those in the west, which come under oceanic influences through the Straits of Shimonoseki. Consequently, salt production in the western part of the Inland Sea region is lower than in the eastern part. The relationship between climate and salt yield is shown by representative data from fields at Ajino, an outstanding site on the Inland Sea coast of the Kojima Peninsula of Okayama Prefecture. The area in the immediate vicinity of Ajino boasts continuously clear weather during most of the year, relatively high winter temperatures, and a below-average annual rainfall well distributed seasonally. Fields are worked all twelve months, yet seventy per cent of the yield comes in the period from April to September. Highest production is during July and September, at the time of optimum climatic conditions, while less favorable winter weather brings a sharp decline during December, January and February. Even during the latter period of unprofitable operation, with small returns of salt for heavy expenditures of labor and fuel, fields are kept operating to attain maximum yields. Field laborers work under yearly contracts, and so are kept busy at all seasons. The following monthly percentages of annual production at Ajino show the importance of the summer months: Per cent Per cent Per cent January 5.4 May 9.4 September 9.9 February 4.4 June 9.0 October 6.1 March 3.7 July 12.0 November 9.8 April 11.7 August 16.3 December 2.3

Page  25 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 25 The development of scientific weather forecasting has been a real boon to Japanese salt operators; in the event of approaching weather extremes, measures can be taken to prevent, or reduce, field damage. Rain is the major climatic hindrance. Heavy rains force an immediate work stoppage and often flood the fields, rendering them inactive for several days. Only after the diluted sea water on their surface has been drained at ebb tide and the canals filled with a fresh supply of water from the sea are the fields put into use again. The typhoon season in the autumn, characterized by high winds and heavy seas, creates the most concern. Seawalls and fields suffer if the peak of the storm strikes at high tide, as happened in the Yamaguchi and Tokushima fields in 1942. Wind direction and velocity must also be checked daily because of their influence on the rate of evaporation. Rate of evaporation, temperature of air and field surface, wind direction and velocity, and salinity of sea water are now measured by means of efficient modern instruments. With the application of such new instruments in place of guesswork based on experience and instinct, salt quantity and quality have improved. But no insurance is issued to cover natural disasters, though the government once distributed rehabilitation funds until capital shortages during and after the war forced curtailment of the policy. Annual Production Annual salt production from existing acreage is a maximum 600,000 metric tons, or slightly less than one-half of pre-war food and industrial demands. More significantly, production has declined steadily from the peak year 1939. The decline is attributable to wartime developments, but in the longer view it reflects the increasing cost and difficulty of domestic salt manufacture despite the technological improvements in parts of the manufacturing process. During the post-war period production has been hampered further by the high price and scarcity of coal, the difficulty of repairing war-time damage, disastrous storms, and mounting labor problems. As matters now stand, domestic production must be supplemented by imported salt to satisfy minimum national food demands; in addition, all industrial salt is obtained from foreign sources. The trend is toward continued, and increased, dependence on imported salt stocks. Considering the variable physical and human factors that influence yields it is not surprising that there is a marked fluctuation in annual salt production. The amount of fluctuation in annual output shown in the following statistics for the period 1926-47 is typical of preceding years of the modern period. Even prior to the establishment of the monopoly system in 1905, when production was higher because of the operation of many uneconomic units, the same fluctuating pattern was the rule. After serious wartime decline, production reached an all-time low in 1947. Since then it has climbed to earlier wartime proportions, still far short of potential output and domestic salt demands. Salt Production in Japan (figures are in metric tons) 1926 613,913 1934 676,175 1941 389,441 1927 618,914 1935 604,321 1942 475,418 1928 637,694 1936 518,682 1943 414,606 1929 643,948 1937 535,640 1944 353,153 1930 628,534 1938 483,601 1945 224,220 1931 521,125 1939 636,337 1946 354,026 1932 572,497 1940 573,581 1947 96,885 1933 630,705

Page  26 26 JOHN D. EYRE Salt Settlements The salt industry is the economic mainstay of about 250 coastal settlements of varying size and importance; their distribution coincides exactly with that of the salt fields that provide the economic basis for their existence. Such localities as Ako (Hyogo), Onomichi (Hiroshima), Bofu, including both Nakanoseki and Mitajiri (Yamaguchi), Hashihama (Ehime), Sakaide and Marugame (Kagawa), and Naruto, formerly Muya (Tokushima) have achieved national fame for their salt manufacturing. The primary function of the salt settlements is to provide housing and services for the salt field labor force and their dependents. The national labor force of approximately forty thousand men and women, the number fluctuating from year to year, assumes larger economic proportions than might be expected because it is concentrated in a relatively few localities. More workmen were employed during the earlier feudal period than at present; numbers have been reduced by the elimination of many fields of low productivity since 1905, andby increased mechanization. Barring any drastic change in production techniques, the salt fields currently in operation should continue to provide employment for thirty thousand to forty thousandworkmen. One of the commonly voiced reasons favoring continuation of costly domestic salt production is that cessation would result in serious depression in the salt settlements. This, in turn, would necessitate government relief measures, and a painful transition period before dislocated salt workers could shift to other forms of employment locally or in outside areas. The case of Ako, a small city of Hy6go Prefecture which is a nationally famous salt making center, illustrates the degree of local economic dependence on salt field prosperity. Of the city's twenty-five thousand population, thirteen hundred men and women are salt laborers; including their families, the number of individuals directly dependent on the industry for a livelihood reaches about seven thousand, or one-third of the total population. Ak5 has few other opportunities for employment, so that the remainder of the population must depend on service industries which cater to the salt field labor force and surrounding farm settlements. Salt settlements have grown slowly; surplus labor in excess of salt field requirements is siphoned off by other areas, especially by large cities where there are more opportunities for industrial employment. The number of field hands needed for each unit has remained virtually unchanged during the modern period. Each unit, averaging three to four acres in size, is operated by a force of from seven to eleven men and women. Full-time workers, usually less than half the work force, are kept busy an average 300 days a year, 130 days in actual field work, and are laid off only by bad weather. Part-time laborers work an average of 130 days a year. "The fields rest during the winter" is a traditional salt saying, indicating that winter weather brings field operations to a virtual standstill in all but the most favored localities. Since this inactivity creates seasonal unemployment for the part-time workers, many must rely on supplementary income from other jobs, such as in sake factories or as farmers. The farmer-salt worker, who works part-time in each role, is a typical combination. Field operators prefer this combination because farming keeps their labor force busy duringore busy during the slack season and provides workers with sufficient food to keep them in good physical condition. In general, fields are operated by members of families who pass along traditional skills from generation to generation. As an economic group they tend to be very conservative and introverted; combined with the boss system they bar the entry of outsiders into their profession. Their standard of living is perhaps slightly above that of farmers, with little hope for improvement. The most extreme cases of conservatism are found in northern Shikoku; in other areas closer to industrial centers there is a continuing drain of workers to more productive and promising urban enterprises. Labor problems are most acute in the eastern extremity of the Inland Sea region, within easy reach of K6be, Osaka and other expanding industrial and commercial centers.

Page  27 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 27 Among the principal economic weaknesses of the salt settlements has been their failure to attract other industries, despite the fact that salt is an essential industrial raw material. The reason for this failing is the allocation of salt from domestic fields for alimentary consumption. Large-scale chemical and other plants using salt in their manufacturing processes have located in port cities where bulk cargoes of cheap imported salt are available. A recent development that may exercise some influence for change in this pattern of industrial location is the erection of large-scale modern evaporating units to serve many salt fields in one locality, thus replacing many small, scattered evaporators. Bittern from these central plants is in sufficient quantity to supply a number of small industries requiring it as a raw material. A few medicinal and small chemical plants have been established in salt settlements in the eastern part of the Inland Sea region. Their presence is due in part to wartime developments, but is also indicative of future possible industrial relocation that would diversify the simple salt economy and provide more opportunities for employment in salt settlements than exist there at present. Early Growth of the Industry The salt industry in Japan, with its many primitive techniques, its increasingly elaborate adjustment to climate and terrain, and its complicated relationship of man-to-land, is the product of centuries of development. Distribution and operation of salt fields today are for the most part the result of a succession of governmental policies which have maintained an antiquated production system with certain adjustments to the demands of a growing population and a modern industrial structure. Fundamentally, the salt industry is an element of the earlier feudal economy caught in the changing conditions and requirements of a westernized Japan. The production of salt from sea water is as old as the nation's recorded history. There is strong evidence that initial growth was in western Japan along the Inland Sea coast. There pre-Yamato peoples living in settlements supported by fishing and farming probably resorted to salt extraction from the sea by simple solar evaporation. One can conjecture that the knowledge of how to obtain salt by this means was brought to Japan from the continent by migrating peoples. By the Nara and Heian periods a handful of Inland Sea localities had become famed for their ability to supply salt to the capital cities and dense farm population of the Japanese heartland, Kinai, northern Kyushu and intervening plains bordering the Inland Sea. Cargoes were transported with safety and dispatch over short expanses of calm sea to the leading ports of the time, Yodo and Sakai. Brief overland hauls from these coastal points brought the salt to Nara, Ky6to and other important centers. Yodo became noted further for its salted products; a similar reputation was held by Tsu, on the eastern coast of the Kii Peninsula. During these early times salt was made by the upshore method. A sandy beach was drenched with sea water and left exposed to the sun; salt crystals adhering to the sand were then dissolved and the resultant brine boiled to obtain salt. Further refinement of the process did not take place until the sixteenth century, when the inshore method now in use was perfected. Salt obtained by the former crude method was initially a barter item, although at length the size of demand and supply led to the establishment of markets in temples and shrines. These were the most peaceful and secure places in troubled times, and,in addition, priests found the salt trade lucrative. Later, during the Muromachi period, salt guilds came into existence, and with them the market towns, many of which are still active today. It was during the two and one-half centuries of Tokugawa rule, however, that the salt industry took on most of its present characteristics. During these years, through the encouragement of local feudal lords the industry reached new levels of technological advancement and of production. Politically the Tokugawa period was a time of centralized feudal administration: a complex system of large and small domains held together by the powerful Tokugawa shogun.

Page  28 28 JOHN D. EYRE Individual lords, while firmly entrenched in local concentrations of political and economic power, remained subject to regulation and even possible removal by the shogunate in the capital at Edo. Economically the Tokugawa structure was based on land. Lords generally set up their headquarters in towns in the heart of the broadest plain of their realms. Surrounded by their best lands, they were close to their chief source of wealth and were in a position to encourage productivity. But the Tokugawa lords were not entirely dependent on land income. Within their domains they stimulated the development of commerce and industry, both to satisfy their desire for more comfortable living and to provide an added source of taxation. During the Tokugawa period, therefore, most domains encouraged the growth of commercial or industrial enterprises. In this picture of expanding economic life, salt played an important role. It was in wide demand as an item of diet, finding ready sale among all social classes. From the beginning of the Tokugawa period the lords granted special patronage to salt makers or even insisted upon the establishment of salt fields and evaporating pans, frequently in places not climatically suited for profitable salt making. By the end of the Tokugawa period salt works were to be found in virtually every fief with sea frontage. Details of the discovery and early development of the new and more efficient inshore method are not known. Tradition credits the invention to the province of Harima, at the eastern extremity of the Inland Sea, and especially the area around Ako. The Harima claim is bolstered by the fact that other early fields in the eastern Inland Sea region were for the most part designed and operated by skilled personnel imported from Ako. These men had been induced to leave Ako by neighboring feudal lords who were anxious to improve their fields or to start new ones. Often, also, talented but untrained men were sent to Ako or other well-known fields as common laborers to learn the business from start to finish through practical experience. The specialized skills and experience which were thus gained gradually promoted a uniform development in salt technology in most of the Inland Sea domains. No one area was able to keep secret its new techniques and tools, so that superiority over other fields was possible only by expanding field acreage. Expansion became the keynote for Inland Sea salt manufacturers in order to meet consumer needs and the increasing demands of the debt-ridden lords. Fields originally designed for operations on a modest scale were expanded as domain finances dictated, and steps were taken to improve salt quality and marketing facilities. Hashihama, in Iyo Province (Ehime Prefecture) is illustrative of such spasmodic expansion. An obscure hamlet hugging the southern edge of a deep-cut bay, it began to prosper with the construction of the first salt fields in 1683. Eighty-nine acres of shallow water and adjacent beach were transformed into production surfaces by a local technician who had learned his trade in Aki Province. Nine years later thirty-six more acres were added. A second era of growth in the early nineteenth century brought further additions: eight acres in 1807, nine acres in 1818-29, and a final four acres in 1834. Section by section, units crept around the bay until the entire shoreline was occupied by salt works. Today, Hashihama remains little changed from the Tokugawa period, save that part of the 1807 fields which proved uneconomical were converted to a shipyard forty years ago. Hashihama as a city has grown with the expansion of its salt production facilities, and its population still relies principally on the fields for employment. In most areas,however, overambitious salt expansion policies tended to defeat the lords' economic objectives and to bring additional hardships to domain inhabitants. After the middle of the Tokugawa period salt production rose frequently in excess of consumer demands. Prices fell and serious depressions resulted. Panics that broke out during the H6reki (1751-63) and Meiwa (1764-71) eras were but two of many instances when it was necessary to reduce the amount of salt marketed and to cease field operations temporarily. From the middle of the eighteenth century, overproduction was the principal problem of salt makers despite endless conferences and fruitless attempts to formulate restrictive measures. This situation is in contrast to the modern period when consumption, increased by population growth and industrial needs, far exceeds domestic production.

Page  29 Ii ' i I sluwainna,l Expansion of HsahihamL a \M1 N, ~ - I.1 I"O I u*n u*.n Runna ~~*X V~~~n*~y~l~ lho~~~~IO ~ ~ ~I~V YIIU~IXV.. Ab~x AAY A. A A >A" AA~ A A A MAA~A~A~~

Page  30 30 JOHN D. EYRE But though there was overproduction, salt never went out of demand; other than rice it was the one food deemed essential by even the poorest peasants. Prices of rice, cotton and salt, the "three whites" of Tokugawa times, influenced each other, and in an effort to stabilize their prices the shogunate turned the marketing of all three commodities over to guilds. The most powerful of the salt guilds arose in a logical location, Osaka, from where it handled the production of the Inland Sea fields. With the passage of time the guilds grew to monopolistic proportions until dissolved late in the Tokugawa period in favor of unrestricted trade. Until the middle of the seventeenth century, cheap, high quality salt was available only in the markets of western Japan and the Tokai region owing to the difficulties of transportation. Although a network of trunk highways linked Edo with outlying parts of the country, salt was too bulky and expensive to pack on horseback over long distances. The obvious answer was to rely on shipping, but here the drawback lay in governmental regulations limiting ship size. Small craft carrying light cargoes of rice and other goods could follow the short, safe routes along the coast but had difficulty in navigating more exposed stretches. The above factors favored the early spread of small salt fields in northern Japan, separated from competition with cheaper, better Inland Sea salt. Shipping developments late in the seventeenth century, however, drastically altered this situation. In 1682 the government commissioned Kawamura Zuiken to pioneer an all-sea route from the northwest to the capital in order to expedite the flow of rice. The new route, which was immediately adopted, followed the Honshu coastline the full distance, passing through the Straits of Shimonoseki and the Inland Sea. With the erection of beacons and markers along its course, it provided a safe alternative to the former cumbersome land-sea passage. In the flow of ships and goods that passed subsequently along this route, Osaka was in a favored position. Already a focal point in the western road system, the city bolstered its position as the premier commercial city of Japan by tapping the sea trade passing in both directions. For the first time, salt from the first time, salt from the Inland Sea fields coud be moved with ease and at small cost to distant points. Buyers in northern Japan awaited stocks of the high quality Inland Sea salt that could undersell local salt in every case. This development resulted in the gradual deterioration of salt making in the northern areas, and in the subsequent expansion of production facilities along the Inland Sea coast. By the end of the nineteenth century the Inland Sea region supplied more than ninety per cent of Japan's salt needs. The ten provinces of Harima, Bizen, Bitchui, Bingo, Aki, Suo, and Nagato in Honshu, and Iyo, Sanuki, and Awa in Shikoku became famed as the "Ten Salt-Making Provinces." It was in this area also that the final improvement in technology of the Tokugawa period was made. The evaporation process had begun to be hampered by the scarcity and high cost of wood; and as deforestation went on manufacturers were eager to find a substitute fuel. Coal had been mined in northern Kyushuii during most of the eighteenth century, but was not tried in salt making until 1778, in Suo Province. Small fields near the coal deposits pioneered its use, and gradually the popularity of the new fuel spread eastward. Coastal coal deposits received special consideration in order that coal could be shipped direct from pit to salt field. By the Meiji Restoration in 1868 all except the smallest salt units had switched to coal. Rise of Regional Monopolies The northern markets were won only piecemeal and with difficulty, as might be expected. Powerful northern lords had heavy investments in local salt works and were not content to lose an important source of income without a contest. They conceived of many ways to protect their interests. Taxes were levied on salt imported from other fiefs, despite the factthat resultant high prices caused public unrest. But a more effective device to combat the entry of the Inland Sea product was the use of local monopolies.

Page  31 I II HIROSHIMA TOKUSHIMA L E H I ME DISTRIBUTION OF OITA INLAND SEA SALT FIELDS

Page  32 32 JOHN D. EYRE The best known of the northern monopolies, in the Kanazawa domain, was in operation for almost the entire Tokugawa period. Its early objective was to garner more revenue for the lord than was possible by the simple land tax. Kanazawa was an extremely poor location for salt production, however. Fields operated by the primitive upshore method were worked under adverse environmental conditions; little production was possible during the winter. With the appearance of Inland Sea salt in northern markets, the Kanazawa monopoly became more like a protective agency than a profit-making device. By extracting taxes on imported salt the monopoly forced local prices beyond reasonable limits. Smuggling became a widespread though sternly punished offense. But the monopoly continued, and for almost two hundred years Kanazawa, among the richest rice-surplus fiefs in Japan, derived an average twenty per cent of its income from salt. Another northern monopoly on a smaller scale was organized in the Sendai domain and given the power of forced sales. Within the domain the estimated needs of all villages were computed and villagers were compelled to purchase salt at delivery twice annually. As in Kanazawa, the feudal lord amassed large profits despite undesirable climatic conditions and use of the upshore method. Monopolistic practices were not confined to the northern area, however. In the Inland Sea region, lords did their best to squeeze maximum profits from the lucrative salt trade and most frequently resorted to monopoly controls. For example, in the Okayama fief, salt manufacture and trade were under strict official control, exports to other fiefs regulated, and arrangement for bulk sale made with Osaka merchants. Meiji Period Problems The Meiji government inherited the operating methods and problems, as well as the cares related to overproduction and ruinous price fluctuations, which had marked salt production in the Tokugawa period. In addition, a new problem, the importation of cheap foreign salt, began to menace the domestic industry. As foreign competition immediately began to make its influence felt, salt makers, notoriously competitive, resorted to group action in an attempt to solve mutual difficulties. It was this action that eventually led to the establishment of a national salt monopoly. Precedents for group action dated back to the end of the eighteenth century when a severe depression prompted formation of the first Inland Sea salt association, operating informally. Starting in the western section, the association with shogunate support soon obtained pledges of cooperation from neighboring provinces. Sanuki alone remained aloof from all participation and proved instrumental in the failure of the others' efforts at stabilization. The basis of the Sanuki abstention was that its fields, best endowed climatically of the entire region, could produce salt profitably even during the winter months. In their opposition to regulatory measures, Sanuki manufacturers went so far as to expand field acreage, notably in the Sakaide area in 1830. Further aggressive tactics won for them markets held formerly by competitor provinces, thus aggravating economic conditions elsewhere. The most important regulatory measure of the association was the Third-to-Eighth-MonthRegulation (Sampachih6o _K A ),which was first tested in 1780 in the Mitajiri fields. As the name implies, it confined the manufacture of salt by association members to the months from April to September. The production curb was in keeping with natural conditions; few areas had sufficiently fine weather for profitable winter operations. Threats of fines kept members from violating seasonal production restrictions. Yet, cognizance was taken of the fact that all fields were not of the same size or quality. The most productive units had to stop in October, but poorer ones were granted operation extensions of as much as a hundred and fifty days.

Page  33 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 33 The first years of the Meiji period saw a more formal organization of the above association although there was no great improvement in the effectiveness of its attempted controls. Both membership and regulatory procedures were roughly identical with those of its Tokugawa counterpart. Administrative areas were delineated with an outstanding salt town as local headquarters. Again, salt men of Kagawa Prefecture (formerly Sanuki Province) failed to cooperate as long as there existed regulations restricting winter production. A long series of petitions to the Meiji government, test cases in the courts, and continual petty bickering failed to better the situation. Government investigators declared a hands-off policy after looking into the question, with the admonition that it was up to the producers to keep prices low enough to meet foreign competition. In opposition to the association's aims, a strong lobby of shoyu manufacturers continued pressure in official circles to make increased supplies of the cheaper imported salt available for their use. Matters were brought to a head by financial strains imposed on the Japanese budget by the Russo-Japanese war. Already perplexed by the distressed salt industry, legislators proposed monopolization in 1904 as an emergency tax measure. The move failed to pass because of fear in many quarters that controls would result in steep price rises for the essential commodity. During the following year, however, as the strain of wartime expenditures became acute, the measure was passed, marking the beginning of the modern period in the development of the Japanese salt industry. The Modern Monopoly The Japanese Monopoly Bureau (Sembai Kyoku J n- ), renamedin 1946 the Monopoly Public Corporation (SembaiKosha.- ~,4 ), was established in 1905 with full control over the production and marketing of salt, camphor and tobacco. Operated initially as a fund-raising device, the Monopoly now functions as a protective organ for Japanese salt manufacturers and as a distributing agency for domestic and imported salt. To further its protective function, every attempt was made to try to bring domestic salt prices to a level where competitionwith cheaper imported salt was possible and to devise means of increasing production. Thus far, efforts along these lines have borne little, if any, fruit. Inmanyinstances unprofitable enterprises have been eliminated, modern evaporating units installed, and salt quality improved. On the negative side, however, production is lower than in the past and is maintained at that low level only through costly government price supports. Faced with the alternative of having the salt industry revert to the depressed conditions of fifty years ago, or disappear under the impact of foreign competition, the Monopoly continues its support policies. Meanwhile, government technicians experiment hopefully with new production methods to replace the inshore field system. Directed from central headquarters in Toky5, monopoly functions are carried out by a nationwide net of regional branch offices, each having a well-defined administrative region under its jurisdiction. The administrative regions incorporate two or more prefectures; the number depends on such variables as population, degree of urbanization and industrialization, resource availability, convenience of transportation, and total size. There exists little or no correlation between the size of the administrative region and the amount of salt, tobacco and camphor produced locally. In each region the branch office is charged with the regulation of salt production and distribution. Frequently offices perform only the latter function since the bulk of the salt fields are concentrated in the eight prefectures along the shores of the Inland Sea. Regional offices are located in prefectural capitals, where monopoly programs and policies can be implemented by close liaison with local administrative organs.

Page  34 34 JOHN D. EYRE Regional offices are responsible to central T6ky6 headquarters and apply monopoly regulations uniformly throughout the nation. Some of the more superficial aspects of the formal organization are reminiscent of the salt guild formed late in the Tokugawa period. At that time, prior to the functioning of the present Monopoly, guild offices were maintained in leading salt centers. However, the guild confined its activities to the Inland Sea region and dealt with a single commodity; the present system is national in scope, handles three major commodities, and has the legality and power of a government organ. Although requiring a complex administrative machinery monopoly procedures in supervising the production and distribution of salt are simple enough to be grasped readily. Salt field operators are required by law to register with one of the Monopoly's regional offices and must obtain membership in a local salt cooperative. Through both media the individual producer and production unit are integrated into a national program. Regulations aimed at standardization or improvement flow from Tokyo to local levels via the regional offices. The Monopoly does not own its own carriers, but turns to established transportation agencies to handle salt movements on a contractual basis. For land movements, details are worked out withthe Japanese Government Railways. Shipping space is rented from an organization with widespread shipping connections. The bulk of the salt traffic by ship is over the quiet waters of the Inland Sea with Osaka as the main collection center. Regional offices have warehousing facilities where shipments from fields in their administrative region are stored temporarily pending decision on destination by Monopoly officials. From Osaka much of the salt is loaded on freight cars and shipped to the prefectures of northern Honshu and Hokkaido. The actual distribution of salt to consumers is entrusted by the Monopoly to a group of licensed dealers in each prefecture. These dealers have the responsibility of seeing that the commodity reaches the public at the established sale price through a rationing system. Continuation of the rationing system begun early during World War II indicates the critically short supply of salt in Japan during the postwar period. Imported salt, earmarked for either alimentary or industrial consumption, is distributed in similar fashion. As indicated, the Monopoly was instituted in 1905 to help defray the costs of the RussoJapanese War. The Monopoly was an immediate financial success; during the first year of operation salt profits alone netted seven million yen, an amount that was doubled the next year. In addition, tobacco and camphor sales also added funds to the national treasury. The Monopoly purchased salt from domestic and foreign producers, graded it according to quality and place of production, and resold it to the public through private dealers at a fixed rate of profit. Although the prices fluctuated, the salt was usually retailed at double the purchase price. Dealing in imported salt was especially lucrative. Purchased at little cost, the imports sold at the same general price as domestic stocks, thus realizing a larger margin of profit. This practice stabilized prices and increased revenue but denied cheap industrial salt to manufacturers, especially to the chemical industry. Income netted by the Monopoly rolled in steadily until 1918, when public pressure forced abandonment of profit-making policies in favor of the public welfare. Legislators felt that original financial objectives had been met and that it was time to reduce salt prices. Subsequent adjustments brought profits in close touch with operating costs. Slender profits continued until 1939, when the Monopoly required substantial government aid to meet its obligations. Since then, increased dependence upon government subsidy has been a standard and accepted feature of the Monopoly structure. Needs for such outlays arose less from decline in salt revenues than from an ambitious program of subsidy payments to salt manufacturers, and the purchase of capital equipment in an all-out drive to increase domestic salt production. Improvement Attempts The years 1910-11 saw the first constructive moves to alleviate the unhealthy condition of the salt industry which had persisted since the Tokugawa and early Meiji period. Many salt

Page  35 35 SALT MONOPOLY ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS HOKKAIDO - /<J TAKASAKI G^ MITO r cB ^S'^~ 2H@ REGIONL OFFICE Ad ^^^j./yA * 4REGIONAL SUB-OFFICE KYSH OU K 69 MAMOTO S ISCALE IN ILES ",. wo' goo C:~i.".. 5 i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'~ t~ 'L ~/,~,~',. -'- REGIONAL BOUNDARY I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 0...,ALBONDR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/.r I/I MEINL r3CE I 1 i L I 132~ E. LONG. 138~

Page  36 36 JOHN D. EYRE fields were still in chronic financial straits and continuing to operate on an uneconomic base. In a bold effort to improve conditions, the Monopoly eliminated 4700 acres of unprofitable fields, most of them in northern Japan. After the adjustment 15,000 acres of the best units remained in operation, manned by 8,000 operators and 60,000 workers, as compared to the earlier figure of 22,000 operators and 122,000 workers. Owners of eliminated fields received compensation in the form of national bonds at five per cent interest. Salt land was paid for at a higher rate than the price of the best grade of paddy. An unfortunate result of the acreage reduction program was the unemployment which it created, for it threw out of work over onehalf of the entire salt field labor force. After the consolidation, annual production of salt declined slightly to 500,000 metric tons. Temporary shortages were balanced by imports from Taiwan and the Kwantung Peninsula. It is significant that despite these drastic acreage reduction measures, and the concentration of Monopoly efforts on the best salt fields, subsequent annual production did not show the substantial increase which was hoped for and salt prices remain unchanged. It is said that the only gains were by wealthy landowners who bought low-grade salt fields for a pittance and sold them to the government at a handsome profit. But necessity seems to have engendered optimism, for the Monopoly tried similar field reduction moves on a smaller scale on two later occasions, each time with negative results. A major obstacle to substantial increase in salt production has been the inability of Monopoly technicians to invent a process more efficient and economical than the inshore field system now in use. Present field design is little changed from plans drawn three hundred years ago. Monopoly efforts to date have concentrated on the introduction of large-scale evaporators using steam or electricity to replace traditional open pans. As late as forty years ago all evaporating of brine from the fields was done in simple open pans of hardened clay or iron set up in thatch-roofed sheds along the field margins. The open pan method was slow and wasteful of fuel. Shortly before World War II, the government provided funds to erect one or more modern evaporation units in leading salt fields. One-half of the construction costs was borne by local salt cooperatives, who were then charged with the operation and maintenance of the new plants under Monopoly supervision. Members of the cooperatives abandoned their open pans and piped brine to the centrally located evaporators, housed in large reinforced concrete buildings. The new machines soon proved their efficiency by producing five to six tons of salt per ton of coal, as compared to two and one-half tons of salt in the open pans. The subsidy program to improve evaporation facilities, planned on a long-range basis, had just begun to make substantial gains when it was canceled in 1947 because of the post-war shortage of funds. Such well-known fields as those at Ak5 in Hyogo and Ajino in Okayaiaa have been modernized completely, while others have reached a mid-point in the re-equipping process. Colorful boiler sheds of the past still line field margins, serving now to house brine storage tanks instead of evaporating units. The new feature introduced into the salt field landscape by Monopoly action is the tall, modern evaporating plant, whose smokestacks dominate surrounding fields and sheds. The appearance and operating efficiency of such plants are in sharp contrast to the century-old, hand-operated fields that supply them with brine. It has been clear for many years, however, that increased mechanization of the evaporation process, the one boast of the Monopoly thus far, does not come to grips with the vexing problem of how to increase production. Likewise, efforts directed toward modification of traditional field design hold little promise of boosting yields. What is needed is a new production process adapted to the limitations of the Japanese environment. Some promise of success appears in two methods still in the developmental stage. The first of these is salt by electrolysis. a process having unlimited possibilities except for its heavy consumption of electricity. Electricity is in such short supply in Japan that brownouts must be ordered periodically to conserve power. Once again, poverty of the resource base counterbalances optimism for future development along this line.

Page  37 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 37 The second and more recent innovation is a new type of salt field to replace the inshore fields. A broad area thirteen to fifteen meters square and built on an incline is formed of layers of sand on a clay or cement base. Sea water admitted at the top of the incline trickles through the sand, evaporating en route, and emerges at the bottom as concentrated brine. An experimental field has been erected in Okayama Prefecture with which to conduct tests under actual production conditions. First results are very promising; yields average eighty to a hundred tons per hectare annually, as compared to the slightly higher one hundred tons from the inshore units. If proven practicable by exhaustive tests, the new type of field can be built with disregard for many of the natural controls that now limit production. An additional feature of the new process is the reduction of labor and other operating costs. The main hurdles in the way of its wide-spread adoption are (1) to prove that it is feasible to undertake wholesale changes instead of retaining the inshore fields and importing enough salt to meet national demands, and (2) to obtain the enormous sums of money needed to implement a large-scale field construction program. To further the search for technological improvement, the Monopoly has set up several experimental stations. It was in the main laboratory at Mitajiri in Yamaguchi Prefecture that the modern steam evaporators were first tested, to be recommended later for general use. An unending search goes on in the Monopoly laboratories for means of improving the quantity and quality of Japanese salt. One of the chief successes of the Monopoly has been to maintain through strict controls a certain order in the salt industry and to eliminate the regional jealousy and competition that formerly defeated cooperative action on a national scale. The one lapse in the Monopoly controls came during and shortly after World War II. When war reverses in 1944 denied Japan access to foreign salt supplies, salt making privileges were granted to unlicensed individuals. The government encouraged coastal dwellers to undertake what had been so recently an illegal pursuit. As a result, some 100,000 tiny production units sprang up along the Japanese coastline. Most of the units were wasteful of fuel, yielded small amounts of salt, and were tolerated only because of the need for salt. Fields eliminated by Monopoly adjustment programs in 1911 and 1929 were rehabilitated and former military and naval coastal installations were converted to salt making units. Conditions did not improve by the end of the war; scarcity of salt imports, extensive typhoon damage to Inland Sea fields in 1945, and the pressing need for alimentary salt gave further encouragement to continuation of small-scale production. In support of a rationing program begun in 1942, the government went so far as to award subsidies to new units meeting specifications for size and yield. A switch in policy in 1949 finally outlawed all of the small emergency units, which were consuming undue amounts of badly needed coal and electricity, and Monopoly controls were reinstated as they existed prior to 1944. Remains of temporary units can still be seen along the coast. Cooperatives, Owners and Workers Although developed spontaneously in the past, salt cooperatives work in close coordination with the Monopoly. At least one cooperative exists in every salt making locality, and all owners and operators must be members in order to obtain salt manufacturing permits. Maintained by funds paid by their membership, and staffed with full-time employees, cooperative offices see that business is kept on an economical basis. Their primary function is to transmit Monopoly directives to members of the cooperative, and to see that Monopoly policies are carried out. Noteworthy strides have been made by the cooperatives in the improvement of working conditions for salt field labor. Until the last few years, the relationship between employer and laborer on both the economic and social planes was like that of lord to serf. Concentrating on

Page  38 38 JOHN D. EYRE profits rather than on welfare, owners paid low wages and gave no guarantee of length of employment. Consequently, part-time workers, who make up a major part of the labor force, must find supplementary employment elsewhere to achieve any degree of financial stability. Labor conditions have been improved through efforts of the cooperatives, as well as under the pressure of the SCAP Labor Law, though it remains to be seen if the latter innovation is a permanent development. Both labor and management are now represented in cooperative assemblies; usually amicable discussions turn bitter whenever questions of wage increases and other measures designed to improve the lot of the worker come up for consideration. Much still remains to be done, as is shown by the appeal which leftist labor unions have demonstrated with discontented salt field laborers. One of the more unhappy labor situations found in the salt fields is that of "boss" control. Under this system the boss, or contractor, finds employment for the worker and provides security of tenure in return for a percentage of his earnings. It is argued on one hand that such an arrangement is of mutual benefit to the parties concerned and provides an uninterrupted supply of manpower to operate the salt fields. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the boss system constitutes one more financial and social cross to be borne by the povertystricken worker. Afraid of losing placement opportunities and income, bosses have opposed any radical changes in traditional salt field methods. Their power in the salt industry is impossible to document and difficult to measure. Although their strength in salt settlements is certainly not as great as in other occupations in the large cities, it is of sufficient local importance to merit consideration. Superficially, the lot of the salt field owner would appear anything but enviable. He must pay 1,500 yen per hectare as annual dues to the cooperative, and 10,000 yen in taxes. Income from the same acreage under current rental ceilings is 7,000 yen, leaving the owner with an apparent loss of 2,500 yen for owning the land. However, substantial hidden profits are realized by means of a subterfuge known as the kenrikin:4 $J i-, a sum paid by the tenant for "the right to use" the land. Subject to no legal regulation, this practice enables the owner to charge as much as the traffic will bear. The hidden fees fluctuate and are rising at present, so that tenants are eager for the chance to purchase the fields they operate. Owners complain of their harsh treatment under existing laws and argue that they can make little profit. But few are willing to dispose of their holdings; only in case of financial crisis are fields sold to tenants or other owners, and then only fields of the lowest quality. Salt fields were not included in the agricultural land reform program carried out under SCAP, despite the similar set of ills that plague both occupations. Thus, there is little opportunity for the tenant and worker to better their lot except by migration to the cities to other forms of employment. Tenancy remains a grave problem in the salt industry; it averages fifty per cent in most fields, and runs higher than seventy-five per cent in the worst instances. Importation of Salt The most significant development in the Japanese salt industry during the past fifty years has been the steadily increasing need of imports to supplement domestic production. Consumer requirements have risen far beyond the 600,000 metric tons consumed at the turn of the century. Early imports were the result of the low price of foreign salt, rather than an actual increase in consumer demands. With the passage of time, however, increased reliance on imports was essential in order to supply Japan's growing population and to meet new industrialneeds. Imports increased from 48 tons in 1876 to 40,000 tons in 1905. Cheap foreign salt was sought eagerly by small manufacturers, among whom the shoyu men were most active. But while the sh6yu manufacturers prospered through the use of cheap salt, the Japanese salt industry was plunged into depression. The desperate financial position of the industry was a basic reason for establishment of the Monopoly system in 1905.

Page  39 RiDght Tokugawa periad anchorage for salt sales. LefD at Modern evapotin plants and sit Dstorage, sheds, Akno Righ Abendened sal fi~e'ld, Aj'ine.

Page  40 40 JOHN D. EYRE During the first year of operation, the Monopoly attempted to carry out a salt self-sufficiency program and curtailed the importation of foreign salt by imposing stringent duties. This artificial protection for domestic producers was maintained stubbornly in the face of strong industrial opposition for ten years. Eventual abandonment of the self-sufficiency program can be traced to three principal reasons: (1) rapid increase in Japanese consumer demands, (2) emergence and growth of the chemical industry, and (3) expansion of the overseas empire. Closely associated with these developments was the failure of domestic salt production to rise despite an ambitious subsidy program. Although per capita consumption of salt as food has not risen appreciably during the past twenty-five years, total alimentary requirements have increased one-half owing to population growth. In 1908, domestic fields had to supply the wants of 48,000,000 people; by 1933 the figure had jumped to 67,000,000, and by 1952 to 84,000,000. Consumer needs included salt for seasoning, both in raw form and as sh6yu, for pickling, and for the preservation of fish and fish products. As shown in the following statistics on the consumption of salt in Japan during the period 1930-45, alimentary needs accounted for more than three-fourths of the total consumption in 1930. During the next few years, however, industrial use showed spectacular absolute and relative increases, and after 1934 outstripped the use of salt for human consumption. At the peak of Japanese pre-war industrialization in 1937, industry accounted for sixty-one per cent of total national salt consumption. This trend continued until during and after World War II, when industrial operations were limited and finally suspended because of lack of markets and raw materials, wartime damage to equipment, declining military needs, and, eventually, Occupation restrictions. With the rehabilitation of industry and accessibility of foreign salt supplies in the post-war period, industrial requirements are beginning to rise once more. Salt Consumption in Japan (1930-45) (Weights are in 1,000 metric tons) Alimentary Use Industrial Use Year Weight Per cent Weight Per cent 1930 742 78 209 22 1931 773 72 298 28 1932 762 66 396 34 1933 762 54 649 46 1934 784 48 855 52 1935 789 42 1,068 58 1936 821 41 1,160 59 1937 891 39 1,413 61 1938 971 40 1,476 60 1939 1,029 42 1,409 58 1940 1,062 44 1,356 56 1941 1,007 52 930 48 1942 1,038 57 787 43 1943 1,101 61 710 39 1944 927 61 590 39 1945 489 76 168 24

Page  41 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 41 Rise of the Chemical Industry The rapid increase in industrial salt consumption during the decade preceding World War II was attributable in large part to the growth of the Japanese chemical industry. Expansion of Japanese military activities on the Asian mainland called for an unprecedented supply of chemical products in which salt figured as a raw material. At the same time, salt field expansion within conquered areas made available larger supplies of cheap solar salt for industrial use. The industrial role of salt has not been publicized to the same extent as that of other chemical raw materials like sulphur, limestone, coal, petroleum, potash, nitrate and cellulose. Unlike most of these materials, salt is principally used in the manufacture of secondary raw materials, such as acids and alkalis. The latter products are employed in turn in the synthesis of a host of chemical products. As a result the role of salt in the manufacture of many valuable commodities is unsuspected and unheralded in consumer circles. Caustic soda, soda ash and chlorine are only three of the items made from salt, but these alone link it with the manufacture of glass, soaps, paper, refined petroleum, rayon, textile bleach, dyes and explosives. The Japanese chemical industry dates from the early part of the Meiji period, at a time when little private capital existed for industrial investment. Government funds were used to erect sulfuric acid and soda ash plants in Osaka to produce acid needed by the Japanese mint for the manufacture of metal coins and paper money. English technicians were hired to operate the pilot plants and to train a body of skilled native personnel who could gain enough experience to take over the management. By 1885 government-operated factories dotted the Osaka landscape, making soda ash, caustic soda, crystalline soda, sodium bicarbonate, and a variety of other chemicals. The selection of Osaka as the center of the new industry was not made by chance, but was part of a plan to shift the city's economic focus from commerce to industry. For he purposes the purposes of the chemical industry, it was ideally located to receive shipments of salt from Inland Sea or foreign fields. Despite stiff competition from English products, chemicals from the first Japanese plants found an expanding domestic market. However, methods and machinery soon became outdated, and chemical imports poured through the Japanese ports. Two major drawbacks to more economic operation of Japanese chemical plants were the short supply of cheap industrial salt and the shortage of well trained personnel to handle the complex chemical processes. World War I brought a temporary revival of chemical manufacturing; cut off from most of its foreign supplies and faced with mounting armament requirements, the Japanese put into operation about twenty new chemical plants. The depression of 1921 saw only a handful of the new plants survive, and it was not until a decade later that the industry began to prosper on the basis of rearmament and a boom in the manufacture of artificial fibers. It is clear that more substantial advance of the chemical industry was delayed for many years by the early salt-sufficiency policies of the Monopoly. By its moves to protect domestic manufacturers with high duties on imported salt, the Monopoly denied industry access to a raw material on which profitable operations could be based. A tantalizing contradiction, it meant that on the one hand the government was fostering industrial expansion and on the other denying the new industries an essential raw material. Not until 1916, after years of sustained pressure, was a law passed giving chemical manufacturers domestic salt at special low prices. Even here the Monopoly had enough influence to rule that industrial salt had to be denatured to prevent its illegal resale for home use. Controls were relaxed further the following year, when industrialists were granted permission to buy foreign salt through extra-Monopoly channels. In actual practice, the Monopoly retained some semblance of formal control over such transactions. A firm would buy salt abroad and, on paper only, would sell it to the government

Page  42 42 JOHN D. EYRE and rebuy through official channels. Although this hollow formality was observed, the Monopoly's control in limiting imports was broken, thus freeing the chemical industry to import sufficient amounts of salt to supply production needs. For the Monopoly, this spelled the final blow to any remaining hopes for salt self-sufficiency measures. During the same year, low domestic production necessitated imports from Tsingtao to meet minimum food requirements. After 1917, with the first substantial advances of the chemical industry, especially the manufacture of caustic soda, imported salt began to figure importantly in the Japanese economy. Prior to that year, imports made up a bare ten per cent of the salt consumed in Japan. However, continued growth of the chemical industry soon pushed industrial consumption of salt higher than household demands. Domestic production showed little change, so that the swiftly growingneeds of industry could be supplied only by heavier imports. As early as 1932 foreign salt made up fifty-three per cent of the Japanese supply; by 1941, just before the outbreak of World War II, it was seventy-nine per cent of the total. The importance of salt imports during the years 1930-45 is seen in the following statistics: Domestic Production and Imports of Salt (1930-45) (Weights are in 1,000 metric tons) Domestic Production Imported Salt Year 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Weight 629 521 572 631 676 604 519 536 484 636 574 389 475 415 353 224 Per cent 63 53 47 41 Weight 373 454 638 926 35 1,239 34 1,184 29 1,270 24 1,742 Per cent 37 47 53 59 65 66 71 76 78 75 75 79 76 77 73 63 Total Weight 1,002 975 1,210 1,557 1,915 1,788 1,789 2,278 2, 236 2,501 2,299 1,895 2,008 1,825 1,295 686 22 1,752 25 1,865 25 21 24 23 27 37 1,725 1,506 1,533 1,410 942 462 Source of Imports Japan has turned to three major world areas for salt to supplement the low yield of domestic fields. They are: (1) the Mediterranean and Red Sea borderlands (Egypt, Spain, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, and French Somaliland); (2) Southeast Asia (French Indo-China, Siam, and

Page  43 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 43 Indonesia); and (3) the Far East (Korea, Manchuria, Formosa, and China, especially the Kwantung Peninsula and the North China coast). Each of these three areas has played avaryingrole in different phases of Japan's quest for foreign salt stocks. The most permanent trade relations have been with the Red Sea and Mediterranean countries who shipped large amounts of salt to Japan each year until the outbreak of the war in 1941. Temporarily suspended because of hostilities, this trading movement has been recommenced and probably will be the leading source of Japanese salt imports in the foreseeable future. The Southeast Asian fields, least important of the three areas, were the source of imports for a brief period during the war when Japan occupied the area and was cut off from Near Eastern fields. They contributed only small amounts even during that emergency period and do not figure in the cui rent salt trading picture. Salt fields in the Far East were almost all developed or improved in connection with Japanese military and economic expansion on the Asian mainland. Although still in operation and capable of supplying the bulk of Japanese import needs, most of the fields are at present under the control of an unfriendly Chinese Communist government. Only the extensive units in Formosa provide some imports. Almost without exception, salt from the above foreign areas is made by simple solar evaporation. Each country has the requisite coastal features, a climate characterized by high temperatures and little rain for long periods, and a plentiful supply of cheap labor. Salt made by the solar method in-these countries has a sale price far lower than salt made in Japan but is relatively impure. Once received in Japan, it can be used directly in industrial processes, where limited impurity is of little consequence, or it can be refined and sold as food. For fifty years after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan depended on such scattered sources as China, French Indo-China, the United States, England and Germany for limited salt imports. The first decided attempt to concentrate on one area for a principal supply came during World War I, when fields at Tsingtao were expanded with Japanese capital. However, Tsingtao was lost temporarily as a result of the Washington Arms Conference in 1922, creating a crisis in the Japanese soda industry that was solved by orders placed in Spain. Further growth of Japanese salt demands in succeeding years saw Egypt, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea become important salt suppliers, the Japanese trade becoming of increased importance to the economies of those areas. Red Sea salt was not only purer than any available in the Far East but cheaper to import despite the long sea haul because the salt cargoes helped to create a circular trade that brought increased profits to ship owners. Freighters of the 10,000-ton class would load soy beans at Dairen or wheat in Australia and haul them to England via Suez. On the return trip, coal from England and Germany would give a paying cargo as far as Egypt. Empty once more, the ships could complete the east-bound run with cargoes of salt picked up at either Egypt or one of the Red Sea ports. Suez Canal rates are set up to cover only empty or loaded ships, the latter category applying whether the load is heavy or light. If ships reached the Canal with light loads, they would often discharge remaining goods and go through empty, to load salt at one of the Red Sea stops. The same situation encouraged ships to load as much salt as possible in Egypt to make the passage pay. Salt imports from the Red Sea and Mediterranean area were most important during the decade of Japan's industrial expansion preceding World War II. In no one year did salt from that area fail to supply at least one-quarter of Japan's imports, and on several occasions it accounted for more than one-half the total. In 1939 transportation and insurance costs skyrocketed with the beginning of the war in Europe. Of more immediate concern was the cancellation of shipments on Norwegian and Swedish freighters, workhorses of the salt trade, due to the threat of German invasion of Scandinavia. Italy's entrance into the war brought an end to the shipping movement and forced Japan to search elsewhere for foreign salt stocks. Although eventually occupied by Japanese troops, Southeast Asian countries were able to ship only small amounts of salt to Japan; production was limited and was needed for local con

Page  44 44 JOHN D. EYRE sumption. Never at any time did salt from the southern portions of the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere, that is, Siam, Dutch East Indies, French Indo-China and the Philippines, amount to as much as ten per cent of Japanese imports. Far Eastern fields figured prominently in Japanese salt imports as continental control was extended through force of arms and economic penetration. Their growing importance to Japan is shown in the following table of salt imports for the period 1930-45. Percentage of Salt Imports from the Far East (1930-45) Per cent Per cent Per cent 1930 97 1935 43 1940 73 1931 86 1936 59 1941 91 1932 57 1937 56 1942 98 1933 42 1938 66 1943 98 1934 44 1939 70 1944 99 1945 100 In 1935 Far Eastern fields accounted for less than one-half of salt imports, the remainder coming from the Red Sea and Mediterranean area. Rapid industrial expansion pushed dependence to sixty per cent the following year; in 1939 it reached seventy per cent and during the war fluctuated between ninety and a hundred per cent. Salt making in Manchuria, Korea, Formosa and North China was associated closely with Japanese economic policies. Formosan fields were improved and expanded after occupation by the Japanese in 1885, and in Kwangtung after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5. Although Japanese interests were kept out for three years from 1932 to 1935, they developed the Tsingtao fields into the best in the Far East. In 1933 the fields of Manchuria were developed, supplementing those already in operation in Korea. Fields along the north China coast were erected after 1936. Expansion of salt making facilities in each of the Far Eastern areas was not left to chance. Overseas development companies, formed and financed by the Japanese government, and the Monopoly were responsible for sizable increases in production through the construction of new fields and the improvement of older units. The following list shows the percentage of Japanese salt imports supplied by each of the major Far Eastern areas in 1940, when in total they accounted for eighty per cent of the 1, 700, 000 metric tons imported by Japan: Per cent Kwantung 28 Manchuria 21 North China 19 Shantung 19 Formosa 13 Salt supply and demand declined with the progress of World War II. Shipping became scarce because of military priorities and was later brought to an end by the allied naval and air blockade. Imports of salt for both alimentary and industrial use began in the first year of the Allied occupation and continues at an accelerated pace. With the loss of the Chinese sources owing to the Communist rise in China, Japanis now dependent upon salt from RedSea andMediterranean fields.

Page  45 JAPANESE SALT PRODUCTION 45 Conclusions On the basis of the assembled data, the following conclusions concerning the present and future status of the Japanese salt industry have been reached. 1. Salt manufacture in Japan by currently utilized methods is uneconomic and is a drain on government finances. It would be more economical to purchase salt stocks abroad, but Japanese planners feel that some domestic production even at high cost is preferable to complete dependence on imports. If domestic salt manufacturing were discontinued, widespread hardship would result in the many coastal settlements where it is the only livelihood. a. Traditional salt making methods will be used in the foreseeable future. Further mechanization of the evaporation process is possible if necessary funds are allocated by the government. Experimentation with new types of production methods continues, but many years and major capital outlays will be needed before any process can replace the inshore fields. b. Whether the traditional fields or some modification of them is used, the patterns of regional and national salt production in Japan will remain unchanged. The Inland Sea region will continue to dominate domestic salt production because of itsrelativelyfine climate and the existence there of production facilities and skilled technicians. 2. Japan cannot hope to produce enough salt to meet the food and industrial requirements of its rapidly increasing population. The only answer at present is continued dependence upon heavy imports from countries where salt is made at low cost and in large amounts. a. Far Eastern salt fields, especiallythose in China, are the most convenient sources of supply. But except for fields in Formosa, major Asiatic sources are closed to Japan because they remain under the control of Communist China. b. The Red Sea and Mediterranean countries, which figured importantly in the Japanese salt trade before World War II, will be the principal sources of supply in the future unless Far Eastern salt becomes available. Bibliographical List The following works were used to confirm and to supplement field data: Ako engy6-shi \- ak I,, (History of the Ako salt industry), Ak6, Dai Nippon Engy5 KyokaiAkoShibu a, T _ i_-, 1898. Asano Iwao A-^Jtr, Shokuen ^^ (Table salt), Tokyo, Kawade Shobo:T5 %, 1942. Dai Nippon engyo zensho A t [ ~,/' /4~: (Complete survey of the Japanese salt industry), Tokyo, Sembai-kyoku 24 3, 1906. Hibata Sekko+4'* iW* A Edo jidai no k6tsu bunka aj a., v t ~_ 2 (Communications during the Edo period), Toky5, T6ok Shoin, 5g jg, 1931. Inoue Jintar5.t4 S P, Nippon engy6ron Q kH$i (Japanese salt industry), Tokyo, Nany6odo A j, 1895. Kuroha Hyojiro *4ki )s P, Kinsei kotsui-shi kenkyu Mi-t* ^iLv j (Study of modern communications), Tokyo, Nippon Hyoron-sha El,$',c 1943.

Page  46 46 JOHN D. EYRE Mori Mitsushige J, Waga ky~do _ k' f,. (Our land), Hashihama, Hashihama Ky~do-kai,fk-1k,1939. Nippon Sembai K6sha jigy6 genky6 El.44 t Xj (Present status of oper. ations of the Japanese Monopoly Public Corporation), To-ky6, Nippon Sembai Kosha q 10- 7 \ ' 1949. Okada T., The Climate of Japan, T6ky6, Central Meteorological Observatory, 1931. Sakaide engy6 kaizen ippan:tfy ii ~j1, - (Summary of improvement in the Sakaide salt industry), Takamatsu, Sakaide Chih6 Sembai-kyoku #jA,t, 1930. Sembai jigy6 tokei 42 4 f (Statistics of monopoly operations), T~ky5, Sembaikyoku 1948. Sembai-kyoku-shi ~4 3 ( (History of the Monopoly Bureau), T~ky6, Sembai-kyoku Setonai 6y6 kish6 kenkyi ho7koku -f r~4 a 5 atji (Report on the practical application of weather studies in the Inland Sea region), Osaka, Osaka Kanku Kish5-dai.t, 1949. Shigure Otoba a;Af 6-A-b, Shio to minzoku A i- jP k (Salt and people), T6ky6, Nippon K5en Ky5kai, 1943. Shio to sono juy6 sangyo no josei r. ~ y 9 $4AI -, la- (Present salt demand and production), Toky6, Nippon Engy6 Ky~kai Ej 4 A -f, -, 1949. Shio to sangy6 keizai -06 4 (Salt and production economy), T~ky5, Nippon En- g__ -Owr -I Cy cka ~ TIq *1 a f 1949. Sh~wa jaichi-nem-bun seien kankei kish6 ch~sa ~ AR ir. I ~ (Weather data related with salt production in 1936), T5ky6, Sembai-kyoku 4'?, 1937. Sugi Jir6, Seien -T A (Salt making), T6ky6, Kenshinsha ~'Q3jb~, 1946. Takekoshi Yosabur6 5,Nippon keizai-shi n * 4( (Japanese economic history), T~ky6, Heibonsha J S 1935, 12 vols. Tanaka Keiji W '+fr?i,"Tetsud6 kaitsd-zen no shio oyobi sakana no inyii rom6-zu ~3G-~ V E(Network of routes used for the transportation 61 salt and fish prior to the advent of railroads)," K~tsd bunka 4 (Communications culture), 111(1938), 300-05. The Salt Monopoly Law, T5ky6, The Japanese Monopoly Corporation, 1949. Tsurumoto Shigeyoshi ~ 4. I$,Nippon shokuen hambaishi Ej 4v ~ A' (History of the sale of Japanese table salt), T6kyov, Z-enkoku Shio Moto Urisabaki-nin Kumiai Reng6kai 4z-j 1938. Yamada Kiyoshi c~ E) -, Shio to bunka ~ (Salt and culture), T ky5, Nippon Engy6Kyikai c,1948. Wileman, A. E., "Salt Manufacturing in Japan," Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, XVII (1888), 1-63.

A Note on the Emerging Administrative Structure of the Post Treaty Japanese National Government

Ardath W. Burkspp. 47-58

Page  47 A NOTE ON THE EMERGING ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE OF THE POST-TREATY JAPANESE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT* Ardath W. Burks Toky6 during the summer resembles Washington, D. C., in its heat, its humidity, its intense governmental activity and the attendant frustrating confusion which confront the political scientist trying to understand the forces behind the formal administrative facade. Unlike most professors of political science, many businessmen, and some foreign diplomats, the Japanese government employee -- like his American counterpart -- must spend his summers at his desk in the capital, trying to cope with the vast amount of work to be done. This was the situation in T6ky6 in the summer of 1952. It was especially true of officials in Japan's new Administrative Management Agency (Gyosei Kanrich6o 4 i; ut f' j ). 1 For the past summer marked a convergence of political forces, both international and domestic, which promised to reshape the structure of Japanese government. They also threatened to put to the acid test new administrative management techniques applied by officials of the Administrative Management Agency. It is, of course, entirely too early to judge or predict the result of these basic forces in this first critical year of Japan's independence. The Occupation retired behind the screen of security arrangements when the peace treaty came into force. The Japanese themselves confessed confusion about issues involved in the October elections. Naturally, the outcome will be reflected in further changes of administrative structure. For example, solution of the dilemma of rearmament versus Japan's economic reconstruction will govern the expansion of some agencies, the contraction of others. Other forces and their effects may be judged more certainly, perhaps, by historical extrapolation. During the summer of 1952, the K6be Case (involving jurisdiction over British sailors) attracted wide attention and recalled Japan's previous attempts to attain "equal treaty status. " It was also the first awakening, on the part of some visitors, to the fact that Japan had indeed regained the exercise of her sovereignty. Parts of her administrative machinery, long in disuse, were again in operation. It is possible to summarize specific, short-range changes in the administrative structure of the national government, many of which were concentrated in the summer months after the treaty came into effect. It is possible also at least to estimate three of the basic, long-range factors which have helped to shape this emerging structure. First, the nature of Japan's prewar bureaucracy -- its complexity, its diffusion of jurisdiction and duties, and its characteristic indirection in method -- still deters change, despite attempted war mobilization, shattering defeat, Occupation objectives, and present-day reform. 2 The second factor, and in a sense pitted against this force of inertia, is the Occupation authorities' valiant attempt to modernize the bureaucracy for the sake of administrative efficiency and to reform it for the sake of democracy. Some Japanese now have a stake in maintaining, even extending this pro*The research on which this paper is based was made possible by an Area Research Training Fellowship, Social Science Research Council; by a supplementary grant from the Calm Foundation, Rutgers University; and by the affiliation of the author as Research Associate, University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, with the Field Station, Okayama, Japan. 47

Page  48 48 ARDATH W. BURKS cess. Some do not. The third and most obvious direct influence on structure has beenJapan's treaty status. The open operation of the Gaimush6o yA,_ (Foreign Ministry) is an example. In these primary and secondary forces, even in the transitional shape of administration, are fascinating clues to the future course of Japan's policies. Even before the peace treaty, with the encouragement of Occupation authorities the Japanese began plans for streamlining their administrative structure. Administrative experts wished to continue the attempt to build an efficient, yet democratic, bureaucracy. With all due respect to the occupiers, a plethora of agencies had sprung up to serve only the temporary needs of occupation. The problem was: how could the emergency functions identified with the Occupation be stripped off without a sacrifice of the hard-won gains in the field of democratization. 2 Old vested interests of the traditional kambatsu 'g9 (the bureaucratic clique) as against new ones, established during occupation, were at stake. Since the surrender the administrative system had steadily expanded, necessitating piecemeal reform and reduction every two or three years. As a result, job-holders were kept in a state of insecurity by the fear of release. In 1949, an adjustment was carried out in compliance with a report of the Council for the Renovation of Administrative Machinery. In 1950, a thoroughgoing reform was attempted through the Administrative System Council. Both efforts fell short of a complete streamlining. 3 Administrative planners then turned to an American technique. Working through higher levels of the Cabinet, a Japanese "Hoover Commission" of prominent citizens drew up a Report on Reform of the Administrative System. Submitted to the Cabinet on August 14, 1951, the report was published and released by the Cabinet Secretariat in October. 4 Unlike the Hoover Commission recommendations for reform of the American executive, the Japanese report was acted upon promptly. Since it served as the blueprint for changes beginning in April, 1952, it is worthy of summary. It may also be regarded as a Japanese standard by which to measure future administrative reform. The Japanese report was more concise than its American counterpart, consisting of only twenty pages of actual text, but it was equally sweeping in scope. It began with a statement of basic policy, in part "t... to meet the requirements of the new situation after effectuation of the Japanese Peace Treaty and to develop national power. "5 Thus the treaty was to mark termination of Occupation administration (senryo gy6sei, 4tf'ikj ), for example, organs concerned with reparations, purges, and liaison. Of all the ministries, only the Gaimush6 would be enlarged instead of reduced to match Japan's reentry into international affairs. The basic policy also set forth objectives of efficiency and democracy, namely, to establish a simplified and highly efficient system, embodying principles of democracy, in order to put the will of the people into practice. Under the old constitution, the Committee admitted, administrative affairs were handled bureaucratically. Loyalty to the Emperor was encouraged, but officials felt no responsibility to serve the people. Under the new constitution officials were defined as public servants, yet administrative reform has rather weakened the sense of responsibility of officials. 6 Simplification of the complex administrative system, both central and local, rearrangement of internal structure, and reallocation of duties have become urgently necessary "... to enable organs to fulfill their mission, which is to serve the people. " It was felt that priority attention should be given to simplifying personnel, auditing, and accounting procedures. 7 Noting that no organ existed to investigate administrative efficiency, the report suggested a permanent national body for such purpose. Within the Cabinet, two new organs were recommended: a General Planning Bureau (Sogo Kikaku Kyoku,i /^47 ) and a Legislative Opinion Bureau (H6sei Ikenkyoku -. $.]. ). Auxiliary organs, if allowed to continue,

Page  49 STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 49 should be grouped under the Prime Minister's Office. In view of the fact that the independence of the National Personnel Authority from the Cabinet had resulted in vague devolution of personnel responsibility, the report suggested that the N. P. A. should be abolished. In its place, a personnel bureau should be established as an integral part of the Prime Minister's Office. The Administrative Management Agency should continue as the Cabinet's chief organ for administrative control. The Local Finance Commission and the National Election Supervisory Commission should be amalgamated into the Local Autonomy Agency, an external organ of the Prime Minister's Office. 8 All other external organs, the report urged, should be distributed under related ministries. Concerning the ministries themselves, the report turned first to the unfamiliar Office of Attorney General. It recommended a return to a Japanese Ministry of Justice, with the function of rendering opinions on legislation given to the proposed Legislative Opinion Bureau under the Prime Minister's Office. Members of the committee bravely tackled administrative aspects of rearmament. They recommended a Security Ministry (Hoansh6o -d - ) which would control the national rural and local police, the National Police Reserve (Keisatsu Yobitai J. j5 f i ), immigration, and marine safety. In one section the report touched on a problem familiar to the American administrative expert. A National Territory Ministry (Kokudosh6o I-j-'^ ) should be established to amalgamate duties concerning reconstruction, afforestation, electric resources, ports and harbors. 9 Another aspect of the suggested reforms dealt with a change in names, reflecting altered duties. Thus the International Trade Industry Ministry would be renamed the Commerce and Industry Ministry; the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry would be changed to the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry. The Economic Stabilization Board, an organ fathered under the Occupation, would be replaced by the General Planning Bureau of the Cabinet. One passage of the report frankly dealt a blow to Occupation-sponsored governmental machinery. "The administrative commission system may be necessary for democratization of administrative structure but our social and economic conditions, being different from those of the ited States, do not demand the United States, do not demand the system as an urgent necessity. 10 Similarly, field organs (kuni no desaki kikan q * At $. ) should be abolished or reduced, and prefectural, city, town, and village structures should be rationalized. Specifically, local assemblies should be reduced one-half. 11 Finally, the basic policy of the report defined as an objective of the reform the reduction and consolidation of administrative affairs on a large scale "so that the financial burden of the people may be lightened." Curiously, the report here comes close to rejecting "New Deal" ramifications of Occupation-sponsored reforms. It reads like an anti-bureaucratic platform of some American political party. For example, "the personnel system has become complicated because it was expanded under the cloak of scientific personnel renovation. "12 In more understandable terms, the report reflected the conservative philosophy of the incumbent Yoshida Cabinet and its committee appointees. Obviously, the dilemma of Japan's need to reduce government expenditures as against the necessity for rigorous economic planning by national administrative organs was resolved in favor of government non-intervention in business wherever possible. Seven pages, the largest section of the report, are devoted to recommended slashes in economic and welfare activities. In general, the report advocated reduction of affairs expanded "under the cloak of democratization of the economy... which objective is almost accomplished. " Resources allocation, price control, food control, crop reporting, land reform, fair trade, and securities exchange regulation -- all such controls should be removed or reduced and the appropriate organs consolidated or abolished. In the industrial field, protection, development, and control of various enterprises should be reduced or consolidated. Administrative organs concerned with harbors, shipbuilding, silk

Page  50 50 ARDATH W. BURKS reeling, petroleum, weights and measures should be abolished or scaled down; legal controls on road and marine transportation, mining, and banking should be eased. Official supervision of national railway operation should be removed or loosened. In possibly an ominous note, the report recommended termination of assistance and guidance to medium- and smallscale enterprises. Public utilities, particularly telecommunications, should be returned to private ownership as soon as possible. Administration of social welfare and labor affairs, subsidies, licenses, and registration should be transferred to prefectural and other local public organs. In short, "national control of the economy shall be confined to the minimum necessity. "13 The immediate objective of all this consolidation, concluded the report, should be a largescale reduction of government personnel. In round numbers, 187, 000 could be cut from the central government, 196, 000 from local organs, a total of 383, 000 (or 1. 3 per cent of the total number of public servants.) Cuts in local assembly and commission membership would account for an additional 356, 000. Such scaling down would have to be accomplished over a long period, of course, and would have to be matched by plans for relief of released personnel, if social agitation is to be prevented. 14 Once weeded out, the personnel structure should be thoroughly analyzed in familiar terms of recruitment, selection, appointment, and classification. The committee seized on a new idea, the use of floating staff personnel (kid6teki hosa kikan 4..E1*, t. f ), to fill gaps in divisions under pressure of work. At other times, such personnel would study the administrative efficiency of their respective agencies. 15 The Committee for Inquiry into Ordinance Revision, in its brief report, had thus recommended extensive revision in the structure of the Japanese National Government. Armed with the blueprint the Committee had provided, administrative experts began to tackle in April, 1952, the problem of structural reform. A survey shows that a considerable portion of the recommended consolidation and reduction has been effected. The table in Appendix II below presents changes already accomplished at various levels. 16 Amalgamation was particularly marked among commissions, agencies, and their divisions. Clear evidence of consolidation is further revealed in the reduction of policy-making personnel (other than agency chiefs): chiefs of secretariats of ministries and agencies (1); deputy directors (4); chiefs and deputy chiefs (8) of commissions; deputy chiefs of bureaus (6); and deputy chiefs of divisions (3). 17 Reduction in number of agencies was matched by the attempt to make consistent the internal structures of all agencies. Both objectives were accomplished through revision of the National Government Organization Law, the purpose of which was to provide "... a clear delineation of the scope of duties and powers, in line fashion, under control of the Cabinet. "18 Major subdivisions of the government are as before ministries with one office (Prime Minister) and one authority (National Personnel). External organs (gaikyoku,.4Pj ), if allowed to remain, are attached to the ministries as commissions and agencies. 19 Each ministry is in turn subdivided into a secretariat, bureaus, and sections (in rare cases the section level is called office, or room). The executive office of a commission corresponds to a ministry's secretariat; its divisions, to ministries' bureaus. Where necessary, examination and training institutes and temporary councils, conferences, and committees are authorized. The Prime Minister and other ministers of state, acting as ministers of departments, function as administrative chiefs of agencies. Commission chiefs are called commissioners; chiefs of agencies, administrators. Powers and duties of all are regularized by law and through ordinances, administrative orders, and public notification. The reconciliation of varied policies of a minister and a commissioner is accomplished through Cabinet Conference (kakugi f4 ). The delicate problem of conflict between field activities of a national organ and powers of governors is settled by reference to the Local Autonomy Law. 20 Each chief is aided by a (permanent) vice-minister; each ministry may establish one post of parliamentary

Page  51 STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 51 vice-minister. The Prime Minister's Office has three private secretaries; each ministry, one. Bureau, division, and section chiefs must be specifically authorized. All remaining administrative personnel are authorized by the Personnel Ceiling Law, described below. It is now possible to summarize briefly, in terms of specific agencies, the results of consolidation during the summer of 1952 and to measure them against the proposed reform. 21 A valiant effort was made to eliminate independent agencies or to include them under the Prime Minister's Office, which would then become the equivalent of the Executive Office of the President in the American Government. The National Personnel Authority, a sort of Civil Service Commission, remains an exception. Administratively an organ of the Cabinet, its Director-General still ranks with but after the Premier himself. Its ten bureaus are cut to. seven, including a new Office of Administrative Consultants and a new Bureau of Employee Relations. Similarly, the Board of Legislation with three divisions remains an independent Cabinet organ rather than a bureau of the Prime Minister's Office, as proposed by the reform committee. The Prime Minister's Office otherwise has been strengthened. The office proper consists of the Prime Minister's Secretariat, Pensions Bureau, and Statistics Bureau. The Economic Stabilization Board, administrative back-stop for many Occupation economic reforms, is abolished. In its place, the Economic Investigation Agency becomes an external organ of the Prime Minister's Office. Other economic agencies include a Fair Trade Commission (five members), a Land Coordination Commission, and a Procurement Agency. National interest in local affairs is evidenced only by the Hokkaido Development Agency and the LocalAutonomy Agency. The Imperial Household Agency and a strengthened Administrative Management Agency, discussed below, remain under the Office. Abolished organs, with the agency absorbing them, include: Statistics Commission (Administrative Management Agency), National Elections Administration and Local Finance Commissions (Local Autonomy Agency), Foreign Exchange Control Commission (Japan Bank and Treasury Ministry), National Capital Construction Commission (Construction Ministry), Radio Regulatory Commission (Ministry of Postal Services), and the Reparations Agency. Of greatest interest, in light of the election campaign of 1952, is the handling of security problems. In the new structure, there are actually two agencies, both under the Prime Minister's Office. Departing from the plan proposed by the reform committee, the Japanese now have a National Public Safety Commission, largely unchanged, with Headquarters, National Rural Police and Headquarters, National Fire Defense. The explosive issue of international security is handled in transitional style. After October 14, the corps of the National Police Reserve (Keisatsu Yobitai ~ -14 - p ) became a Security Force (Hoantai 1it,)J. Its headquarters, the Maritime Public Security Bureau, Technical Research Institute, Force Training Institute and Academy are grouped under a new National Safety Agency, headed by a full Minister of State. 22 First and Second Staff Offices perhaps indicate a trend to rearmament. ' The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is, of course, the most striking addition to the Cabinet. Once again commanding the elite of personnel, the Gaimusho is a model of administrative neatness. With its Secretariat, two geographic-policy bureaus (Asian Affairs, EuropeanAmerican Affairs), four functional bureaus (Economic Affairs, Treaties, International Cooperation, Public Information and Cultural Affairs), and Foreign Service Training Institute, it could be envied by administration experts who have despaired over the ramifications of the United States Department of State. 23 The Ministry of Justice, in its new name, reflects reversion from a brief experience with the American type of Office of Attorney General. In reassignment of duties, it follows the

Page  52 52 ARDATH W. BURKS recommendations of the reform committee. Thus the work of the former Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Opinion passes over to the Board of Legislation. In addition to its new bureaus, including one charged with immigration affairs, it has attached commissions for judicial examinations and public safety and supervises local institutions for correctionand rehabilitation. Other ministries show less internal reorganization. The powerful Finance Ministry has been further strengthened, its Finance Bureau having absorbed activities of the Securitiesand Exchange Commission and administration of Certified Public Accountants. The Tax Administration, Mint, and Printing Bureau are attached organs. As of April 1, 1953, the Repatriation Relief Agency is to be absorbed as a bureau of the Ministry of Welfare. Neither the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry nor the Ministry of International Trade and Industry were altered, although the reform committee had recommended specific changes. The former absorbed the important Rice Price Conference from the Economic Stabilization Board. The latter has rationalized its bureau structure and remains one authority (Industrial Science and Technology) and two agencies (Patents, Smaller Enterprises). A symbol of Japan's independence is to be found in the new Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation. The Ministries of Education, Postal Services, Labor, and Construction remain unchanged. Affairs handled by the old Ministry of Telecommunications are being given over to the Japan Telegraph and Telephone Company and the International Telegraph and Telephone Company, Ltd. All of this reshuffling and consolidation has resulted, of course, in a desired reduction of total national government personnel. Legal ceilings on administrative personnel have been more effective, but also more controversial. 24 They also reveal some interesting evidence of administrative stress. The Ministry of Postal Services accounts for the highest ceiling (249, 694) on central government personnel. This is true if one does not add national railway employees (446, 919) to the Transportation Ministry ceiling (17, 639). Second place is occupied by the Ministry of Education (62, 621). The Tax Administration Agency (53, 032) can be added to the ceiling of the Finance Ministry proper (24, 066). The Ministry of Welfare (46, 277), the National Rural Police (45, 280), and the Ministry of Justice (43,142) are also among the large agencies. Excluding the new Safety Force, the National Safety Agency (8, 557) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1, 581) are relatively small but may be expected to grow. Surprisingly, the Imperial Household Agency is allowed a total of 952 personnel. Even after reform, the Japanese National Government employs almost a million and a half public servants. The table in Appendix III below presents the breakdown by types of employees. 25 Measured against the recommendations of the Report on Reform of the Administrative System, consolidation of agencies in the Japanese National Government has been a remarkable achievement. This is especially true in light of the short period of time which has transpired since the report was submitted to the Cabinet. Further reduction in total number of personnel will depend upon difficult decisions in the realm of state policy, for example, rearmamentand the role of government in the Japanese economy. In any case, arrangement of agencies and number of employees tell little about the quality of Japan's new bureaucracy. The efficiency and democratic spirit of Japanese public servants basically depend on long-range factors such as the nature of political leadership and the training of government employees. The problem is important, for there are many who believe occupation reforms touched the intrenched kambatsu the least. In the immediate view, growth of interest in administrative management and the appearance of knowledgeable public administrators are encouraging signs. The total effect of the reforms of the summer of 1952 on administrative control, however, is discouraging. Continued independence of the National Personnel Authority, despite its resemblance to the U. S. Civil

Page  53 STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 53 Service Commission, is an anomoly. Often called the "Fourth Power" (in addition to the Cabinet, the Diet, and the Courts), it was destined to become a commission, like others under the Office of Prime Minister. A draft bill to effect this reform was introduced in May, 1952, but encountered delaying tactics of an opposition Socialist committee chairman in the Lower House. The life of the Diet expired before a joint committee of both houses, authorized to expedite the bill, could act. One cannot help but wonder if the N. P.A. is not a screen for traditional bureaucratic interests. A second obstacle is the continued dominance of budgetary and therefore administrative management by the Finance Minister. Until such control is released, the hands of the new Administrative Management Agency are tied. Eventually, it is hoped, the Budget Bureau will be transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Prime Minister's Office, so that it will work more closely with the Administrative Management Agency. When that takes place, administrative aspects of budgetary affairs can be managed in a modern fashion by the Administrative Management Agency. 26 This shift in center of gravity will strengthen the leadership of the Japanese Executive. A permanent audit can be established in the fields of administrative structure, staff, and personnel. Then and only then will the cornerstone of the Report on Reform of the Administrative System be firmly cemented in the administrative structure of the national government. APPENDIX I Glossary of Selected Terms for Administrative Organs (Names of major organs, translations for which are settled and familiar, are omitted) but Division, under a ch5 (agency, e. g. Gy6sei Kanricho, Kanribu); or subdivision of a kyoku (bureau, e. g. S6rifu, Tokeikyoku, Ch6sabu). ch6o (/f) Agency (e.g. Sorifu, Gyosei Kanricho). ch6kan & '^ Administrator (chief of a ch6); director (e. g. Naikaku Kamb6 Ch6kan). ch6sach6o j-fj Investigation agency (e. g. Homusho, Koan Ch6sacho); cf. shingicho. daijin kambo J ',- Minister's secretariat (e. g. Gaimusho, Daijin Kambo); cf. kambo. desaki kikan j 7'./j Field organs (of the national government). fu 7T Office (e. g. S6rifu). gengyo ~It Operative (agency; e. g. Yiseish6). hishokan $y.* Private secretary (Gaimush6 has three; other ministries, one each). hombu/k- J3 Headquarters (e. g. S6rifu, Kokka K6an Iinkai, Kokka Sh6b6 Hombu); sometimes, board (e. g. the former Keizai Antei Hombu). hombu-ch6o ij Chief (e. g. Sorifu, Kokka Koan Iinkai, Kokka Shobo Hombu-ch6). iin-ch6ot0- Commissioner (e.g. National Government Organization Law, Arts. 5-6).

Page  54 54 54 ~~~~~ARDATH W. BURKS iinkai Commission (e. g. S6rifu, K6sei Torihiki Iinkai). in~ P;P, Authority (e. g. Jinjiin); board (Kaikei Kensain). J4~ jkan '~'(Permanent) vice-minister (e. g. Gaimusho6, JimuJka. jimukyoku Executive office (in a commission; e. g. S6rifu, K6sei Torihiki Iinkai, jmkokuf. jius6ch6 Director-general (e. g. Jinjiink, Jimu S6kyou Jimu S~ch6). jius6kyoku $ J Secretariat (e. g. JijiJimu S6kok) ka-it Section (e. g. Ga~imus Obeikyou Ikka). ka QA-(4) Committee (e. g. S6rifu, Shigen Ch~sa Kai). kamb6 I Secretariat (e. g. Gy6sei Kanrich6 Kamb6). kambu tl Staff (e. g. S~iu Hoanch6,Da ichi Bakury6 Kamlbu). kenshiishoff j-4f1 Training institute (e. g. GaKenkytsho). komon40_p7, Advisor (e. g. Gaimush6 Komon). ky6gikai Council (e. g. the former Chfl6 Semnen Mondai Ky6gikai). kyoku g- Bureau (e. g. Gaimusho6, Obeikyoku). sanj ikan ~ ~Councillor (e. g.?5u Da ijin Ka Zaimu Sanjikan). sanseikan ~jr ~Councillor (e. g. Naikaku Kamb6, Sanseikan (2) - - both seimu jikan). sany6 Counselor (e. g. Gaimush6, Sany6). seimu jia ~~ (Parliamentary) vice-minister (e. g. Gai Seimu Jika) shikenj6 -gk~4 Experiment station (e. g. N6rinsh6, Ch(Igoku Ngy Shikenj0). shikensho ~X~~Examination institute (authorized by National Government Organization Law, A rt. 8). shingich6 ~A Investigation agency (e. g. S~rifu, Keizai ShingichO); cf. ch~sach6. shingikai ~Conference (e. g. N6rinsh6, Beika Shingikai);, committee (e. g. Gy6sei Kanric, Gy6sei Shnikai); council (e. g. Gai Gaimujij Shingikai). shingishitsu ' ~~~Counselors' room (e. g. Gaimush:6, Daijin Kamb6, Shingishitsu). shinsakai 1,-J4gCounci1 (e. g. _Gaimush6, Zaigai K6kan-t6 Kariirekin Seiri JumbiShinsakai). shinsashitsu -j * J Examination room (e. g. Gaimush6, Aj iakyoku, Kariirekin Shinsashitsu).

Page  55 STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 55 shitsu ', Office [at section level; e. g. R6odsho (To-D6 Fu- Ken-) Fujin-shonen Shitsu] shokuj (qA) Board (at section level; e. g. S6rifu, Kunaich6, Shikibushoku). somu 4 - General affairs (section; e. g. Gaimush6, Daijin Kambo, SMmuka). s6mu ch6kan,fj4 'a Director-general (e. g. the former Keizai Antei Hombu, S6mu Chokan with rank of a seimu jikan). tai C Force (e. g. Hoantai, formerly the Keisatsu Yobitai). APPENDIX I Comparative Chart, Structure of National Government 1932 1949 Before Reform Offices, ministries 12* 12 External organs 19 39 Bureaus 64 146 Divisions 43 118 Sections 367 -- *Excludes Ministries of War and Navy. 1949 After Reform 14 39 86 116 _ _ 1952 Before Reform 14 46 92 129 1,104 1952 After Reform 12 27 82 83 APPENDIX mI Comparative Chart, Number of (National) 1931 1949 Before Reform Government 1949 After Reform Employees 1952 Before Reform 1952 After Reform Ministries and agencies Monopoly corporations National railways Other related govt. organs Nat'l govt. personnel working in prefectures 411,492* 44,382 197,005 3,299 74, 189 982,084 873,237** 991,052 927, 827 41,866 38,114 40,876 38,076 623,485 506,734 473,462 446,919 175,095 153,644 14,484 12, 106 5, 366 9,848 1,787 9,231 Total 730, 367 1,837,014 1,583,835 1,520,604 1,423,840 *Excludes Ministries of War and Navy. **Includes National Police Reserve.

Page  56 56 ARDATH W. BURKS Notes 1. Despite the heat, humidity, and crowded conditions in a temporary structure near the Diet, Mr. Nakagawa T6ru )i, AA, Deputy Chief of the Agency (Chief, Management Division), was hospitable and helpful to the extent of providing most of the basic materials for this note. Mr. Nakagawa had previously studied in the U. S., spending one year at Williams College. Knowledgeable and frank in his replies to questions, he is representative of a new group of post-war public servants who understand problems of modern public administration. I am also grateful to a fellow-alumnus of the School of Advanced International Studies, Mr. Nishida Seiya, Ah A Mj X, Gaimush6, European-American Affairs Bureau (Obeikyoku k; - ), First Section (Dai ikka f - t ), who provided various materials issued by the Public Information and Cultural Affairs Bureau (J6hobunkakyoku ft R { t ). Mr. Ueda Chikao t \_i., General Affairs Department, Okayama Prefecture, gave freely of his time in checking the use of administrative terminology. 2. Much has been written about the indoctrinationand intrenchment of the kambatsu ' F (the bureaucratic clique). See, for example, Oda Yorozu j a, Nihon gyoseiho genri B1,$<r 4T S t (Principles of Japanese administrative law), Tokyo, 1934. For Occupation objectives, see Milton J.Esman, "Japanese Administration — A Comparative View," PublicAdministration Review, VII, 100-112. A recent Japanese study is Tsuji Seimei 1-p, Nihon kanry6sei no kenkyu /,.eI J2RI,, T6kyo, 1952. 3. For a summary of the work of the Gyosei Kik5 Sasshin Shingikai 4fk t kJ - 44-Vand the Gyosei Seido Shingikai knsuru ts i, see Gy/sei Kanrich Kanribu 4Et Vi^tyt *2y (Administration Management Agency, Management Division), Gy6sei kik5 nempo 6^Tt4$+ (Annual report on administrative structure), T6ky6, I 1950), 12-13; and I(1951), 4-5. 4. Naikaku kambo j1 X t- Gyosei seido no kaikaku ni kansuru t6shin ip^J dX eA 1- M 4 4 (Report on reform of the administrative system), Tokyo, August 14, 1951, 1-22. the Report was submitted to the Cabinet by the Committee for Inquiry into Ordinance Revision (Seirei Kaisei Shimon no tame no Iinkai ftS i ' y> - I ~- ). Members included: Kimura Tokutar6o,~^i (former Attorney General); Nakayama Ichiro jL-t l, 4a if (President, Hitotsubashi University); Tanaka Jir6 \n v- p5 (Professor, Toky6 University); Obama Ritoku )J\ TJ \ -\- (Adviser, Japan Economic Press); Ishizaka Taiz6o -6^ (President, T6shiba Electric Company); Itakura Takuz6 A.~ e4 (President, Jiji Press); Hara Yasusabur6o i,- - /p (President, Japan Chemical-Drug Company); the following were added after June 14, 1951: Maeda Tamon -j, i fl (former Education Minister); and Ishibashi Tanzan 1Aid 4 (former Finance Minister). 5. Naikaku, T5shin, 3. 6. Naikaku, T6shin, 19. 7. Naikaku, T6shin, 11-12. 8. Naikaku, T6shin, 13-14. 9. "The purpose of this reform is to bring under one jurisdiction exploitation of the national territory, afforestation, and erosion control. " Naikaku, Toshin, 13.

Page  57 STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 57 10. Naikaku, T6shin, 14-15. The report recommended, for example, abolition of the Statistics Commission (Cabinet), Foreign Exchange Control Commission and Securities Exchange Commission (Finance Ministry); reduction of the Fair Trade Commission and Local Labor Relations Commission; and continuation of the Central Labor Relations Commission. 11. According to the report, prefectural administration should be subdivided into the following departments: general affairs (somu,, ), economic (keizai R ), civil engineering (doboku A - ), social (shakai A.- ), and labor (rodo $) ). Otherwise, the entire problem of local autonomy, a dilemma for small, compact Japan, should be studied separately; so should reform of the entire school system. Naikaku, T6shin, 8, 12, 17. 12. Naikaku, Toshin, 3, 18. 13. Naikaku, T6shin, 6 and ff. The report recognized a further problem in decentralization. "For effective execution of affairs allotted to local public bodies, their finances require strengthening. " The following steps were recommended: (a) rationalization of prefectural finances; (b) amalgamation of cities, towns, villages; and (c) interchange of national and local personnel. Ibid., 12. 14. The report also recommended self-study of reduction by the Diet, the courts, and independent organs such as the Board of Audit. Naikaku, Toshin, 21. 15. Naikaku, T6shin, 20-21. 16. [Gy6sei Kanrich6 Kanribu] Chiu gy6sei kik6 hikakuhyo jb - $4. tL-_ tK (Comparative chart, administrative structure of central government), [T6kyo, 1952], mimeograph. 17. [Gy6sei Kanricho Kanribu] Gy6sei kik5 kaikaku bu-kyokusul to hikakuhyo si Ai+ e-:-d I tf X -PLY (Comparative chart, reform of administrative structure by number of divisions, bureaus, etc.), [T6kyo], August 1, 1952, mimeograph. 18. [Naikaku Kambo VI ' 'rf- (Cabinet Secretariat)] Kok'ka gyosei soshiki h65 1] 4 f #,d A4 (National government organization law), [T6kyo], Law No. 120, 10 July 1948, revisions (1) to (34), 10 December 1948 to 31 July 1952, mimeograph. In outline, the law includes general provisions (Arts. 1-2), establishment and powers(Arts. 3-4), chiefs (Arts. 5-6), internal organization (Arts. 7-9), powers of chiefs (Arts. 10-16), personnel (Arts. 17-20), exceptions and names (Arts. 21-22), supplementary rules (Arts. 23-27). 19. Admittedly the semantic is only a minor phase of the problem of consistent administrative management. Nevertheless, for students of government -- working either in Washington or T6ky6 -- consistency of terminology is the supreme virtue. For this reason, and not because it reflects any official decision, the glossary of selected terms in Appendix I, above, is added. Very useful in this respect is the Gy6sei Kanrich6 Kanribu, Gy6sei kik6 nemp, II (1951), 106-131, which presents an administrative chart of the U. S. Government in both Japanese and English. This chart shows the use of Japanese terms corresponding to familiar names of American organs. 20. Chih6jichih6 { — ]^- (Local autonomy law, No. 67, 1947), especially Arts. 146, 150. 21. This summary is based on the following materials: Gy6sei Kanrich6o 4.'/j t Wa-ei

Page  58 58 ARDATH W. BURKS taisho, Nihon seifu gy6sei kik6zu a _.. 4? fA X " 4-. { ^,t / (Organization charts of the executive branch of the Japanese Government, Japanese-English comparison), [T6ky6], July 1, 1950 (16 charts); the Kok'ka gyosei soshiki ho, attached charts Nos. 1 and 2, showing especially authorized commissions, agencies, and divisions; Gy6sei Kanricho, Shin-ky kik6 taisho afr t (Comparison, old and new structures), [T6ky6], 1 August 1952, mimeograph; and Public Information and Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, List of central agencies of Japanese Government, T6ky6, September 1, 1952, mimeograph. 22. Just before the election, speculation was rife in T6ky6 over who would be the new "Security Minister" and thus virtually the supreme commander of Japan's new ground, sea, and future air force. Prime Minister Yoshida has held the post concurrently. Existing law provides the post be held by a civilian. 23. [Gaimush6] Gaimush6 kik6zu (Organization chart of the Foreign Ministry), [T6ky6, n. d.], mimeograph. 24. Gy6sei kikan shokuin teiin ho tj-. PB I a q X (Law for fixed number of personnel in administrative organs7, [Tokyo], Law No. 126, May 31, 1949, revisions (1) to (30), 24 December 1949 to 31 July 1952, mimeograph. 25. [Gyosei Kanrich6 Kanribu] Seifu shokuinsil hikakuhyo 0 —. j a L-3 (Comparative chart, number of government employees), [Tokyo, 1952], mimeograph. 26. Legally, the Administrative Management Agency is authorized to (a) study administrative systems in general; (b) plan structure and operations of administrative organs; (c) recommend creation, abolition, and reorganization of organs; and (d) inspect activities, among other powers. Gyosei Kanricho setchi ho -ijd iCk Ar J,X (Law establishing the Administrative Management Agency), [Tokyo], revised to 31 July 1952, mimeograph.

Cooperative Forms in a Japanese Agricultural Community

Robert J. Smithpp. 59-70

Page  59 COOPERATIVE FORMS IN A JAPANESE AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY* Robert J. Smith Unquestionably one of the most striking features of the Japanese rural community today is the variety of cooperative forms still in existence. Although those which one meets in postwar Japan represent only a fraction of the large number reported by Embree in Suye Mural and by others2, these cooperative groupings are still of major importance in the ordering of community life, and their patterns are frequently useful as guides to the social and economic boundaries of the rural community. The political divisions of the prefectures of Japan are, in descending order, gun (county), mura {f (village), o-aza jk! (large section), and ko-aza '4 ' (small section). As Embree points out, 3 however, villagers tend to use the terms mura, aza and buraku -pt- (hamlet) interchangeably to refer to the small settlement group. As in his study, we shall employ the term buraku in this sense, to mean the small social unit around which most of the cooperative endeavor is organized. Yasuhara-mura i It is located in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, about eleven miles south of the capital city of Takamatsu. The village covers an area of about thirteen square miles, and its population of 4, 393 is made up of 867 households. Situated as it is in the foothills of the Asan Mountains, a part of the great Shikoku chain, most of Yasuhara's 870 acres of cultivated land is broken up into narrow, steeply terraced fields. Settlements tend to be along streams and rivers, or along roads through the village. There are in Yasuhara fifty-four ko-aza, which are socially thirty-seven buraku. Thus, one buraku may contain as many as three of the political ko-aza. The buraku of Kurusu J ), which will be considered in detail in this paper, functions also as a ko-aza. It has three elected officials, whose term of office is one year and whose duties chiefly concern the buraku's relations with the yakuba 4t). (village office). These officials are the buraku-cho S- (buraku head), the kairyo kumiai cho (head of the agricultural improvement union), and the zeikin-gakari. f. ttax collector). Only the first of these, known alsoas the sewa-gakari ~$i (intermediary), functions in the cooperative life of the buraku. The variety of cooperative groups to which Kurusu residents belong may be divided for convenience into four categories: (1) those limited to membership of the whole buraku, and only the buraku; (2) those to which all buraku farmers and some outside farmers belong;(3) those including some buraku households and some outsiders; and (4) those including only a few buraku households, and no outsiders. Of Kurusu's twenty-three households, eighteen are regarded by the residents as farming households. The other five families derive their main *This paper was prepared from material gathered during the author's residence inJapan from 1951 to 1952 as a member of the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies and as a Social Science Research Council Fellow. The author wishes to acknowledge his debt to Mr. Eato Tetsuo for his help in the field. 59

Page  60 60 ROBERT J. SMITH source of income from non-agricultural occupations. The average land holding for the farming households is just under four tan f, or a little less than one acre (one tan=. 245 acres). The Cooperative Groups Everyhouseholdwhichat present resides within the geographical limits of Kurusu belongs to a group called the dogyo 15 AX. 4 This group is called upon to act on seven occasions: (1) admitting a new household to membership; (2) births; (3) weddings; (4) funerals; (5) road repair; (6) the Hachiman shrine5 autumn festival; and (7) the buraku's Jichin-san L4 k 4 6 festivals. Actually, two of the houses included in this dogy6 are located geographically in another ko-aza, but Kurusu, which is the nearest settlement, voted to accept them. The buraku-cho (or sewa-gakari) functions in theory as the head of the dogyo, but his duties are light and the group often seems to operate without supervision of any kind. It owns some equipment which may be used free of charge by any member of the community. The dogyo owns the small hut where the palanquin for the coffin and other funeral paraphernalia are kept. The property of the group also includes twenty sets of dishes, trays and tables which may be used for the feasts at weddings, funerals and the Shinto festivals. These articles are stored in the warehouse of one of the households, and although no rent is charged for their use, damaged or broken pieces must be replaced by the responsible house. When a new family is admitted into the community, as has happened seven times since 1945, a simple ceremony is held, called dogyo-iri I] B A, (entering the dogyo). If the new household is of the Shinshui sect of Buddhism, all members of the d6gyo gather at the newcomers' house and recite a Shinshfi prayer. 7 For families of the Shingon sect the entire dogy5 gathers, but only Shingon people pray; the Shinshui members simply stand by. 8 At these welcoming parties no buraku person offers gifts of food or cash to the newcomers, but the latter are expected to provide food for everyone who attends. After paying the entrance feeof fiftyyen to the buraku-ch6, the new family becomes an active member of the community and will accept both the privileges and responsibilities entailed by such membership. Upon leaving the buraku, a family or individual usually is feted by close friends and neighbors, but the community as a whole does not participate in the farewell party. During the period of military conscription, all the dogyo members accompanied departing youths to the village office and met them there upon their return. Parties for the soldier were confined to his family and friends, however. Every buraku has a local representative of the Fujinkai kil<t (women's club) of Yasuhara. When the news of the birth of a child spreads through the community, this representative makes the rounds of the dogyo houses of Kurusu and collects thirty yen from each family. The new parents receive this money as a gift from the community, but no party is held. Formerly, on the naming day of the child, seven days after birth, the family distributed mochi4 (glutinous rice cakes) to all households as a return gift, but this practice is no longer observed. Weddings are a far more important function for the dogy6. Marriage between two people of the same buraku very seldom occurs in this area, and in Kurusu the only one that is remembered happened about forty years ago. The wedding ceremony must, therefore, include a welcome for the newcomer. Each household in the buraku sends one woman, who brings with her one sh 4-f (1. 588 quarts) of rice. In return she is served an elaborate meal, including special foods to be taken home as gifts.

Page  61 Right@@{ Kurusu hoses le in the foregsound, sepa- rated by a large river from the mBore diss ri commerciala~l buraku. Below.: The bride meets the women ( the Kurusu doyo. Be:,e'w' iR A me er of the fami "y bows to eth ehief priest duri ng the fune l R,,'; iThse cfitn is carried, t the crematory.

Page  62 62 ROBERT J. SMITH The women gather at the home of the groom to wait for the bride, who usually arrives at mid-morning and is taken immediately to a private room where the groom will join her. She does not meet the women guests until later. When the women have finished talking and eating, and after the bride and groom have completed their part of the ceremony in a separate room, the bride is brought in to meet the women. She performs a ritual exchange of sake cups with the representative of the group; in Kurusu this distinction belongs to the one longest married to a husband who is still living. The bride accepts a formal greeting and retires; the women go to their own homes. No words have passed between the woman and the d6gyo members, and after the wedding day there is no formal visiting by the bride. She simply meets her new neighbors on the road or in the fields. Many new brides complain of loneliness, emphasizing how slowly they come to meet the other women. A common-law wife will not come to the welcoming of the bride, for she is ashamed of her position in such company. In the event that a woman is incapacitated, physically or mentally, her husband will attend in her stead and will be seated in the place of honor above all the wommen. The case of the yoshi * (adopted husband) is somewhat different. It is the men who come to the wedding, and each household sends its male representative with a sh6 of sake. Although the groom's reception is like that already described for the bride, there is a less restrained air about the proceedings, since everyone drinks a great deal, and it is far easier for the adopted husband to become acquainted with the other men of the buraku after the ceremony. That he is accepted without question is demonstrated by the fact that in 1952 two of Kurusu's three elected officials are young adopted husbands. It is only at funerals that the dogyo provides labor. Usually arrangements for the ceremony are supervised by a shin-yu ~j,(intimate friend) of the bereaved family who is asked to assume the responsibility. This man, rather than the buraku-ch6, directs the activities of the dogyo during this period. On the day of the death, the dogyo must do two important things. First, distant relatives of the deceased must be notified, often by messengers traveling on foot or by bicycle. Telegrams and telephone calls are necessary if the person has relatives in the more distant cities. The second duty on this day is the making of funeral clothing for the corpse. The garments are of white cotton, and no scissors may be used to cut the cloth or knots tied in the thread with which the clothing is sewn. It is felt that knots would interrupt the soul on its journey to paradise. When the clothes are finished, they are taken to the house of the deceased and put on the corpse after the family has washed it and the barber has come to shave the face. The first night after death, the family sits up to watch the body, but no dogyo members come. Early on the morning of the second day the women of the d6gyo, one from each household, begin the preparation of the funeral foods. One group of men goes to the hut where the funeral paraphernalia are kept and cleans them before bringing them to the house of the deceased. Another group of men goes to the crematory and digs out the shallow depression in which the coffin will be burned. They also carry wood and straw to the place and clean up the area around the crematory. If the house of the deceased is small, a neighbor will offer his own house to accommodate the overflow of guests. Relatives and friends begin to arrive about noon of the day of the ceremony (the second day after death). The only duty of the bereaved family is to greet them, after which dogy6 members take care of them. The great emphasis is on sparing the family any unnecessary worry or trouble on this day. The first part of the funeral is held in the zashiki i (living room) and is attended only by the family and very close firends, while guests and dogy6 members sit about outside the house. In the funeral procession following, men of the d6gyo carry the coffin and the other paraphernalia. All the women, wearing black kimono and black obi, walk behind the coffin in a group.

Page  63 COOPERATIVE FORMS 63 The procession goes to a chosen spot, usually a place which is open and where many people can gather, and the second part of the ceremony is held. This is called the kokubetsu-shiki % -\ A (farewell ceremony); as a rule it is attended by almost everyone in the community, including children. When it is over and the coffin has been opened briefly for a last look at the deceased, the men who previously prepared for the cremation remove the coffin from its ornamental palanquin and carry it away to the crematory. The buraku people return to the house of the deceased to clean up the grounds and to wash the dishes and return them to the warehouse where they are stored. The family, discarding the ceremonial black clothes, changes into regular clothing and hurries to the crematory where the coffin has been covered with wood and straw. When the family has assembled, the d6gy6 men light the pyre. The family usually stays until almost dark and then returns to the house to eat. By the evening of the second day, all the equipment has been returned to its proper place and all outward signs of the ceremony have been removed. Later some members of the family go once more to the crematory. Since a cremation takes about twelve hours, the same men who carried the coffin will take turns throughout the night to see that the fire is burning properly. In the morning these men clear away the wood and straw ashes, partly to cool the spot and partly to gather up the bones into a small pile in the center of the pit for the family to collect later. As far as the buraku is concerned, the services performed on the second day fulfill its duties to the deceased and his family. Only the dead. Kurusu is one of twelve buraku whose members are ujiko,- + (parishioners) of the Nishitani Hachiman Jinja i.\-.\. 'l -k, Yasuhara's largest Shinto shrine. These twelve buraku form ten t6-gumi ',]i (sponsoring groups) among whom rotates the responsibility for organizing the annual autumn festival of this shrine. Before 1943 there were twelve sponsors, however, not ten. Nine of the twelve buraku under the shrine's jurisdiction functioned as kumi, but in the remaining three rather special conditions obtained. In each of these three resided one of Yasuhara's "Big Three" landlords, and it was the households of these landlords, rather than the buraku themselves, which took the responsibility. In the years in which one of the kumifunctioned as to-gumi, one of its households was chosen toya m t (sponsoring house) by lottery, all memers aiding the head of this house in his duties. However, when one of the three landlord houselolds was sponsor, all costs of the festival were borne by this household alone, with no help from the rest of the local community. From 1943 to 1945 this system was suspended, and the village office assumed the position of to-ya. Following the Japanese surrender and the abolition of stat support to Shinto, the old to-gumi was revived in a slightly different form. Enforcement of the land reform program stripped the landlords of their holdings, so that they were hindered financially from resuming their individual sponsorship. Consequently, the twelve buraku were organized intothe present ten to-gumi, andthe responsibilitynow rotatesamong them. Theto-ya is still chosen by lottery. Kurusuhas always functioned as a kumi in these systems of rotating responsibility. The autumn festival of Hachiman is held on October 13 and 14 by the new calendar, but the sponsor's duties actually begin on the tenth or eleventh. On this day, called shimeoroshi,$ ~AX (hanging the sacred rope), the sponsor invites to his home the Shinto priest of theshrine and two representatives from the kumi who will sponsor the festival on the following year. These two representatives are elected and are in charge of shrine business for their community. At the beginning of this party, the sponsor hangs the shime-nawa (sa (sacred straw rope of Shinto) above the entrance to his house as a symbol of his position. He also erects near his dwelling a tall bamboo pole called o-hake-dake-,\, 7- -T with three fans tied to the

Page  64 64 ROBERT J. SMITH top. Later the priest will use this pole to make charms to place on the banks of the rice seedbeds in the spring. Many years ago the sponsor used to rent a horse on October 11 and install it in a rough temporary stable erected in front of his house. On October 14, main festival day, the animal took part in the procession, carrying a gohei.P1j(specially folded white paper figure) in its capacity as the horse of the god. Nowadays the Horse is rented on the fourteenth and taken directly to the shrine. On October 11 or 12 the sponsor together with a few helpers from the to-gumi goes to the shrine to clean the grounds. They also get out the equipment to be used in the procession and clean it, making necessary minor repairs. All the stone lanterns about the shrine must have new paper, and each contains a candle or small pan of oil to be lit on the festival eve. Along with the other responsibilities, the sponsor must take charge of funds collected by the buraku to be used for festival expenses. By far the most important help rendered him by his community is the financial aid. Since the rotation among the t6-gumi is fixed, although the sponsor himself is chosen by lot, it is possible to begin preparations far in advance. When Kurusu was last t6-gumi, the group saved cash for three years to pay for the festival expenses. Each household contributed thirty yen a month (this was a post-war year) for three years, and the total of about twenty thousand yen proved adequate for the final expenditure. The amount of money spent in the preparations depends largely on the inclination of the community, and it is a matter of buraku pride to have given an especially noteworthy festival. The sponsoring group assumes also the responsibility of operating a shishi t#(lion) on the two festival days of the thirteenth and fourteenth. The lion costume consists of a large head of black, red and gold and a long strip of gaily patterned cloth wide enough to cover two crouching dancers, one of whom manipulates the head. The dance, performed to the rhythm of gongs and a drum, requires about a week of practice on the part of the musicians and young men who will dance with the costume. In Kurusu they are instructed by a very old man who has much active interest in religious affairs. Since the training sessions are in the evening after work, the buraku prepares a special evening meal for the performers on each day that they practice. The lion is supposed to make the rounds of the twelve buraku during the festival. For the luck thus insured for the coming year, every house before which it stops to dance gives about one hundred yen in cash. The dancers and musicians use this money for a party or any other purpose they may have agreed upon. On October 15, the day after the festival, the to-gumi uses its remaining funds and some of the money collected by the lion dancers to hold a final party. The particular lion costume used by the sponsoring group is passed from kumi to kumi; but although there are three other buraku-owned costumes in the village, Kurusu does not have one. On the festival day, October 14, the sponsor attends the ceremony at the shrine,seated in the position of honor next to the priest. He gives a feast called kami-no zen (the god's table), to which are invited the priest, two representatives from each to-gumi in the system and a representative of each massha 1,4 (subordinate shrine) under the jurisdiction of the Nishitani Hachiman Shrine. The total number of guests is usually about sixty-five, and so this feast is the major expense of the festival for the sponsor. On this occasion he trades sake cups with the representatives of the next sponsoring group, marking the beginning of that group's responsibilities.

Page  65 Top left, eoen transpant{ng riFce at mid-June as exchlnge labot, Center left: V;llage Shint6 priest concludes springg fesatva plays the samisen at a party priceding tle sspring f e stival Top 1rigt; ExcP'nge abor grjoups harvest wheat and bariey' in early JSune Centerri i t;j Threshinng whieat by an exc inSe labor group auilng a. newly acspijed machine.

Page  66 66 ROBERT J. SMITH The procession begins, the young men of the to-gumi carrying the mikoshi 4Wj(palanquin of the god), but it is the representative of the next to-gumi who directs them. In former years the procession went from the main shrine building down a set of long steps to the entrance of the shrine grounds, from where the god surveys the rice crop; then the procession returned. Recently, however, the god is frequently carried to the shopkeepers' buraku of Chutoku 44,, where he is placed before the houses of five or six wealthy merchants. This insures the best possible fortune for the house during the coming year and also earns for the bearers a bottle of sake, for that is the appropriate gift. Since the participants often consume the sake on the spot, by the time they have carried the god back to the shrine their progress is boisterous and somewhat unsteady. The duties of the t6-ya end on October 15, when the buraku holds the final party at his house. Because he takes down the bamboo pole and the shime-nawa on this day, it is called shime-age L.k. (removing the sacred rope). A few days before the autumn festival there is a village-wide michi-tsukuri iLj(road repair). Each buraku is responsible for the roads and paths within its geographical limits, but the repairs made on this day are usually minor, such as cutting the grass along the sides of the roads, filling in small holes and ditching the paths. Each household in Kurusu sends one adult member of either sex for this work. At mid-morning people begin to gather with much joking and laughter, for this is the prelude to the biggest and gayest of the village festivals and the work is not hard. When they have finished in the late afternoon, the year's work is done. Small repairs may be made from time to time by individuals, but any large-scale damage will be taken care of by hired labor paid for by the political unit responsible for the road. In interesting parallel to the Hachiman autumn festival are Kurusu's own spring and autumn observances for Jichin-san, {,4 to whom there is a shrine in the community. The festivals are held on March 23 and September 23. At this time also a to-ya system similar to the larger village organization is activated within the buraku to handle the occasions. As in the village a different sponsor functions for each festival. Two of the twenty-three households in Kurusu are excluded from this system, since they are considered to be temporary residents. By the community's reckoning, fifteen of the included households are farming households and six are non-farming. Before the surrender in 1945 brought an influx of permanent settlers, there were always twelve farming households and five in other occupations. The two excluded families belong to this group of post-war immigrants. At present each of the farmers gives one sho of wheat and each non-farmer fifty yen in cash, roughly the price of the wheat. The sponsorship rotates from east to west in the community in fixed order. The t6-ya for a given festival is helped with the work of preparing the festival food, not by the whole buraku, but by the four neighboring households, two on either side of his dwelling. In effect this practice enlists the aid of the two previous sponsors and the two succeeding sponsors. Since the community thinks of the rotation as circular, when the t6-ya is at the geographical end of the buraku (either east or west), two of the helping househo6ds are from the opposite end of the community. No one works on these festival days. Throughout the afternoon almost everyone calls at the sponsor's house for a festival meal and sake. Since the old people sometimes stay all afternoon, when the Shinto priest arrives at about five o'clock there are usually some adults and a great number of children to go with him to the shrine. Here there is a very short ceremony, after which the offerings of cakes are distributed to the children and everyone goes home. Many people remember when this ceremony used to be far more elaborate, featuring amateur Japanese wrestling and other games, but interest has declinedthrough the years. Although

Page  67 COOPERATIVE FORMS 67 in the opinion of some residents the expense of sponsoring this festival is not great, the necessity for cash to pay for the sake and the cakes sometimes forces a sponsor to find temporary employment somewhere in the village in order to raise extra money. The biggest formally organized cooperative, and the one which figures most prominently in agricultural life, is the Kurusu Yosui Kumiai j 7 J<. - (Kurusu Irrigation Union). It includes twenty-nine households, both resident and non-resident, who farm land in the buraku. The organization has an elected head whose term of office is one year. During this time he handles all finances and is the liaison man between the kumiai and the government agency in the village which handles funds subsidizing irrigation work. All members pay fixed dues, set each year according to the amount of land a man cultivates within the jurisdiction of the organization. Dues vary from year to year, depending upon plans for a given year'swork. Recently, for example, extensive repairs and improvements have been undertakenand dues have risen sharply. Dues may be paid in a combination of three ways, in labor, in equipment, and in cash. If a man chooses to work as part of his dues, he receives credit for his daily wage of 150 yen against the total he owes the organization. He may sell the group a number of komo (straw mats) used in the construction of banks and channels. The ways in which a household pays its dues vary greatly; but, in general, families with small amounts of land submit the least cash. Only one household in the union pays more than half its dues in cash. The group annually spends about 450 yen per tan y, roughly two-thirds of which is entered on the books as wages paid to laborers. In the event of floods, which often seriously disrupt the irrigation system, each household is expected to send at least one member to work until the necessary repairs are made. Repairs following a flood sometimes require two days of labor, and the wages paid may account for almost half a year's expenditure. Actually, of course, no cash changes hands, as the amount theoretically earned is simply deducted from the dues of the household. All work for the year is planned and discussed by the entire membership, and any extra expense incurred during the year must be approved by them. It should be noted that all the farming households in Kurusu cultivate some land outside the buraku; they belong to similar irrigation cooperatives in the other communities in which they hold land. One of the most important functions of the group is to enforce a system of water use in times of drought. By this system, called hiki-mizu g/](drawing water), only two farmers are permitted to use irrigation water on a given day; and on that day it is the duty of these two to see that no one else tries to evade this restriction. The group decides by discussion when each member shall have his turn. Kurusu is fortunate in its location, for water shortages are uncommon along the river; hence there are none of the water fights between individuals or buraku so typical of Kagawa. At the end of the Japanese fiscal year (March 31), all members of the kumiai and most of the outsiders who have worked for the group during the preceding year attend a party. At this affair the new head is elected, and the members start making plans for the coming year. The village officials who handle irrigation funds attend and are given special places and special foods; but beyond giving some advice during the course of the year, they have played little part in the operation of the group. During the summer months the rice fields on the plain to the north of Yasuhara glow at night with the blue light of the fluorescent insect lamps. They are of rather more limited occurrence in the mountainarea. Kurusu has only one, bought in 1949 by a group of farmers, including some

Page  68 68 ROBERT J. SMITH Kurusu residents and some non- residents farming land in the buraku, who formed a cooperative for this purpose. Generally the cost of the lamp is regarded as reasonable; it is a question of the effectiveness of the light rather than any financial problem which delays purchase of additional lamps. A Kurusu man with some knowledge of electricity services the lamp, but the group owning it has no official head. Dues are small and are figuredaccording to the proximity of the member's field to the light, with the nearest fields having the highest assessment. The group, called the keik6t6 kumiai,~~C' X., (Insect Lamp Union), holds no meetings and does not engage in any other group activity. The only duty incumbent upon its members is the payment of dues for upkeep of the device. In agricultural pursuits, cooperation tends to be between households, so that there are a number of cooperative seed beds for rice. Groups also work together in transplanting or in harvesting and cultivating. Members of this system, called tema-gae_-BF.J A- (exchange labor), are what Embree calls kattari groups. 9 Unlike those of Suye, Kurusu's cooperative groups change in composition from year to year, and even from season to season. However the repayment is in exact equivalents, just as in Suye. If two people from one house work a day for a neighbor, then the neighbor is obliged to send one person to work two days, or two people to work one day, or any other combination which makes an exact return. No records are kept of these exchanges, but people say that a man who fails to fulfill his obligation inthis system will never receive help from his neighbors again. Tema-gae is chiefly effective in rice transplanting and to some extent in harvesting. Kurusu people now admit, however, that with the introduction of cash and machines the system is much less important than it was in the past. An old kumi division which functioned during harvests seems to have disappeared since the surrender in 1945. Formerly, the buraku split into a naka-gumi ~'. (middle group) and an oku-gumi AJ1k (far group) at harvest times. Each group rented a threshing machine and a huller. Three households at a time, working together to get the crop in early, used the machines in rotation. This practice was particularly common in harvesting the mugi *(naked barley and wheat in Kurusu), for the rains begin shortly after the harvest, making it necessary to dry the grain and transplant the rice as quickly as possible. One major reason for the disappearance of these two groups, which apparently functioned at no other time, has been the purchase of five threshing machines by Kurusu residents in recent years. In 1951 a buraku man bought a huller and selector. All these machines are available for rental, and tema-gae groups now tend to rent them as a unit. There is only one cooperatively owned machine. Three residents of Kurusu joined with two non-residents who cultivate land in the buraku to buya threshing machine. One of the Kurusu men has dropped out already, having bought a machine of his own. Since this group was formed only recently it has not yet resolved all the problems of maintenance and use order, and other people feel that it is better to own a machine individually or to rent one. To cross the river which separates it from the highway and the commercial center of the village, Kurusu depends upon bridges, not boats, as the waters of the Goto River are too shallow and swift for the latter. All vehicular and animal traffic, and a great part of the human traffic, moves across the large ferro-concrete bridge at the entrance to the buraku. There are, however, two small foot bridges which span the river to the east of the main bridge. Of simple construction, these wash out every fall with the high waters, and sometimes in the summer rains. In general they are used by people traveling between Kurusu and its nearest neighbor to the east, Takabatake *w. People who farm land in that buraku use the bridge, and Takabatake people who have land in Kurusu also cross frequently. These people, therefore, assume responsibility for the upkeep of the foot bridges. The group is not a kumi, nor does it have a head or require dues. When a bridge washes out, some farmer makes the rounds of the responsible households, asking them to decide on a day when one member from

Page  69 COOPERATIVE FORMS 69 each household will work on the bridge. The work is not difficult and is usually finished in a matter of a few hours. There is no party afterward. When the job is done, people simply return to their own work. This completes the list of cooperative forms found in Kurusu. It will be noted that there are no k6o (cooperative credit groups), which are described at length by Embree. 10 People who remember when they still existed some thirty or forty years ago say that the increasing importance of cash has contributed largely to the disappearance of such credit groups. Nor are there any housebuilding cooperatives. When a new house is put up, the family members will do what work they can and hire skilled labor to do the rest. Formerly in Kurusu a division along religious lines formed two groups, one of Shinshi believers, the other of Shingon. Each met one night in every month at the house of a member to hear a sermon by a local priest and to enjoy a small party. Every household contributed something towards the party food. This practice was discontinued during World War II, when there was no electricity at night and it was very difficult to hold meetings. The custom was not revived after the surrender. Although the forms of cooperation are decreasing gradually in number, and although rituals tend to become simpler and less costly, it is evident that the community still places much value on the cooperative spirit, and that it regards itself as an active social unit. Only once in the memory of its residents has Kurusu expelled a member. About thirtyfive years ago a man failed to do his share in a two-household cooperative which maintained a small bridge across a stream between their houses. Both households were responsible for keeping the bridge in repair, although it was also used by others, as it led to the buraku grist mill. The man refused to keep his part of the arrangement one year on the grounds of financial difficulty. When word of his refusal spread, several men urged him to reconsider but he remained adamant. At last, when it became evident that his decision was final, the buraku met and voted to expel him. For two years he and his family were mura-hachibu,,\ JV'` (pariahs). The effect of this punishment is to exclude a household from all personal and social contacts with the community. They are permitted no part in the activities of the community, and only in the case of a funeral would a priest visit them. They are not spoken to by other villagers and can expect no help in case of trouble or a shortage of labor. Finally, after the village head effected a reconciliation, the family was permitted to reenter the community. The man who headed the household during its ostracism is still living; one of his sons recently was elected head of the buraku. Although people admit that the force of such expulsion is somewhat less today than it was then, it is still regarded as a formidable punishment. There is little question among Kurusu residents that an uncooperative member would be expelled now as in the past. The practice was outlawed after the Meiji Restoration (1868); but it has continued, and there is at least one mura-hachibu in Yasuhara at the present time. In addition to the more formalized aspects of cooperation dealt with above, Kurusu has demonstrated in other ways that it considers itself a distinct social unit. One of these is the way in which the government requisition of agricultural products has been handled. Although in theory the requisition is submitted by individuals, it is the buraku which sends an estimate to the village office stating the maximum amounts of grain and vegetables it can offer. In the case of a widow or poor farmer or of any other person unable to meet his requisition, other buraku members have always made up his share. The village records maintain the fiction that individuals always submit the amounts required of them. In this way, even in the difficult years of 1946 and 1947, the buraku was spared the disgrace of a forced sale, in which cases the government seizes the grain. Finally, the buraku acts as a unit in local politics. Since the end of the war, it has become increasingly evident to Kurusu people that they need a councilman in the village assembly to represent their interests. They are, however, too few in number to elect a candidate

Page  70 70 ROBERT J. SMITH alone, as demonstrated by many past failures. In order to improve their position, they have formed an alliance with Takabatake, their neighbor to the east. The understanding is that the two communities will vote as a unit in the election of assemblymen. Candidates will be chosen alternately between the two communites, and such candidates will act in the interests of both buraku. Some people are rather apologetic about the "undemocratic" aspects of this arrangement, but they emphasize that a small community has no other choice. The most interesting feature of the alliance to date is that Kurusu has upheld its end of the bargain to the letter, while Takabatake has not. In 1951 every household in Kurusu voted for a very unpopular Takabatake man, who was elected. In the election prior to this, the Kurusu candidate, failing to receive all the Takabatake votes, was defeated. As a result of such occur - rences Kurusu members take some pride in pointing out that they have an especially strong danketsu-shin A1 P^ (esprit de corps) in contrast to many of their neighboring buraku. Already some of them are wondering, however, whether they will be able to maintain this close in-group feeling in the face of increasing mobility and the inroads of a commercial cash economy. Notes 1. Embree,- John F., Suye Mura, A Japanese Village, Chicago, 1939, 112-153. 2. Azuma Tosaku i, "N6ka sh6-kumiai-no seikaku" g4oJ o w a (The nature of small farmers' cooperatives), and Tanahashi Hatsutar6o yLS\q, "N6ka sh6-kumiai-no honshitsuteki yoin-ni tsuite " tlJqW IJ - r 3 'ft, (Concerning the essential features of small farmers' cooperatives), in Kondo YasuoiJf Nogy6 keizai-gaku ronshu l it,t (Collected essays in agricultura economics), Tokyo, 1940, 115-131, 31-113. 3. Embree, Suye Mura, 25-26. 4. Literally "fellow travelers. " 5. The chief village shrine dedicated to the god of war Hachiman. 6. Literally "protector of the land. " The buraku's tutelary deity. 7. This affair is called shoshinge E jl,. 8. This Shingon ceremony is called kanki. y 9. Embree, Suye Mura, 132-138. 10. Ibid., 138-153.

A Translation of Otsuki Gentaku's Ransetsu Benwaku

Grant K. Goodmanpp. 71-99

Page  71 A TRANSLATION OF OTSUKI GENTAKU'S RANSETSU BENWAKU Grant K. Goodman Introduction One of the most marked developments in the Japanese intellectual world of the latter half of the eighteenth century was the rise of Dutch studies or Rangaku *j. After 1640, when Tokugawa Iemitsu./J.u/l 1 decreed finally the Japanese policy of isolation from all foreign contact, only two narrow passages remained through which information about the world outside might enter. These were the commercial establishments maintained by the Chinese and the Dutch at Nagasaki Harbor. Thus the Dutch, on their small prison-like island of Deshima A P,2 maintained for over two hundred years the principal outpost between the Japanese and the advance of Western civilization. To the Japanese people this settlement at Deshima was Holland itself and even Europe and the West. Generally, those in Edo or in other leading cities who sought Western learning had to go to Nagasaki and pursue studies in or near Deshima. Conditions for such study were difficult, since the type of learning admitted into Japan was carefully restricted and closely supervised. Because of the generally bad relations between the Hollande rs and the Japanese and the continuing fears of the bakufu of either foreign or domestic encroachment on their rule, the importation of Dutch books and extensive knowledge of the Dutch language even among the official interpreters at Deshima was severely controlled for nearly one hundred years after the confinement of the Dutch to Deshima and the banishment of Christianity. After 17203 interpreters and some scholars were encouraged to study certain Western books, preferably in technical and scientific fields, but those Japanese who were Rangakusha g, (Dutch scholars) and who had the temerity to advocate moderate change in a particular policy of the shogunate as a result of their research in Dutch studies were subjected to strict censure and sometimes forfeited their lives. Despite the small number of men involved in the pursuit of Dutch studies and the obvious limitations on their work, much information on medicine, astronomy, cartography, geography, military science, and art was disseminated, and the influence of this knowledge made itself felt in the overthrow of the shogunate and in the Meiji Restoration. In order to show the extent to which knowledge of the West had been able to enter Japan through the medium of the Dutch, and the diversified interests that this information aroused, the writer has translated a book entitled Ransetsu benwaku ~,', (A clarification of misunderstandings in theories [about] the Dutch). This book, prepared for publication in 1788, is the written record, taken down supposedly verbatim by Arima Gench5 (Bunchi) ~, 7t (*' d4), ofthewords of the noted Dutch scholar Z5tsuki Gentaku ukjk,, (1757-1827) whose pen name was Bansui 7J<,. Ransetsu benwaku is in the form of a dialogue, with the pupil, Arima, asking the questions which draw out the learned replies of the master, Otsuki. Though Arima died before the blocks were cut, Ransetsu benwaku was published in 1797 by one of his fellow students, as is noted in the last section of the translation, and was given the title Bansui yawa z7JKAg (Evening tales of Bansui). Gentaku was the son of the Dutch-trained physician Genryo g-{, vassal of the Ichinoseki -- Ng 4 fief, who was official surgeon to the Sendai fief of which the Ichinoseki was a side branch. Although Gentaku is known to the world as Bansui, his given name was Shigetada t and his common name was Shikan. At the age of thirteen he began to study medicine under 71

Page  72 72 GRANT K. GOODMAN Tatebe Seian.J54/t~ (1712-1782), physician of the Sendai fief. Interested by rumors about the Dutch medical skills of Sugita Gempaku Lt - i- b 5 and others at Edo, however, Otsuki at the age of twenty-two "shouldered his box of books and went there to study. "6 And he quickly acquired a knowledge of the Dutch language under the tutelage of Sugita. When he heard that there was at that time in the home of the lord of Nakatsu 47 - 7 a Dutch scholar by the name of Maeno Ry6taku (Ranka) j ijf\ (j L, ),8 tsuki went to him and courteously asked to be taught. Maeno, impressed with Otsuki s seriousness of purpose, opened to him his innermostthoughts, and here Otsuki's detailed knowledge of Dutch studies truly began. In 1785 with the help of the lord of Fukuchiyama 9^a3,9 Kuchiki MasatsunaS,-&,j.,10 Otsuki went to study at Nagasaki, where he lived at the home of the interpreter Motoki Einoshin;:~,~__l 11 and pursued his studies assiduously. The following year he returned to Edo; after being appointed in May, 1786, to his father's old post of official surgeon of the Sendai fief, he opened practice in his lord's house in Edo and devoted himself particularly to Dutch studies. The same year, 1786, in Honzaimokucho, \$J/4rjf Edo, he opened Shirand5 O j A, the first private school for Dutch studies, where until his death Otsuki maintained the center for Western learning in Japan. In 1811 at the suggestion of the director of the Bakufu Observatory,12 Takahashi Sakuzaemon Kageyasu, 9 4^ ~ ~ 4,13 a bureau for the translation of Dutch books was established within the observatory with Otsuki and Baba Sajur5o, i,'J~ - / 14 comprising its first staff. In 1812 Otsuki was promoted to assistant clerk of his fief and his stipend was increased to three hundred koku. 15 Pleased with his ability to translate, the bakufu authorized a monthly salary for Otsuki in 1818. In later years he was advanced within the clan hierarchy, but he quietly retired and devoted himself to certain patriotic endeavors and to his school. Otsuki Bansui died in 1827 at the age of seventy-one and was buried at T6zenji Amp 16 in Edo. His first and most significant work was the two-volume Rangaku kaitei Pfi K* (Introduction to the study of Dutch) which he wrote in 1783 and published in 1788. This was the first book dealing entirely with the study of a European language ever to be composed and printed by a Japanese. Its appearance was very well received, and for those persons who were trying to obtain a knowledge of Dutch studies "this event was as though a shining lantern were raised on a dark night." In the first volume this book explains the usefulness of these studies from the beginning of Dutch-Japanese relations. In the second volume Otsuki sets forth the alphabet of the Dutch language, its rhythm, comparative sounds, words in translation, synonyms, set phrases, examples, literature, and exercises. Rangaku kaitei received the welcome of Japan as an indispensable tool for those who wished to pursue Dutch studies. Otsuki also completed a forty-volume revised edition of the Kaitai shinsho 4 ir (New books for understanding the body),17 examining Sugita's first edition, minutely culling the original manuscript, and revising his own drafts three times. He spent almost twenty years thus revising his work and completing the new edition. As one source notes: "Gentaku's heart blood was poured into this task. "18 He was also very active in the writing and translating of books concerned with medical science, foreign countries, and other subjects, his lifetime output amounting to some three hundred volumes. By the time of his death in 1827 he had trained about ninety-four younger men in Dutch studies. Among his pupils were Hashimoto Sokichi +,19 a physician of Osaka, who was called the first Dutch scholar of the Kansai district; Yamamura Saisuke 4, q^t 20 of the Tsuchiura L. 21 clan, who was the author of the Zoyaku sairan igen Ptk 22 similar in form to Arai Hakuseki's #fy^fa 23 Sairan igen 2 A;24 Inamura Sampaku 1^ 1 ^P. 2;25Udagawa Genshin -" —A,26and many otherpioneersinWestern studies.

Page  73 RANSETSU BENWAKU 73 Ransetsu benwaku has been specifically chosen for translation since in its coverage of over fifty different topics it emphasizes the broad knowledge of Otsuki and the type of training he must have been able to give his energetic disciples. The independent viewpoints expressed on many issues and the continuous praise of Western achievements show clearly how strongly the knowledge gained from the Dutch was influencing certain Japanese scholars.* The Text A CLARIFICATION OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN THEORIES [ABOUT] THE DUTCH Postscript This is a compilation of answers which my teacher, Bansui,27 gave one night to the questions of his pupils, Gencho fL gL 28 and others. In the first place, ever since the Dutch ships came to our country, there have been many errors and misunderstandings about the origins of their voyages and about their captains,29 surgeons,30 etc. And the erroneous reports which have been heard and repeated about the great numbers of their imported medicines and utensils should be generally cleared up. The teacher [Bansui] always exerted his efforts in the translation of Dutch medical books, made translations of technical books, and communicated with scholars [engaged] in the same work... The various books he wrote as he progressed, such as this volume, Ran'en tekih6 #| C,31 Senroku -,32 Rokubutsu shinshi j — t/,33 and Rangaku kaitei, are all said to be remains of his work. In addition, as the days and months passed, he gathered together various samurai with the same tastes, gave training in his hereditary specialty, and aroused the interests of the younger generation. In common with the pioneers who had previously established such work, his [Bansui's] pupils' collective purpose was to try to clarify these teachings. Gatherings have been held continuously for over ten years. Earnestly he has attended to his instruction. However, recently his reputation has become very widespread, and persons have asked him questions, calling upon his tremendous knowledge. Carrying their boxes of books, people came to stay and study at his school. The master was busily engaged night and day with his official duties and government work. When he was at home, he diagnosed the ailing and gave answers to his many guests. [Bansui] was involved in all these many things at the same time, and he had almost no surcease from replying [to queries. Now the various pupils who gathered to pose difficult questions sometimes asked questions and demanded answers on every useless and pointless fact, and there were many who interfered with the master's diligent work. It is said that he deeply disliked wasting time, but being a person who was growing old and being very benevolent, he did not avoid this [wasting] time and talked on all subjects. His pupils always attended him at his side and disliked interference with the accomplishment of their teacher's * This edition of Ransetsu benwaku was taken in its entirety from a reprint in the book Namban kibuncho ir _- a t (Notebook of rare reports on the southern barbarians) by Mishima Saiji, published at T6ky by the Ch5bunkaku in 1929. Although this modern printing omitted entirely the twenty-five or so pictures that appeared in the original, Mishima included descriptions of these illustrations at each place where they were to be found in the original text. All such editorial notes, enclosed in parentheses, are Mishima's. All words and phrases in brackets were added by the translator to amplify passages which might otherwise be obscure.

Page  74 74 GRANT K. GOODMAN great work. One night I called upon the master as he sat quietly at leisure, and I wrote down the several items in this edition and finally put them into one volume. I recently revised this and divided it into two volumes, and secretly entitling it Ransetsu benwaku I have set it up as an aid in the cross-examination [he suffers]. We present this as a token of our gratitude that it may serve our teacher. The various items in the whole edition are for the most part abbreviated explanations, and the reason that some are not completely detailed is that those [topics] have separate volumes and translations of these specialties. Scholars who are so inclined should seek out these books. From the beginning this present volume was not addressed to scholars. Still, although a person may be of great learning and skill, in so far as there are points which are unknown to him, isn't there probably some little value [in this book]? 1788. Tsuchinoe saru [Zodiacal year of the monkey]. First day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar. Tamba Arima Gencho, recorder. Volume I The words of the master, Bansui, recorded in writing by his disciple, the physician of Fukuchiyama, Arima Gench6, Bunchu. The Name of the Country [Called] Holland Q: The characters pronounced "Oranda" in general usage are written 4., or ob jA it. Are these correct writings, and what particular characters are there? A: Holland is not a country that uses Chinese characters like this country. Their method of writing, etc. is explained in detail in Rangaku kaitei and other books. In this country there is no way [of writing "Holland"] that should be considered the correct writing. From the first the word "Oranda" was spoken mistakenly for "Otsurando." The characters P/?4t 34 are a transliteration of the sounds by the Chinese. If [the word] is given the Chinese T'ang35 reading,36 it becomes "Otsuranda" and this corresponds closely to the correct sound. The Ming37 transliterated variously with the characters:, t|, i4,38 and IA IJ-a,39 and others. Now Chinese merchants use the name "A-lan" f. Long-used names such as Komo ij4N 40 and Koi i^ 41 are in error. In China these names did not designate these people [Hollanders]. This is set forth in detail in the teacher Arai Hakuseki's book Sairan igen. Short Life Q: It is rumored among the public that all Hollanders are short-lived. Is there really any basis for this in fact? A: Where this story sprang up or the reason for it, I don't know. Human life, both long and short, is exacted in heaven, and there is no difference throughout the whole world in all countries and all places. This fact is well known in both China and Japan. However, among those [peoples of the earth] who continuously sail over great expanses of rough waters, it is said that there are many who are short-lived and who die generally around forty. While they defy the wild waves of the expanseless oceans and drift and float endlessly for many hundreds of days, it would be extremely difficult to count how many hardships and miseries and bitter experiences are encountered. Whether in the bilge water in the bottom of a ship or being buried in the waves in the bellies of fishes, there must be endless ways of

Page  75 RANSETSU BENWAKU 75 making the heart grow cold and extinguishing the spirit. Even on voyages of one or two hundred ri 42 how many times every year do we hear of ships sinking, goods being abandoned, or lives being lost? So all the more must such things be, since these others come and go enduring the winds and waves of over tens of thousands of ri to the east and west. Therefore people who continually sail the seas, though they be young, unwittingly grow old; moreover, though they are treated a little bit kindly, they readily fall ill and in the end there are many who have difficulty even getting to their feet. After all, their spirits unconsciously become empty and deficient in ordinary work, and since they live on the boat for several hundred days they are affected with the miasma of the sea, and there must be a natural reason for the breakdown of their bodies. Last year Captain "Heito, "43 who has come to Edo several times to pay his respects, related the story thus, and I heard it in talking with the interpreters. Therefore on looking at the people who come to this country, [we see that] those who have said they are twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, or twentyfive all appear to be around forty. People who remain in that country [Holland] are no different from those in this country, and their spans of life are not all the same. There are those who live on to a hundred years and those who die after ten or twenty fleeting years. Without Heels Q: It is said that it is a natural characteristic of the Hollanders not to have heels or that they have eyes like animals or that those people are tall. What is really the truth? A: Where did this false story develop? Since the eyes of the people of this country are very different from [the eyes of] those people [Hollanders], are they scorned as though they were animals, or is this because they are from a different continent? There is some degree of difference in the coloring of Europeans and Asiatics. However there is none at all in the physical composition [of their bodies], nor is there the slightest difference in how they use [their bodies]. When I was at Nagasaki and saw people who were Indians and Negroes, they differed slightly in their eye structure. There is a small difference among the Chinese, Koreans, and Ryukyuans; and even in people of the same country I think I can discern some variations in the appearance of the eyes among the people of T65,44 Hokuetsu L',45 Shikoku t/ 0, and Tsukushi L ~. 6 There is a little difference in color and appearance, but as far as practical application is concerned, we are all the same. It goes without saying that citizens of a continent over ten thousand ri away will be different. Even though there are the same conditions of creation, there must be slight variations as a result of the location of their homeland. Moreover since the heel is the base of one's body -- and without heels how could one move about? -- this [question] is not worthy of comment. (Ed. note: Here there are four pictures of Hollanders.) As far as saying that all of those people [Hollanders] are tall, was this said after looking at the height of the groups of three47 who have come to Edo? They are neither equally tall nor short. They are not of one kind, tall or short. The many Hollanders I have seenat Nagasaki are of varying [heights. (Ed. note: There is an explanation [in the original]which pertains to the four pictures, but it is omitted from the present edition.) The captain named "Hanreide,"48 who visited Edo recently, was very short. However since they [the Dutch] wear tight-sleeved clothes and these do not flap about, people of medium height also seem as though they were particularly tall. And it is said that when those people [Hollanders] urinate, they lift one leg like a dog, or that they have many sexual techniques or use various aphrodisiacs, but these are false stories to which not one bit of attention should be paid.

Page  76 76 GRANT K. GOODMAN Wine Q: I hear that as intoxicants they have various things such as grape wine, araki,49 chinda, 50 etc. How do they manufacture them? A: As for the Dutch wines in general, there are many purchased abroad or imported from various counties. They are all fermented from grapes. They have various names depending on the method of manufacture. Sake is called "uein." This is taken from [the word for] grapes "ueingaarudo" with the last part omitted. Therefore they are all grape wines and only have different names according to their manufacture. That country [Holland] has a great many kinds of wine. Grape wine, araki, and chinda are not different things. They have names which differ according to the method of manufacture. And the thing specifically called "biiru"51 is an alcoholic drink manufactured from grain. This is used after eating and is said to aid in the digestion of food and drink. They have no wine at all made from rice. Various Glass Utensils Q: The kinds of Dutch-made glass wine cups in this area are all called "koppu," the wine containers are called "furasko," and glass is called "biidoro."52 Are there any distinctions between each of these? A: From ancient times glass has been called "biidoro," and this is not a Dutch word. This is a Latin and Portuguese word. Years ago when Portuguese ships came to our country, this word was transmitted and has become a common name. In Holland they say "garasu." Originally the thing known as "koppu" referred to an object like a chawan [tea-cup]. Now what is called "koppu" by the public is generally the "kerukii."53 There are various names depending on the shape. As for "furasko,"54 the original name is "furesuko".... the glass container in which is put medicinal oils, sake, etc. Here I have selected and included suitable pictures. They should be looked at together. (Ed. note: In the pictures there is a kind of bottle called "gorugerette" with cut corners and with a stopper of the same material, as well as a vessel called "bokaaru"55 and a "garatte derinki bekkeru."56 There is also one called a "rinse ueingarasu "57 a kind of tumbler called "uein wattora garasu, "58 and some called t"soopii garasu"56 and "biiru garasu."60 An explanation of the "soopii garasu" says, "Its shape is like that of a sake cup." Ordinarily there are things called kirikote, l_ {- and kimbuchi.,7.$. The "biiru garasu" nowadays has the shape of the drinking glass that is usually used. Moreover pictures of three kinds of "kerukii" are shown with the explanation: "There are various shapes both large and small, and generally they are called 'koppu."' They are all what are usually known as stemmed goblets, and they resemble glasses that are used nowadays for drinking wine, etc. The explanation for "furesu"61 is: "These are both large and small, and oil, medicine, etc. are poured into them. Therefore calling glass objects 'furasuko' must be a mistake for this 'furesu."' Again many "furesu" have glass stoppers. And "bottoru"62 have stoppers made of 'kiyoruku"63 bark. These are also called "poroppu."64 The name ao hsiang,A* for cork appears in Nan-fang-ts'ao-mu-chuang r6-54I.* The explanation says that cork is flexible and when inserted in the mouth of the bottle it makes a good stopper. "Ronde bottoru"66 is customarily called "maru furasuko"67 and there is an explanation [beside the picture]. "Ranga bottoru"68 is usually called 'kinuta furesaku."69 Besides these there are wide-mouthed bottles called "ueege mondo,"70 and also bottles made of unglazed pottery and called "uaatoru kan."71 The explanation says that these are for bringing water such as "supaa uasoruto,"72 and also shown is the round

Page  77 RANSETSU BENWAKU 77 device used for putting salt on food and called "soutopatto,"73 the water tankard [used] when rinsing the mouth explained as "made of silver" and called "uaatoru kan," a thing marked "made of silver" and called "rampeteru, "74 and a device [used] like a tray, which holds the water tankard. Designated as "Plates and Utensils" are pictures of three kinds of "reiperu,"75 "mesu,"76 and "horuko."77 The explanation for "reiperu" is: "This is a spoon for eating. It is made of silver, iron, or brass. It is for sipping broth and juice." "Mesu" is a knife: "This is a household knife. It is for cutting and eating kinds of meat that are cooked whole." "Horuko" is a fork: "With this utensil things are pierced and eaten. It is usually called a 'nikusashi' ij J c [fork].... They do not have chopsticks." It is also noted that the dining table and the furniture in the Chinese style are all made of glass.) Pen-Knife Q: In this country the pen-knife of Dutch design is called "haaka. "78 What is the real name? A: The "haaka" is a hook. What is popularly called "haaka" is [correctly] the '"kiniipu mesu."79 'Xiniipu" is the clasp, and "mesu" is the blade. (Ed. note: Here the original has a picture.) Candlestick Q: There is something customarily called "kantera." Is this also from the Netherlands? A: This is a mistaken pronunciation of the word for candlestick, "kanderaaru."80 Chintz Q: Is "sarasa"81 also a Dutch word? A: The real name is "settsu."82 The kinds that are imported from a place called "Sarata"83 are regarded as of best quality. Therefore Ogawa Etsunoshin 4J l Iu t__ig said thatthis fact must account for the mistake of using the word "sarata." Kinds of Textiles Q: Kinds of textiles are called by various foreign names. What I want to hear are their real names. A: While there are many sorts of those goods, types of rasha84 such as "raaken,"85 "heruhetoan," and "perupechuan,"86 are all called pi-chih!o " by the Chinese. This must be a transliterated word in which the top and bottom [parts of the word] are omitted. As for "gorofukuren,"87 it is changed from "gorufugarein"; and as for "santome,"88 it is from "shinto toumasu." Originally it was a man'sname and then an island name and was transliterated sheng-to-mo t_ $ in China. "Taaresu"89 Island [gives its name to] "derureisu seide," "Shurisha" Island [gives its name to] "serushanisse seide." "Seide"90 is silk cloth, and the first [parts of the two words] referred to are both place names. "Raseita" is called "gorofu rassen." There are innumerable varieties, and they all have many mistaken pronunciations of their real names. Bread Q: We hear that Hollanders eat a thing called "pan" as their staple food. What is this made of?

Page  78 78 GRANT K. GOODMAN A: They mix yeast with wheat flour, knead them together, and bake. This is their food both mornings and evenings. Q: Don't they ever use cooked rice? A: They eat cooked rice but only in very small amounts... not as much as one bowlful in this country. For the most part they use Indian rice and call cooked rice "gekoukuto reisu."91 This is what is called boiled rice. It is not yet clear from what country the word "pan" comes. In Holland they say "burouto."92 In a country next to Holland called France we hear that they call it "pain."93 Can this be a version of that word? Ostrich, Cassowary Q: As far as the eggs of a bird called "hogoro"94 are concerned, people have things such as wine-bowls and wine pitchers made out of their large egg shells and [such vessels] have a capacity of eight or nine go.95 What sort of a thing is this? A: These are the eggs of a bird called "sutoroisu hougeru"96 in Holland, and "hougeru" means a bird. We pronounce it incorrectly by omitting the upper part "sutoroisu" and changing the end sound of the word "hougeru." There is a big bird, native to Africa, called "sutoriyuto."97 The eggs of this bird are called "sutoroisu hougeru" in Holland. They are the eggs of what is called an ostrich as recorded in the [book] Ptn-ts'ao 4\i 98 by Li Tung-pi T4 9.99 This is said to be the world's largest kind of bird. That their eggs can be made into wine bowls and other objects I have already noted in detail with an explanatory diagram in Ran'en tekih6. (Ed. note: Here appears a picture of an ostrich.) Q: Recently they have brought a big bird called an ostrich for exhibition everywhere, saying that it is from Holland. Is this the "sutoroisu hougeru"spoken of above? A: This is of that species and differs from the ostrich. Li in his book confuses the descriptions of these two birds. That is to say, this bird is what is called a cassowary as explained in that book. In its native habitat it is called "kazoaru." The ostrich has a different shape and is slightly smaller in size. This [bird] also has very large eggs. The teacher, Tamura Ransui u7 f 7j(,100 prized one of these. I have described both of these two birds in detail in Tekiho. You should read this book. (Ed. note: Here is a picture of a cassowary.) Bile Q: There is a barbarian medicine called "biriri."101 It is like a hardened powdered medicine with a very bitter taste, and heretofore, when prescribed by doctors for various ailments, it is said to have had good effect. What sort of thing is this? A: I can't recall now. Elders like Matsuoka JAij ~praise its effect. [They] explained that this thing is made with fish livers, but I do not have the details. There are people who go and ask questions about this every time the Dutch come to Edo. Every year I question these doctors and others, but there isn't one who knows. At any rate in years gone by, since [this medicine] seems to have been brought over on Western ships, it was not manufacturedoriginally in this country. It was imported from other areas and now, since there is no trade with those places, no one knows about it. Apparently none has been brought over for about a hundred years. During the Teikyo era [1684-1687] apothecary and other shops [sold it] and there are families who have saved some. As set down in my books of oldChinese sages, it has very signal results against ailments. It is a pity that it is difficult to ex

Page  79 RANSETSU BENWAKU 79 plain this substance. As I understand it, in the elegant words of that country [Holland]bile is called "birisu." Is this "biriri" then bile with the change in pronunciation of "biriri"to "birisu"? It is not clear what [source produces] the bile with which this medicine is tempered and hardened and whether its name is "birisu" or something else. Mummy, Unicorn, Mermaid, Saffron Q: In this country there is a remedy called "miira." There are many varied explanations [about it]. What sort of thing is this? A: Its real name is "momiya.,"102 In China it is transliterated mu-nai-i iJ5 l. Both ["miira" and mu-nai-i] are in error. And "unkofuru" as well as "unikofuru"03 are mistakes for "unikoriyuni." To say "heishimureiruto" for mermaid is a mistake for "pisshi mueiru." Furthermore, there have been various explanations in Japan and China for kinds of "epuriko"l04 and "safuran."105 I have already written a work called Rokumotsu shinshi and have made clear their place of origin and chief virtues. You should examine and become familiar with this book. Licorice Q: Of late there is a thing called by people "zuboutofu" or "zudoubofu." What sort of thing is this? A: The correct name is "doroipu sufutohouto."'06 And it is also called "doroppu" alone. "Sufutohouto" is licorice. This licorice is boiled down and made intoa grease. "Zubofutou" is a mistake for "sufutohouto." It is effective against various ailments, especially of the chest, in loosening phlegm. Megaphone Q: Among Dutch articles there is a device for calling people which is known as either "ruuperu" or "zuufura." What sort of thing is this? A: There is a picture of one in the book by Morishima[Chury5], Km5 zatsuwa.^t6.107 When this instrument is used to call, it canbe heard very far away. The correct name is "ruupuru."108 "Ruupu"109 is the actual call and "ruupuru" is the thing used for calling. Wijnruit, Rosemary, Scotch Broom Q: In the family of plants and trees there are foreign kinds called "henruuda,"1lO "mannenro,"1 "anjaberu,"112 and "enishida."ll3 What are their real names? A: "Henruuda" is "ueinruuda," "erushida" is "enishita," and "anjaberu" is "angeriiru." There are a great many varieties [of these plants]. The detailed facts are in a book Oranda yakusen -4 j 114 by Tsukiike Hogen Q;0, K.115 Is Tsukiike H6gen Katsuragawa Hoshiu )ll]? Crawfish Stone Q: What is "okurikankiri"? A: This is [a crawfish stonel an internal protuberance which occurs in the stomachs of crawfish who are native to Tsugaru -4 116 and Matsumae zqj. 117 It is used for chewing. "Okuri"is eye, "kankiri" is an error for "kankeru" and designates a shellfish. [This stone]

Page  80 80 GRANT K. GOODMAN takes its name from its resemblance to the eye in shape. Its chief virtues are detailed in Ran'en tekih6. (Ed. note: A picture of an "okuri kankiri" is shown.) Snakestone Q: What kind of thing is a "surangasuten"? A: This is "surangasutein." "Suranga"118 is snake, "sutein"119 is stone, and thus the name "snakestone." There is a false story which says that the name comes from a stone which developed in the heads of big snakes. However it is a manufactured object. Details appear in Ran'en tekiho. Balsam Q: What is "barusamu" or "barusamo"? A: Originally this was the resin of a tree. It is called "barusamu" or "borusemu." By combining various medicines, compounds have been produced which have powers resembling the real "barusemu," and there are several [substances] which are called such-and-such "barusemu." Therefore everywhere now there are a great many [medicines] with this good name. In a separate volume there is a translated account of its manufacture, powers, etc. Persian and Indian Leather Q: People say "Harusha" leather, "Harusha" horse, etc. Is this a place name? A: This is a mistake for "Perusha," [Persia] a place that is a part of the continent of Asia. It is written Pe-erh-hsi-ua - Ri in China. Q: And what about when they say "Inden" and "Musukobiya"? A: "Inden" is "Indeya" [India], hence Tenjiku.120 "Musukobiya" is "Mosukobuya" [Muscovyl] It is the name of a city in a great country called "Roseya" [Russia]. This country is in the northern part of Europe. All of these are places which produce leather. Playing Cards Q: In our country since ancient times playing cards have been called "karuta.'121 And then there are playing cards containing verses with which the women play. There are people who say "karuta" is a foreign word. Is this true? A: That elegant Western word "kaarute" seems to be [our card]. Could this word have been transmitted in ancient times when a great many Western ships came? In Holland they say "supeirukaaruto."122 I do not have time to count the words in ordinary usage in our country that are from Sanskrit, Chinese, and the languages of various other countries. This matter is detailed in the master Arai Hakuseki's Toga ".123 Bloodstone, Diamond Q: There are the names "kananoru" and "giyaman." What are they? A: "Kanonoru" 124 originally is the name of a place belonging to India. Since this object is produced there, it bears the name [of the place]. In the refined name of the West it is call

Page  81 RANSETSU BENWAKU 81 ed "hamachitesu,"t25 and in Dutch they say "fuburufudo sutein."126 This is the bloodstone. Besides being a styptic it has various powers. "Giyaman" is the "jamanto."127 This stone is used for cutting and polishing various kinds of glass. Properly speaking it is both a clear and bright precious and common stone. There is a separate translated explanation to be found in Tekiho. Alfeloa. Po de Castella Q: Are the confections called "aruheito" and "kasuteira" originally of foreign make? A: "Aruheito"128 is a word in the language of the aforementioned country called France and is sugar. This [word] is a variant of the real name "aruheitomu." "Kasuteiru" is really "kasuteiru burofudo." "Kasuteiru"129 is castle. "Burofudo" is the aforementioned "pan," and, since it lasts a very long time, it was used when troops were on long journeys and the like. Almonds Q: The article called "amendousu" must also be a foreign name. What is the explanation? A: As far as the varieties of peach that are [known to] the public are concerned, they are all from imported seeds. The Dutch name is "amanderen. "130 ["Amendousu"] is a form of this word. In China they are called pa-tan-hsing a Q, meng-t'ao i and so on. Pumpkin Q: Of late there is a staple food among the people called "kabocha" [pumpkin] Originally this is said to be a place name. To what area is it adjacent? A: This should be Cambodia. Another name is Shinro. It is a place attached to India. I wonder whether the seeds of this melon came over in olden days as a product of that place? A description of that country is detailed in Chen-la-fng-t'u-chi,tJ.131 Portugal Q: Usually caper spurge or mole-plant [euphorbia lathyrus] is called "horutogaru" [Portugal], and among the imported oils and medicines there is one called "horuto no abura" [olive oil]. Please give me the correct information about these things. A: Portugal originally is the name of the country that is more in the western corner [of Europe] than Holland. In China it is transliterated Po-erh-tu-wa-erh ~J * j_. The true name is "Poruchugaru. In days of yore it is said that many boats came here from that country. At that time words of that country were transmitted to our shores and even now there must be words that remain, such as "kappa,"132 "suppon,"133 "inondo,"134 "manteika,"135 and "hiriyozu."136 This "horuto no abura" is also a famous product of that country, and, since it was first brought over by people from that country, it seems to have directly assumed the name of that nation. Basically it is an oil pressed from the fruit of a tree called "oreifu boumu."137 In Holland this is the only oil used especially for medicinal purposes. It is used like sesame oil in this country. Since the real name of this oil is "oreumu" and the name of the tree is "oreifu," "oreimu" or "oreifu" has come to be a generic name for all oils. In our country there are the ipomoea aquatical38 in Izu fti, 139 and the nutmeg tree in Kishii eif.140 These are said to be varieties of the "oreifu boumu." Pictures of these have been taken from the Oranda honz5o * j 141 and

Page  82 82 GRANT K. GOODMAN are shown here. (Ed. note: Here there are three pictures. One is a picture of the lathyrus with its real name given as "oreifu boumu." The second and third are pictures of branches of the lotus and the wild olive tree respectively.) Coquilho Q: What sort of thing is the 'kokinniyo," or what is called by the Japanese "sea-coconut," which is found in the apothecary shops? A: There is another name for the coconut which is called 'kokeuo."142 This must be a different form of the word. I have detailed this in a book I wrote called Umiyashi ko 5-P$ 3-t.143 Snakewood Q: There is something known as "hautekobura." Ordinarily it is either called kisasagi, 144 or it is said to be ketade.145 Since this was originally a foreign word, its [origin] is uncertain. What is the explanation? A: This is said to be an Indian word. "Haute" is tree. "Kobura" [cobra] is snake. In Dutch it is called "surangahouto."146 It means snakewood. This is probably what Chinese books call she-p'i-mu it ~. Now it is generally called snakewood. Why in olden days were the kisasagi or the kedate called "hautekobura"? Soap Q: Why is soap called "shabon"? A: This is an elegant Western word and is a version of "sapu." In Dutch it is called "seipu. "147 They use something called "suponse seipu"148 a great deal for medicinal purposes. Rose of Jericho Q: There is a [plant] termed "anzanju"149 by the public. They say that when a birth is about to take place, if one dips [this plant] in water, it will open at the same time the birth occurs. What sort of thing is this? A: This grows in sandy places in a country called Arabia. The Dutch name is "rouzuhanerego."150 The Chinese name is said to be han-sheng-tsao - _ *. In Wang YUanMei's E.^ j THui-yuan-hsiao-chu /* 5 it says: "When women are having a difficult delivery, they hold this in their mouths, lie down, and swallow its juice. Its leaf is shaped like a selaginella involvens, and it is large. It is native to Manchuria. If its leaves are not well boiled, it is poisonous." On considering the Western explanations, [it seems] that the previous information is false. However I have copied its picture from Oranda honz6, and have reproduced it here. A detailed description of this [plant] appears in Tekiho. (Ed. note: There is a picture [in the original] of an anastatica hierochuntina.) Turpentine Q: What is it that is called "terementeiru"? A: This is the resin of a tree... like the Japanese fir. There are two or three varieties. The correct name is "terebinchiina." In Dutch it is called "terupentein."152 Adetailed explanation is in a separate translated text.

Page  83 RANSETSU BENWAKU 83 Bezoar Stone Q: There is a stone people call "heisarabasara." What sort of thing is it? A: There is an animal native to India called "bezoaru."'53 This stone is an alimentary concretion which forms in its stomach. It is called "peidora bezoaru."154 "Heisarabasara" is a version of this [word]. Although the alimentary concretions from the various animals each have their own names, generally this name is the usual one. In China they say "tsota" II-. Niu-huang 4-, lu-yiiu ], kou-pao:, ch6-tan 4 —, and ma-heh.. are all variants of this. I put these in Tekiho. Their classifications, chief virtues, and other facts are detailed in [that worki Butter Q: What is "boutoru"?155 A: This is milk. And in China it is called lo -. Europeans always use it as a food, and it is extremely nutritious. Volume II Food Q: What sort of things do the Hollanders have for food? People say that they are like the Chinese in eating inferior food and that like the Chinese also they smoke tobacco a great deal. A: This [story] must arise because it is said that foreigners have varieties of beef and pork as staple foods. This [diet] is not limited to Holland and China. All foreign countries have such foodstuffs. Since Japan is a country surrounded on four sides by water, and, since ample food is derived from things produced in the sea, it seems that from days of old we have not made use of mountain products. Since foreign countries for the most part are states that continue far inland, distances from the seashore may extend from one hundred to three hundred ri. Therefore it is difficult to have a sufficiency [of food] by using sea products, and naturally people eat things that live on land. It is to be thought that pigs and the like were created and put on earth by heaven for food. Since even in our country there are places such as the northern provinces and the Kisodo Go _ 156 that are deep in the mountains and are far from the sea, it is said that there are many places where, besides salted fish, wild boars and deer are always eaten. This practice is probably the same [as in Holland and China]. The cuisine of both Holland and China, according to what I hear of the appearance of their food, might not be what common people rumor it to be; they have from the beginning used as staple foods kinds of fowl, duck, cow, and pig which are raised by people. Of course, as far as their method of cookery is concerned, everything they eat is very well cooked, and they never eat things that are boiled alive or things like raw fish which after entering the stomach and intestines are difficult to digest. It is said that Hollanders and others, though they be lowly persons, have no wish to eat animals and fish of unusual shapes which from ancient times they have been unaccustomed to eat. They do not eat things like the sea-devil, squid, and octopus. It is said that they eat such varieties of fish as the sea-bream, halibut, salmon-trout,and carp. In reference to birds it is said that they do not make much use of ones like the pheasant and duck that are fat and deleterious. From the first they say that species such as the dog and the horse have not been [considered] edible. Of course they have regular times for eating and drinking,

Page  84 84 GRANT K. GOODMAN but it is said that beyond these they never drink or eat to excess. When they [Hollanders] hear it said that all the people here ordinarily eat fish and that our town bullies can down two bonitos or... a great amount of sake in one gulp, the [Hollanders] must be horrified and must deplore it. As for saying that they smoke tobacco a great deal, this must be because they are seen using a long-stemmed pipe with a large pipe bowl. The whole pipe is made of porcelain. Since it has a long stem, it does not fill up with exudations over a long period of time, and from the way it is made one would think it would easily break in a short time. Its length is more than a shaku [0.994 foot], probably with the idea that the fragrance of the tobacco on the throat should be slight. Although the pipe's bowl is relatively large, the hole thattransmits [the smoke] is extremely narrow. And the thing they call tobacco is first boiled in hot water and then dried after thus being separated from its violent poisons. Of course, as far as their smoking tobacco is concerned, they don't swallow [the smoke] but blow it all out. Always filling their cheeks up to the point of exhaling, they stop at two or three puffs. They are more moderate than our people who use short pipes that can be used coming or going and sitting or lying down. I have detailed this discussion in my Senroku. Negroes Q: It is said that the Negroes who come over on the Dutch ships submerge in water easily and grow up practicing swimming, or that they are a kind of monkey. What is really thetruth? A: Negroes are poor people from India. The Dutch have engaged them as servants at "Jagatara."157 In that area are people from various places, and all of them have homelands which have their origins in the deep south, and therefore have very hot climates. Hence their bodies are bathed in the sunlight and their coloring becomes extremely black. And, since they are menial people, it is said that they do not clothe their bodies and only cover their private parts. Often they are said to have frizzled hair like Shaka158 who was born on a tropical island called "Seiran" [Ceylon] in India and whose swirled hair was curled by the extreme heat. Furthermore it must have been owing to the heat of the land that the five hundred disciples of Buddha were either stripped to the waist or entirely nude. Among Negroes there is certainly a distinction between the noble and the lowly and the wise and the foolish, and people [there]... are no different from the rest of mankind. From the beginning I have not paid any attention to the story that they grow up practicing swimming. People are not what others say they are. Each Hollander has his own servant, and they are useful in different circumstances. Without distinction the various waiters and chambermaids and seamstresses assist in washing, drawing water, rice-hulling, and cooking. The Dutch call them "suwaruto yongo."159 "Suwaruto" is black, and "yongo" is a servant, a young person. This must mean a servant-slave. As far as those who work on board ship are concerned, it is said that the Dutch say "matarousu"160 for sailor. Company Q: A kitchen is called "kompanya." What sort of thing is this? A: Isn't this [word] an error for kitchen, "komboisu"?161 In general "kompanya" is wrongly used in place of the word "kompakugii.1"162 This word signifies something like a joint stock company. The seven rulers of the seven provinces of the Netherlands, mutually forming a partnership, set up a guild for trade with various countries and sent out merchant ships to nations east and west stocked with goods from different countries. In the east they set up a headquarters at a place called "Batabia" [Batavia] in the Indian islands mentioned before and established a place of business which they called "Ousuto Injiise

Page  85 RANSETSU BENWAKU 85 Komupakugii."163 It is said that this is a joint headquarters for the various countries in the east. For no particular reason they attach the symbol N O/1l64 to their various items. There are thirty-six letters in the total of the four words "Neideru Doisse Ousuto Injiise Han Komupakugii."165 This [symbol] is a collective Dutch ideograph taking only the initial letter. And it means Dutch partnership guild. This [sign] must have the same meaning as writing attached to official property and government business in this country. This company is also said to be active in the various countries of the western hemisphere. Electricity Q: "Erekiteru" is said to be an instrument for taking fire from the bodies of human beings. What sort of thing is this? A: A diagram of this [instrument] has already been detailed in Morishima's book Komo zatsuwa. ["Erekiteru"] is a version of the original word "erekiseriteito. "166 The Dutch use the words "hiyufuru sutein karakuto."167 There is no justification for speaking of taking fire from human bodies. Fire emerges by contact with something. Rocks and minerals are rubbed against each other causing fire. Since this action is like steel striking flint stone to produce fire, we use the name fire-stone power. And it is this device which by causing friction among the forces of heaven and earth proves the principle which is manifested in a flash of lightning. Fire does not emerge from the tip of the thing which is struck, but erupts from the place which has been rubbed with this instrument and brings forth fire. In this light it is not at all a mysterious thing. It is an implement which has been devised according to this principle and creates fire. It should be known that this fundamental principle is the same as that of the igniting stone which is used morning and evening in every home. Shadow Picture Lantern Q: Of late it is said that there is a thing brought over by the Dutch called a shadow picture lantern. In a dark room they light a fire in front of it, and show vari-colored silhouetted pictures on a blank wall-hanging that is placed opposite it; if [the pictures] are of human beings, they are of human size and even seem as though they are living, though it may be a trick. What is this called, and what sort of a trick is it? A: In Holland this is called "toufuru rantaaru."168 When this is translated, isn't it magic lantern? Originally it was a plaything for little girls. They [the Dutch] leave an opening in the end of the small box which is put at the front, and they light a fire inside it. When they insert into this opening an invertedpicture that has been drawn on glass, the shadow is turned about and is reflected correctly on the opposite screen. Moreover its shape is large. This [apparatus] can be called an eye. It reflects all things using the same principle of the shadows making their impression on it. When one sees this thing and understands its principle,. it should be quickly comprehended. Didn't it get the name "magic lantern" from people to whom the principle was obscure and who therefore had difficulty understanding it? Air Pump Q: I have seen a device usually called a "life and death glass" [ shikatsu garasu j-. q! ~ ] or a "kill and revive vehicle" [sakkatsu sha 4t 4 j ] which can cause life and death when such living things as rats and weasels are inserted inside the glass. What sort of thing is this? A: This instrument is called a "ruyukuto pomupu."169 All the various living things subsist in the air of heaven and earth, and it is said that this device proves the principle that life and

Page  86 86 GRANT K. GOODMAN death depend on breathing air. [It] was constructed by physical scientists in that country [Holland]. Isn't there an explanatory diagram in a scientific book of theirs? Camera Obscura A: There is a thing called in our country a camera obscura [shashinkyo <% A ], a device which duplicates landscapes and human beings by contriving a glass mirror inside a box. Originally this was of foreign make. What do they call it? A: This is an apparatus called "donkuru kaamuru. "170 Dilettantes in Japan often have imitations. A great many of these have been made. Indeed the name for the camera obscura must be said to have been taken from these. This must be what Huang Li-chuang referredtoasa camera obscura ';A. (Ed. note: There is a picture in the text of a "donkuru kaamuru. ") Thermometer Q: The thermometer is a device whose liquid rises and falls according to changes in temperature and is made by collecting a medicinal liquid in a sphere... at the very bottom of a long glass tube. What is this called? A: In that country [Holland] it is called "terumo meitoru.",171 Huang Li-chuang is also said to have originally constructed one. This must be the thing he called a thermometer. In our country one hears that it was Hiraga +-f, [also known as] Furai Sanjin 4z A, s,172 who first made one and called it a thermometer. Besides this there are all sorts of instruments for examining [atmospheric conditions]. There is something called "ueirugarasu,"l73 a device which tells the weather and [records] the shade and the sunshine. This must be the so-called instument for examining humidity and aridity. It is said that there is an instrument called the "dondorugarasu"174 which is a device for registering wind, rain, and thunder. Ask the scientist [who knows] the method of manufacture. (Ed. note: There appears here a picture of a thermometer. This is like our present thermometer.) Lancet, Cupping-Glass Q: The needle always used by the circle of surgeons is called "ranseita," and the cuppingglass is called "beo bendofusa." Are these both foreign names? A: Indeed there is no "ranseita." Those people [Hollanders] call it "ranseito."175 "Ranseita" is a different way of saying it. This word applies only to this instrument, and there is no other correct [way of saying it]. Moreover "bendofusa" is a dialectic error for their [Portuguese] fine word "hentosa."176 In Dutch this [device] is called "raato koppu." Its usage is the same as the cupping-glass of China. Since people know about it, [the description] is omitted here. First Entry into the Harbor and Accommodations at Nagasaki Q: When were the Dutch first in this country and have they come to Nagasaki since ancient times? Further, what sort of accommodations do they have in that place [Nagasaki]? A: As I have already explained in my Rangaku kaitei, they began [coming here] about the time of Toyotomi j ~. 177 in the Keicho period [1596-1615] and reached Hirado %-/ 178 in Hizen ATJ Province. 179 After that, during the Kan'ei period, [1624-1644] they entered the

Page  87 RANSETSU BENWAKU 87 harbor of Nagasaki in the same province. Not yet two hundred years have gone by. Ignorant and stupid women think that Nagasaki is a place in China, and there are those who think that the people of this country [Japan] are mixed with the people of that country [Holland]. These are gross errors. Both the Chinese and Dutch each have places of residence. The Dutch live on a small island constructed on the shore of the place called Edo Machi i;x P, v in the same city [Nagasaki]. It has been given the name Deshima. Facing northward from this place there is a gate by which various officials, interpreters, etc. may come and go. Nishikawa x 1I 180 of this place has detailed this in a book called Nagasaki yawagusa hi <~~ *^ 181 The abode of the Chinese is a place called JuzenjiMura 4- -t -i. At the east of the harbor on the outskirts of the city there is a place called Umegasaki j - Here the Chinese ships anchor. Facing this is a temple calledDaitokuji ks -.. Below is a common. At the right on a high place there is a village called Koshima X' \. In the area between this village and the temple is the [Chinese compound]. From Deshima the terrain can be viewed very widely. In years gone by, when I went there to study, they were making prints at that place, and I bought some pictures of Nagasaki that were for sale. Pictures that showed the general outline of the quarters of both the Chinese and Dutch could be obtained, and I keep them at home. These pictures give details. The Origin of the Visits to Edo and Commerce Q: Why do the Dutch come to Edo every year in the spring? Their being ordinarily called only merchant foreigners is very strange. What is the origin of this? A: This [visit] is to obtain permission to continue crossing the sea [to Japan]. I hear that they are permitted to come every spring bringing products of their country in order to pay homage in an audience with the shogun. As is the established custom, they leave Nagasaki on the fifteenth of January, andat the beginning of March various officials of the Nagasaki garrison, three Hollanders, the senior and junior interpreters, etc., leading several tens of men, go up to the castle for an audience and offer products of their country. When they take their leave, they are granted gifts from the shogun. I understand that they divide up these gifts into seven portions, send them to the seven provinces of their homeland, and distribute them respectively. As far as the conduct of their trade is concerned, after entering the harbor in early autumn, during the three months of July, August, and September they exchange various goods at Deshima, Nagasaki. Those who come into port in early fall of the current year alternate with those who have remained on Deshima since the previous year. At the audience in the following spring the captain will take the secretary and the physician, and it is said that these are as a general rule the three who make the visit [to Edo]. The Visiting Captain, Secretary, and Surgeon Q: What is the name of the government post of the [person] called captain who comes to Edo annually? And besides, what are his proper affairs? A: "Kabitan" is what the chief official is called. In the elegant words of that country [Holland] it is said that they say "kapitein."182 This is a word which must be taken to mean both head and chief, and all persons who are chief officials are called something or other "kapitein." The very fact of leadership is called "kapitein." Isn't this "oppurohaufuto,"183 the term for the governing official who is in charge of the merchandise on the boat? The one who is the secretary is called "ashisutento"l84 in the words of that country, and, although a large number of people come from the ship to Deshima, among these [onlyl the head man comes to Edo with the chief. He is called in their language "shikiriiba."lB5 Many physicians come who combine both internal medicine and surgery. Among them it is said that there are more who use internal medicine than surgery. I understand that they were summoned because the Dutch were advanced in the skills of surgery, and it is said that

Page  88 88 GRANT K. GOODMAN for the sake of the people the medical officers were asked difficult questions and held discussions about their medical techniques, medicines, etc. Before, when they were not summoned to Edo, their surgeons were asked about the powers and effects of ointments, oils, medicines, etc. Such a person as Shodayu a, Ax, grandfather of the translator Motogi Nidayu A\i;-\j,186 was the chief interpreter about that time, and when I was studying at Nagasaki I saw the rough draft of his book which translated into Japanese the results of questioning [the Dutch]. After that every spring when the captain made his visit for an audience, their surgeon was called for immediately, and I understand that he came with the captain. Up to thirty or forty years ago the interpreters learned to speak their [Dutch] language by word of mouth. For that reason, I understand, there are many mistakes in the surgical books. Surgery Q: You speak as though-all the Dutch doctors are ordinarily only surgeons. Is this really true? A: As far as this [question] is concerned, when the first ships came into port skilled surgeons were on board, and the interpreters of that time [who were] learning the various unusual skills that they [the surgeons] had to offer were the founders of surgery and, before one knew it, formed a school. Following those people [these ideas] were handed down by hearsay and gradually became widespread, and it seems that Nagasaki was like the source of surgery. At that time, since the books of that country could not be read directly, those studying these marvelous arts could only learn by memory, and it seems that these [students] did not extend their questioning into matters of internal medical treatment. Even when one speaks of Holland, how can external treatment alone be used to treat external injuries resulting from wind, cold, heat, and dampness, the various ailments brought on by internal injuries, conditions of women before and after childbirth, children's small-pox and boils, and varieties of measles? This is utterly unthinkable. Even aboard ship the same situation exists. Are there only external ailments and not internal ailments? On board ship, although [their doctors] do not distinguish between internal and external treatment, [they] combine both internal and external medical science. In their books internal medical treatments and methods are very minute and detailed, and that country [Holland] has a great many books which can be selected from among the works of its wise men. Generally those persons who are doctors consider that it is of first importance to know the whole human body under ordinary conditions. The four extremities and the whole external human body from the skin, flesh, body hair, and hair on the head to the viscera, veins, and membranes on the inside are all vivisected and investigated, and on the basis of these [studies] the [doctors] consider the source of illness and give treatments. Learning these facts in detail by research in these techniques, they know their procedure. Among medical skills internal medicine is especially difficult to master easily..... As for the whole field of medicine, even among the medical profession, it is said that there are men of [especially] good repute. They are called "heneisuheru."187 This is a title of respect. Another name is "dokutofuru."188 Men such as these do not come over on the ships, and it is understood that they do not recklessly [go] to other countries. They are also skillful as surgeons. As far as [the doctors] who come over on the ships are concerned, many of them are persons who in a general way know the techniques. It is said that they come for the sake of pursuing their studies and that they endeavor to succeed in both medicine and surgery. From time to time there are people whose main endeavor is medicine, and for study and research they also come over to try to get better acquainted [with such work. In their language a surgeon is called 'heiru meisuteru"189 or "hando uerukerusu,"190 but, since on the ships he combines medicine [with surgery], he is called "dokutofuru." Two men come over on each ship. One is called "oppuru meisuteru," and the other is called "onderu meisuteru."191 Our comparable terms for these are senior surgeon and junior surgeon. "Oppuru" is senior. "Onderu" is junior. The one who pays his respects at Edo is the "oppuru meisuteru." However, as noted above, they are all called "dokutofuru."

Page  89 RANSETSU BENWAKU 89 A Summary of Holland and Jagatara and the Plan of the World Q: In what quarter does the country called Holland lie, and how far is it from China? A: The whole world is divided in four, and these are called the four continents. The continent that is in the west is called Europe. Holland is a country that is attached to Europe, and its full name is "Neiderurando" [The Netherlands]. In that country there are seven provinces, under one rule, which constitute the whole of Holland. One of these, the place which has the supreme ruler, is called Holland. The name of the capital is said to be "Hagga" [The Hague]. Hence the full name of the seven provinces is also said to be Holland. This is like calling our country by the name "Yamato" since there is an Oyamato Province. [Holland] is a country in the extreme north at 520 or 530 [north latitude] and its climate is very cold. It is said to be 8,600 ri by sea from Japan and [the voyage requires] eight or nine months. There is a place called "Amusuterudamu" [Amsterdam] at the mouth of the harbor of that country. The merchant vessels of various countries gather there. It is flourishing with traffic, and from this place commercial ships are outfitted and set sail for Japan and other countries. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean takes just about four months. The [voyagers] stop their ships in a port called "Karapu" [Cape Town] at the extreme south of the African continent, and from there they head for the Far East, depending on advantageous winds and waves. If the tail winds are good, it is said that they generally reach Jagatara in three months. This "Jiyagatara" is in the sea south of India. (What is called India is a place attached to the continent of Asia.) It is a very hot place more than six degrees south of the equator. The ancient name is Jawa or Karion, and it has names suchas Jagatara and Garappa. The Hollanders call it "Yaawa" [Java]. In it there is a place called "Batabia." This is a colony of Holland, and the [Dutch] have built an official residence and have a chief magistrate called "zeneraaru. "192 This is an official title meaning governor-general, and I hear that he is the principal administrator of this place. The various officials above and below the "kapitan," it is said, all handle the comings and goings of merchant ships and the conduct of commerce and trade on receipt of his [the governor-general's] orders. Everyone [going] to the various countries that are in the East gets ready and departs from here [Batavia]. There are more than twenty places with which commerce is carried on between Holland and the various countries of the Orient and Occident.... These [ports] annually send thirteen ships to Canton. And at this place [Canton] it is said that a great many ships of various countries of the East and West come together. From China a great many people of Chang - 193 come to trade. It is said that each one of the ships that sets out for the various countries of the East sails back to this place [Batavia] and after making a full accounting they are sent back to their homeland, Holland. The [ships] that come to Japan every year do not come directly from the mother country. They set sail from this place [Batavia] at the end of May and with the south winds they reach Nagasaki by the end of June or the beginning of July. Generally the distance by sea is said to be 1300 ri, isn't it? Then after their arrival, they spend the three months of July, August, and September in trading. According to the established practice, they set sail from Nagasaki harbor on September 20. The ship goes about one ri and stops and remains there. As soon as all the personnel contract their business, not later than the first ten days of October, they ride out to the mother ship in a small boat, and raising their sails in the north winds of the winter season they head for Batavia.. The general conditions of the outlined sea routes of the home country and "Jagatara" are as stated. For detailed facts, if there is a detailed map of the whole world, this should be referred to. Facts about the sea routes are in a book called Kokai ryakuki ],$i~so [Short record of sea routes] which is made up of verbatim notes of the people of Nagasaki and is very simply composed. Since [the sea routes] appear in Kom6 zatsuwa, this should also be looked at.

Page  90 90 GRANT K. GOODMAN China is part of the continent called Asia, and, since it is a country that is near the East, the distance by sea to our country is very close. Although there is continuous land [from China] to the place where Holland lies, since these [two places] are separated by the various countries of the three continents of [Asia], Africa, and Europe, the distance by land is several tens of thousands of ri, and it is not easy to cross. In the Yuan periodl94 when they [the Chinese] tried to discern the whole extent of the countries to the West, it is said that they sent out a great number of persons who reached a place where there was a huge lake and returned, saying this was the end of the world. This great lake is said to be the so-called Hoku Kokai 3J,~ A [North High Sea]. (Ed. note: What is termed Kokai i4 [High Sea] must be Kokai {X~ [Red Sea].) Holland is a place said to be some thousands of ri beyond this sea. People who have accepted this story, though they do not have the facts to discriminate, explain and tell its substance to the foolish women who thought China and Holland were the same. Since these tales of the world cannot be proved by reference to maps, I am dumbfounded and have difficulty comprehending them. Therefore I show here a sketch-map of the world, and this should be also considered. (Ed. note: After this there are maps of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and these are omitted here. Although there are the names of the men who drew those maps, etc., as well as notes to explain the maps, these are also omitted.) With the prosperity of the glorious reign many barbarians came to pay homage,and the four barbarians196 having acquired culture, they presented as tribute countless treasures and literary works of their scholars. Among these the devices and various medicines brought over by the Dutch come from the six continents, and if one dealt fully with their names and principal uses one would have difficulty exhausting them. Nevertheless from ancient times many mistakes about their uses have been handed down. Recently Dutch studies have come into existence, and Chinese classics, Sanskrit literature, and Dutch letters have been perfected in the empire, and there is nothing that is not available in Japan. Therefore our teacher Unari Sugita t#.t 0. 17 197 initiated the great task of translating Dutch books, and aside from [studies in] medicine we have used Dutch books to reform [our ideas] even to the location of countries that can be called countries in the world, their instruments, and their names and principal uses, and it has indeed come to be as if they were at our finger tips. And the teacher's [Sugita's] disciple Bansui, Otsuki, took an increasingly broader view and gained a clear understanding, and his desire to try to establish this work firmly was very deep. Therefore pupils who studied his method came to make a mecca of the master's house. Among them was a person called Bunchui of Tamba Province. He inquired of the master about several matters which had caused him [the master] to be spoken of and lionized by the public, and writing them down he [Arima] composed Ransetsu benwaku. Just as his manuscript was almost finished, Arima died, and [his death] was greatly mourned.... The master's [Otsuki Bansui's] pupils, inheriting Arima's desire, planned the details of publication, and, although the [students] often asked the master, he shook his head and did not consent and answered the questions of two or three disciples all at once only with trivial scoldings. Since he said this [work] should never be released to the world at large to invite the ridicule of scholars in public, the pupils were frightened and did not accomplish [their objective]. However, although the master said it [Ransetsu benwaku] was ephemeral small talk, if [these saying] were not true, he would not have uttered them. If these were not accurate teachings, they would not be revealed. Though he may call a book like this a pamphlet, he has inquired widely into a great many Western books, and this is the true record of his replies to questioning. Among the ancient and modern books of Japan and China it is difficult to justify [this one], but the public considers it rare and has not stopped passing it around for over ten years. In the old days when I, Mikura, went to the teacher's school together with my master [Arima], there was something which [Arima] recorded and kept of [Bansui's] stories of the West. For a long time he [Arima] thought of

Page  91 RANSETSU BENWAKU 91 selecting [some] for publication by wood block and trying to make the [work] an aid in Dutch language studies. But one day I acquired this book from a pupil of the master [Arima]. Bunchd wrote this record himself, and if you compare it [with my work] it is much, much better. Since the [record] has been handed down successively, there have been many mistakes in writing the characters. Now, inheriting Bunchu's desire and going over his proofs, I asked the master about publication; but since he [spoke] again as he had before, reluctantly Irevised here and there the written record that had been kept in former times, and my friend Shukufu, workingwith his brush, made some new drawings, and I had it printed privately. Although this is as though it were cheapening the original objective of the master [Arimal many copies have been accumulated. Still more must the mistakes increase as [the book] is handed on in the future. If at some future date this should come under the perusal of the master, Imyself would take the blame. I, Koshimura Mikura, who live in Anotsu -c 4198 write at Yiransai 0t, l + 199 on the fifteenth day of January, 1798. Notes 1. (1603-1651). Third Tokugawa shogun. 2. "Fore Island." An artificially constructed island originally built for the Portuguese in 1636 to which the Dutch were confined from 1641 to 1855. 3. The importation of Dutch books had been spurred on by Tokugawa Yoshimune (1672-1751), the eighth Tokugawa shogun. 4. A place in Rikuchu d k, one of the thirteen provinces of the Tosando in northern Honshu near modern Iwate Prefecture. 5. (1733-1817). Often considered the father of Dutch studies in Japan and author of Rangaku kotohajime ta-/b (Beginnings of Dutch studies) written in 1815. 6. Dai hyakka jiten -j~g ~.~ (Great encyclopedia) v. 3, p. 574. 7. A town in Buzen Province. Modern Oita Prefecture. 8. (1723-1803) Celebrated Dutch scholar who was editor-in-chief of Kaitai shinsho. See note 17 below. 9. A district in Tamba 4- Province, the home of Arima. Modern Ky6to. 10. (1750-1802). Daimyo of Fukuchiyama who was a patron of Dutch studies and a close friend of the Dutch official, Isaac Titsingh. 11. (1735-1794). A senior member of a Nagasaki hereditary interpreter family. 12. The Bakufu Observatory was first established by Yoshimune in Kanda, Edo, in 1744; it was abolished in 1751, re-established at Ushigome in 1765 and removed to Asakusa in 1782. 13. (1785-1829). He was given the Western name Globius. He later diedinprison for having given Siebold certain books and maps. 14. (1787-1822). A leading Dutch scholar who was sent by the bakufu to interview the Russian captive, Golovnin. Baba published the first Russo-Japanese dictionary in Japan.

Page  92 92 GRANT K. GOODMAN 15. 1,488 bushels. 16. A well known temple which served as the site of negotiations between Japan and the Western powers after the opening of the country. 17. A book compiled from a Dutch translation by G. Dichten of Johann Adam Kulmus's Anatomische Tabellen. (Maj. C. R. Boxer, Jan Compagnie in Japan 1600-1817, p. 47.) 18. Dai hyakka jiten, v. 3, p. 574. 19. (1763-1836). 20. (1820-1847). He later became a bakufu expert on Russia. 21. Located in modern Ibaragi Prefecture. 22. (Further translation of a selected view of foreign statements.) Having read Arai Hakuseki's Sairan igen Yamamura prepared a similar work in fourteen volumes. 23. (1656-1725). Celebrated man of letters and historian. 24. (A selected view of foreign statements.) A five-volume book based on the answers of Sidotti and the Dutch envoys to questions propounded by Arai on the subject of Western geography and customs. 25. (1758-1811). A physician of the Ikeda i- e (Tottori) clan who under the influence of Otsuki translated over eighty thousand words in Franqois Halma' s Dutch- French Dictionary in 1796. (Boxer, op. cit., p. 64) Inamura's work is known as the Edo Halma. 26. (1769-1834). Author of one of the earliest works dealing with European pharmacology. 27. Otsuki Gentaku. jA\;1L 2.\ 28. Arima Gencho.;1, c kJ - A 29. Term for the head of the Dutch settlement at Deshima. Du. opperhoofd. 30. A company physician was attached to the Dutch settlement at Deshima. After 1650 he always accompanied the captain on the visits to Edo. 31. j a& t (Picking blossoms from a field of orchids). An obvious play on the character ran which means Holland or Dutch as well as orchid. A book composed of answers given by Bansui to questions put to him in leisure moments, sometimes in Chinese, sometimes in Japanese. Thirty-eight volumes of essays, translations of Western materials, worldly gossip, official reports, and various remarks on natural history. 32. (Writings from a straw mat.) 33. (New view of six things.) The six are: toshi,- (year), toki i (time), hi q (day or sun), tsuki g (month or moon). hoshi,% (star), and tatsu ) (fifth zodiacal sign [dragonl). 34. Chin. A-lan-tVo. ps ji,

Page  93 RANSETSU BENWAKU 93 35. Chinese dynasty (618-906). 36. This means the Chinese reading as rendered in Japanese. 37. Chinese dynasty (1368-1644). 38. Chin. reading: Ho-lan. 39. Chin. reading: Fa-lan-tai-ya. 40. "Red-hairs." 41. "Red barbarians." 42. About 250 or 500 miles. One ri= 2.44 miles. 43. The Dutch opperhoofd, Feijth, who visited Edo in 1787. 44. In eastern Honshu. 45. In northern Honshu. 46. Old name for Kyushu. 47. Reference here is to the annual visit to the capital of the chief of the Dutch settlement, the physician, and the secretary. 48. Dutch opperhoofd, Baron v. Reede tot de Parkeler, at Deshima, 1786. 49. Du. arak. A wine which came from Holland in former times. It is ordinarily used in India and Egypt. 50. Port. vinho tinto. A red wine imported from Portugal in early days. 51. Du. bier (beer). 52. Port. vidro (glass). 53. Du. kelk (cup). 54. Port. frasco (flask). 55. Du. bokaal (cup, goblet). 56. Du. groot drinken beker (large drinking cup). 57. Du. Rijns wijn glas (Rhenish wine glass). 58. Du. wijn water glas (wine and water glass). 59. Du. soep glas (soup glass). 60. Du. bier glas (beer glass).

Page  94 94 GRANT K. GOODMAN 61. Du. flesch (bottle). 62. Du. bottelen (bottle). 63. Du. kurk (cork). 64. Du. prop (stopper). 65. (Outline of plant life in southern areas.) A Chinese botanical study in five volumes written by Chi Han of the Chin Dynasty (265-420 A. D.) about the plant life of Kiangsuand and Anhwei Provinces. 66. Du. rondte bottelen (round bottle). 67. Round flask. 68. Du. lang bottelen (long bottle). 69. Flask in the shape of a fulling-block. 70. Du. wijd mond (wide mouth). 71. Du. water kan (water jug). 72. Du. Spa water (water from Spa, Belgium). 73. Du. zoutvaatje (salt-cellar). 74. Du. lampet (ewer). 75. Du. lepel (spoon). 76. Du. mes (knife). 77. Du. vork (fork). 78. Port. faca (pen-knife). 79. Du. knipmes (clasp-knife). 80. Du. kandelaar (candlestick). 81. Port. saraca (printed cotton). 82. Du. sits (chintz). 83. Surat, India. 84. Port. raxa (woolen cloth). 85. Du. laken (woolen cloth). 86. Du. perpetuaan, Span. perpetuan (a kind of woolen cloth).

Page  95 RANSETSU BENWAKU 95 87. Du. grofgrein (grogram). 88. Port. Sao Thome. A place in India from which a particular type of striped cloth came. 89. Torres? 90. Du. zijde (silk). 91. Du. gekokt rijst (boiled rice). 92. Du. brood (bread). 93. Fr. pain (bread). 94. Du. vogel (bird). 95. About three pints. 96. Du. struisvogel (ostrich). 97. Lat. struthio (ostrich). 98. Ptn-ts'ao-kang-mu^,* J Q (General outline of botany). Completed 1518. Actually a compilation and extension of previous botanical treatises of the T'ang and Sung periods. 99. A noted Chinese botanist who lived at the end of the Ming period (1368-1644). His book Ptn-ts'ao came to Japan where it was regarded as "sacred scripture" by Tokugawa botanists. 100. (1718-1776). Noted physician and naturalist of the Tokugawa period. 101. Lat. bilis (bile). 102. Port. mumia (mummy). Parts of mummies were formerly used as a drug (probably powdered). 103. Port. unicornio (unicorn). 104. A species of fomes glaucotus. A genus of fungi and an inedible mushroom. 105. Du. saffraan (saffron). 106. Du. drop zoethout (licorice). 107. (Red-hair miscellany.) This book by Morishima Chury5 was published at Edo in 1787 in five volumes. It was based on experiences which the author's brother, Katsuragawa, and other friends had with the Hollanders at Nagasaki. Morishima was a friend of Otsuki Gentaku. 108. Du. roeper (copper megaphone shaped like a bugle and one meter in length). 109. Du. roep (call).

Page  96 96 GRANT K. GOODMAN 110. Du. wijnruit (a kind of medicinal herb). 111. Lat. Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary). 112. Du. anjelier (carnation). 113. Du. genista (common Scotch broom, cytisus scoparius). 114. (Selected Dutch medicines.) Published in ten volumes. 115. Pennameof Katsuragawa Hoshd, (1751-1809). Katsuragawa was physician to the shogun, as well as an author, translator, and Dutch scholar. 116. A district comprising the western part of Mutsu in northeast Honshu. 117. Southern Hokkaido. 118. Du. slang (snake). 119. Du. steen (stone). 120. Another name for India. 121. Port. carta (card). 122. Du. speelkart (playing card). 123. (Japanese language study.) A twenty-volume book published in 1719 devoted to a study of the origin and structure of the Japanese language. 124. Probably Kanara, India. 125. Gr. hammochrysos? 126. Du. bloed steen (blood stone). 127. Du. diamant (diamond). 128. Port. alfeloa (sugar candy). 129. Port. pao de Castella (Spanish-style bread). 130. Du. amandel (almond). 131. (Record of the natural characteristics of Cambodia.) A travel record covering forty topics written by a Chinese envoy to Cambodia in 1295. 132. Port. capa (raincoat). 133. Probably Fr. jupon (petticoat). 134. Port. eneldo (medicinal herb). 135. Port. manteiga (grease).

Page  97 RANSETSU BENWAKU 97 136. Port. meias (hosiery). 137. Du. olijf boom (olive tree). 138. A species of a very large genus of convolvulaceous plants having showy flowers, some of which yield purgative drugs. 139. Peninsula and old province of west central Honshu. Modern Shizuoka Prefecture. 140. Kii A6 I. Old province of south central Honshu. Modern Wakayama and Mie Prefectures. 141. (Plants of Holland.) Probably Oranda honzo wakai fi^ 4j$sI 4z (Explanations in Japanese of Dutch plants) written by Noro Genjo(1693-1761) and published in 1741. 142. Port. coquilho. (small coconut used for making snuff). 143. (Thoughts on the sea-coconut.) 144. Lat. catalpa ovata (Indian bean). 145. Lat. polygonum orientale (prince's feather). 146. Du. slanghout (snakewood). 147. Fr. savon, Port. sabao, Du. zeep (soap). 148. Du. spons zeep (sponge soap). 149. Lat. anastatica hierochuntina (resurrection flower). 150. Du. roos van Jericho (rose of Jericho). 151. (A collection of detailed notes on gardens.) Wang Shih-chen (1528-1593). Chinese writer and official of the Ming period. 152. Du. terpentijn (turpentine). 153. Port. bezoar (bezoar antelope, gazelle). 154. Port. pedra bezoar (bezoar stone). 155. Du. boter (butter). 156. A mountainous region in modern Mie and Aichi Prefectures. 157. Jacatra, the old name for Batavia, now Jakarta. 158. S'akya Muni, the founder of Buddhism. 159. Du. zwart jong (young black). 160. Du. matroos (sailor).

Page  98 98 GRANT K. GOODMAN 161. Du. kombuis (cook's galley). 162. Du. compagnie (company). 163. Du. Oostindische Compagnie (East India Company). 164. Seal of the Dutch East India Company. The "N" is for Nederlands (Dutch), the "O" for Oostindische (East India), the "V" for Vereenigde (united, joint), and the "C" for Compagnie (company). 165. Du. Nederduitsch Oostindische Han Compagnie (Dutch East India TradingCompany). The Dutch words total thirty-six letters. 166. Du. electriciteit (electricity). 167. Du. vuur steen kracht (fire stone power). 168. Du. tover lantaarn (magic lantern). 169. Du. lucht pomp (air pump). 170. Du. donkere kamer (camera obscura). A darkened chamber or box having an aperture (usually provided with a lens) through which light from external objects enters to form an image on the surface opposite. 171. Du. thermometer (thermometer). 172. Probably Hiraga Gennai 4 B5 r*J (1726-1779) who was a Dutch scholar and botanist. 173. Du. weer glas (weather-glass). 174. Du. donderglas (thunder-glass). 175. Du. lancet (lancet). 176. Du. laat-kop, Port. ventosa (cupping-glass). A device used in the old medical practice of blood letting. 177. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598). The second of the three great unifiers of Japan. 178. An island off northwest Kyushu where the Dutch had a factory from 1610 to 1641. 179. Old province of Kyushu. Modern Nagasaki and Saga Prefectures. 180. This is Nishikawa Joken (1647-1724), an astronomer and Dutch scholar. 181. (Twilight tales of Nagasaki.) This book, written in 1700 and published in 1720, was acollection of stories about the Dutch. 182. Du. kapitein (captain). 183. Du. opperhoofd (chief).

Page  99 RANSETSU BENWAKU 99 184. Du. assistent (assistant). 185. Du. schrijver (scribe). 186. (1735-1794). Hereditary interpreter at Nagasaki and Dutch scholar. Same as Motogi Einoshin. 187. Du. geneesheer (physician). 188. Du. doktor (doctor). 189. Du. heelmeester (surgeon). 190. Du. handwerkers (craftsman, i. e. surgeon). 191. Du. oppermeester (senior surgeon), onder meester (junior surgeon). 192. Du. generaal (general). 193. A large tributary of the river Wei in northeast Honan and south Chihli. 194. China's Mongol Dynasty (1260-1368). 195. Koshimura Tonan of Anotsu, another pupil of Otsuki Bansui and a friend of Arima Bunchu. He completed Arima's work and accordingly wrote the colophon. 196. A term taken over from the Chinese who regarded China as the center of culture and the peoples about them —north, south, east, and west —as uncouth barbarians. 197. Another name of Sugita Gempaku. See note 5 above. 198. Old name for Tsu, Ise, in modern Mie Prefecture. 199. Pen name of Koshimura Tonan and also the name of his study.

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