Rice, Agriculture, and the Food Supply in Premodern Japan

Description

The majority of studies on the agricultural history of Japan have focused on the public administration of land and production, and rice, the principal source of revenue, has received the most attention. However, while this cereal has clearly played a decisive role in the public economy of the Japanese State, it has not had a predominant place in agricultural production. Far from confining its scope to a study of rice growing for tax purposes, this volume looks at the subsistence economy in the plant kingdom as a whole. This book examines the history of agriculture in premodern Japan from the 8th to the 17th century, dealing with the history of agricultural techniques and food supply of rice, wheat, millet and other grains. Drawing extensively on material from history, literature, archaeology, ethnography and botany, it analyses each of the farming operations from sowing to harvesting, and the customs pertaining to consumption. It also challenges the widespread theory that rice cultivation has been the basis of "Japaneseness" for two millennia and the foundation of Japanese civilization by focusing on the biodiversity and polycultural traditions of Japan. Further, it will play a role in the current dialogue on the future of sustainable agricultural production from the viewpoints of ecology, biodiversity, dietary culture and food security throughout the world as traditional techniques such as crop rotation are explored in connection with the safeguarding of the minerals in the soil. Surveying agricultural techniques across the centuries and highlighting the dietary diversity of Japan, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese history, the history of science and technology, medieval history, cultural anthropology and agriculture. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright page Table of Contents List of illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction The natural environment The introduction of irrigated rice cultivation The introduction of dry grains The forest environment 1. Irrigated rice and dry crops The ideal of the zealous farmer Tillage The imperial vegetable gardens Fertilization The sowing of dry crops The sowing and transplanting of rice Irrigation Weeding The struggle against disasters Harvesting Drying From ears to grains Storage The management of agrarian space Agrarian developments in the late medieval period (13th–16th centuries) The technical innovations of the Edo period (17th–19th centuries) Notes 2. A mountainous environment: shifting cultivation What is shifting agriculture? The ethnology of swidden-field crops in Japan Swidden farming in the 18th–19th centuries Swidden fields: the poor relation of historiography Swidden fields in the 8th–10th-century administrative texts Hata – the swidden field; hatake – the permanent field Swidden farming in the early medieval lexicography Swidden fields in the medieval period Swidden fields in the 8th–12th centuries The poetry of the spring fires Toponymy The toponyms of early medieval Japan The wilderness, moor and clearing: no Shrine names Agri-sylviculture: the traditional forest management Toponyms possibly relating to agri-sylviculture Discussion: early agriculture and swidden farming Notes 3. Biodiversity: harvesting of wild plants Fruits Vegetables Medicinal products Oils, dyes and textiles Cereals, straws and stems The archaeological context Discussion: foraging in an agricultural society Wild plants in the modern period Notes 4. Food security: how much rice did they eat? Discussion: rice in the dietary history Yields and production in the 8th century Consumption of rice in the 8th century Yields and consumption of rice in the prehistoric period Yields and consumption of rice in the modern period How much rice did they eat? Notes 5. Polyculture in premodern Japanese traditions Discussion: rice cultivation and Japaneseness, a concept re-examined Mythology and agriculture Cereals in the historiography of the early medieval period Cereals in the religious rituals Cereals in the court banquets Notes Conclusion The silence of the sources Mythology and cultural tradition Polyculture Plant tripolarity in agriculture and the food supply Appendix Bibliography Index