Vol. 72, No. 1

Gakusho NAKAJIMA
Forestry management, disputes, and lineage formation in Huizhou during the mid-Qing period: a case study of the Ling lineage of Qimen county

The Ling lineage in Qimen county analysed in this paper was no more than an undistinguished small lineage that produced no gentry or large merchants at all and engaged in farming and the management of mountain forests. Ownership rights in the mountain forests had become fractionalized, being divided into shares, namely gufen, and earnings gained from forestry were apportioned according to the number of shares owned by each household. From the mid-18th century, with the expansion of domestic markets and the growth of overseas trade, the rural economy of Huizhou experienced unprecedented growth. The growth of an economy based on mountain forests also brought considerable wealth to the Ling lineage. Meanwhile, increasing population pressure and a growing scarcity of resources intensified competition and conflict within rural society.

Under these circumstances, the Lings dared to pursue a lineage model as an important strategy to survive in the highly competitive local society. In the early 19th century, they employed a few poor peasants as tenant-bondservants [dian-bu], filed a major lawsuit against a local powerful lineage, formed an alliance through marriage with a lineage residing in the county seat, established common properties for the lineage and its branches, and agreed to the strict enforcement of footbinding on the women of the Ling. Both tenant-bondservants and footbinding were forms of cultural capital symbolic of elite lineages. The pursuit of a lineage model was highly strategic for small lineages such as the Lings. An ideal lineage model was an indispensable symbolic capital, and this kind of capital was essential even for non-elite descent groups.

Chikashi TAKAHASHI
Fertilizer imports by Japan from 1904 to 1913

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the causes of increase in Japan's import of fertilizers from 1904 to 1913, mainly considering its relationship to the global market. This paper focuses on three types of fertilizers: bean oil cake, fish oil cake, and ammonium sulfate. While bean oil cake was the most popular nitrogenous fertilizer that farmers bought during this period, fish oil cake had been used during the 19th century, and ammonium sulfate became popular after World War I.

The import of the three fertilizers suddenly began increasing during (or after) the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), a trend that continued until 1907. From 1908, when the Japanese economy was in depression, there was competition among the three fertilizers, and the use of bean oil cake and ammonium sulfate increased, while that of fish oil cake decreased. The prices, which were determined by the global trade, influenced this competition.

Japanese agriculture acquired a stable supply of various fertilizers by purchasing widely from throughout world. Bean oil cake shared half of the fertilizer import during this period, which was the result of the rational choices taken with the global market in mind.

Hiroshi ONO
The housing problem in Tokyo after the Great Earthquake of 1923

This paper aims to clarify the circumstances of the housing problem in Tokyo after Kanto Daishinsai [the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923] mainly in relation to the supply and demand on the rental housing market.

Based on the marked increase in housing demand following the earthquake, excessive housing investments were made in the suburbs of Tokyo city. However, the increase in housing supply in Tokyo city, on the one hand, and the increase in tenants due to intensification of the recession, on the other, widened the gap between supply and demand by area. The focus of the housing problem shifted from an absolute lack of housing into a problem of affordability. By the end of the 1920s, dissatisfaction intensified among low-income tenants who were shut out of the private rental housing market. From 1929 to 1930, rental rates decreased in general under the influence of a decline in prices and a movement for rent reduction.

Feng ZHANG
Development of the geta industry and economic controls during the Pacific War: focus on spontaneous production activity of producing areas

The purpose of the article is first to clarify the development of the geta [wooden footwear] industry in wartime Japan, focusing on the characteristic of wartime economic controls, and then to seek the factors contributing to the early revival of the industry after the war. Previous research on wartime industries for civilian needs has emphasized regulations, organization, and mobilization due to wartime controls, but in this article we attempt to avoid such categorical views.

We have made clear the following two points regarding the case of the geta industry. The first point is that although controls were strengthened as the Pacific War intensified, maximum use of the major geta production areas was made to meet the serious lack of geta. These conditions helped the survival of the geta industry, even despite the continued decrease in production scale.

The second point is that the organized voluntary activity of the geta production areas before and after the war was the most important factor that contributed to revival of the industry following defeat. In concrete terms, the activity included the transition and participation of the geta industry, the "three-prefecture conference" initiated by Hiroshima, and establishment of Matsunaga Footwear Ltd., which participated in merchant activities.