Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
When things got as bad as this, a farmer would naturally think of abandoning his land
and moving off to seek employment elsewhere, either in more favorable rural areas or in
the developing towns. The selling or abandonment of land was strictly forbidden, but ob-
viously took place regardless of the ban. In an effort to prevent abandonment of holdings,
it was ordained that a farmer had to obtain a permit from his
shintō
shrine before he could
leave his village. If a farmer left his land, or did not work it for some reason, the group
or village would have to take it over, and work it to provide revenue. At the same time
greateffortswerebeingmadebylordstoincreasetheirrevenuesbyopeningupnewfields,
either in the valleys or by land reclamation, and they had considerable difficulty in getting
occupiers for them. All sorts of devices were used, such as giving new land to those whose
present holdings were of poor quality, giving people bonuses of money or
sake
to take up
land, or even, it is reported, obliging those who were unmasked as the lovers of married
women to cultivate new fields, presumably as a punishment.
Farmers were thus continually being pressed for money, and if they had no good crops
to sell, and could not leave their village, they had to seek other ways of raising it. Many
were forced to sell their daughters into what amounted to slavery. The brothels and enter-
tainment districts were provided with their women by this means. A father would receive a
loan from the proprietor of such an establishment, in return for the use of her services for
so many years. At the end of the term she could go back; often, however, the father had to
extend the term in order to obtain a further loan. An outsider who was willing to repay the
money advanced to the father could buy the girl out to make her his mistress or his bride.
Sometimes a husband would use his young wife in this way to provide for himself or his
parents. Although there was considerable distress in individual cases, there was no gener-
al condemnation of this practice, because it was seen as one way of serving one's parents,
and in the atmosphere of the times it is probable that the majority of girls found their new
life at least no worse than the one they were leaving. Should a girl manage to return home
eventually she could well be in demand as a wife because of the education and experience
of the world which she had acquired while she was away.
Sons, too, would try to relieve the situation at home by taking temporary jobs in a
castle-town, and staying on after their contract was terminated, or even by running away to
Edo or Osaka, so that they were no longer dependent on their family. The depopulation of
the countryside had reached such proportions in the early nineteenth century that the cent-
ral government carried out forcible repatriations of refugees from rural areas.
Another way of reducing the number of mouths to be fed was the widespread use of
infanticide and abortion. In country districts it seems that the former was more common,
perhaps because the sex of the child could be determined, babies, especially girls, being
smothered at birth. Attempts were made in various domains to control this “thinning out,”
asitwascalled, bydemandingthatpregnancies bereportedandtheircourseinspected, and
