Trial and Error, Study and Sweat: Yoshida Saburō’s Smallholding in Northeastern Japan, 1935
Production, Consumption, Business and the Economy: Structural Ideals and Moral Realities
ISBN: 978-1-78441-056-8, eISBN: 978-1-78441-055-1
Publication date: 16 September 2014
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks: (1) to understand householding as an economic survival strategy by viewing new, historical, evidence in light of previous work on the theme, (2) to fill gaps in the historical and anthropological literature on prewar Japanese farming villages that have resulted in an incomplete conceptualization of the household as a unit of production and consumption, and (3) to improve the overall comprehension of peasant behavior vis-à-vis questions about moral economy, ecological adaptation, and risk-taking.
Design/methodology/approach
The essay relies on information gleaned from a detailed 1935–1936 one-year diary of a small-scale farmer, published in 1938.
Findings
The prewar Japanese farming village was far more than a collection of households linked by sharing and reciprocal ties. It was not only a place where households as economic units of production and consumption were central, but one where individuals strived to obtain whatever they could, whenever they could. It appears that small-scale prewar Japanese farmers were as likely to take risks and to experiment in order to improve their lot as any other peasants around the world.
Originality/value
It adds to the understanding of prewar Japanese farming villages by presenting valuable historical data that has previously been unavailable in English. It also helps to better situate Japanese peasants in the context of global peasant culture and society, and improves understanding of developmental processes – especially in the case of 20th century Japan.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the daughters and other family members of Yoshida Saburō for all of their cooperation and hospitality, and for allowing me to scan and use photographs and other materials in their father’s personal collection. I am grateful to my wife, Akiko, for helping me translate Yoshida’s (1938) book and for everything else. I would also like to thank Ty Matejowsky for his comments on a draft of this paper, although I claim full responsibility for any errors or shortcomings in it. Finally, I humbly dedicate this paper to Nakamichi Yaeko, the youngest daughter of Yoshida Saburō, who departed this world on April 3, 2014, at the age of 81.
Citation
Wood, D.C. (2014), "Trial and Error, Study and Sweat: Yoshida Saburō’s Smallholding in Northeastern Japan, 1935", Production, Consumption, Business and the Economy: Structural Ideals and Moral Realities (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 34), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 235-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-128120140000034008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited