Land chapter-History of Agricultural Land Development in Japan-

1. Introduction
As shown in Figure 1, the population of Japan has gradually increased from theperiod of rice farming technology transmission to the modern period in pace withthe expansion of agricultural land area, which is the foundation for food supply. In
the early Edo period, agricultural land area increased significantly and so did the
population. After the Meiji period, it rapidly increased further, which resulted inanother population explosion. However, around 1955, agricultural land area
peaked and started to rapidly decrease. The population increase also reached its
limit and now Japan has entered into a period of decreasing population for the firsttime in history. In this “Land Chapter”, the history of Japanese agricultural land
which has supported our lives from the prehistoric periods is reviewed and future
prospects for agricultural land are analyzed.

Figure 1: Transition of Population and Cultivated Land in Japan.(Source: Material
from MAFF is partly modified)

2. Transmission of rice farming technology and birth of a state
It is said that around the 10th century B.C.E., rice farming technology wasbrought into the coastal areas of the Genkai-nada Sea along the northern part of
Kyushu Island, Japan. During the beginning of rice farming in Japan, paddy fields
were constructed in back marshes at the downstream of a river or swampy lands
in valleys (Figure 2) through a village’s collaborative work. During the Yayoi period(300BCE – 300CE), rice farming technology extended north, up to Aomori
Prefecture (Figure 3). With iron farming tools (Figure 4) introduced during thelate Yayoi period channel and pond construction as well as new paddy fielddevelopment

became

easy.

Rice

farming

culture,represented

by

Toro

archeological site, had been born (around 1st century C.E.).
In the meantime, while production capacity expanded with the progress of rice
farming, disparity of wealth became visible among villages, and an ancient state
gradually formed with the unification of powerful groups (Kuni) under rulingconditions (around 4th century C.E.). The tenth emperor, Sujin, during the Kofun
period(300CE-538CE) is believed to have said, “Agriculture is the foundation of acountry. Water in paddy fields is scarce, so open up ponds and channels so that

people can make affordable living.” (Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan)). Ancient
tombs (Figure 5) found widely across the Yamato plain and Nara valley areevidence of powerful rulers. They are now considered to have been constructed
not by compulsory mobilization of people but collaborative works of people undera ruler, for utilizing the moat also for an irrigation pond1).
After the Taika Reform in 645, a centralized governing system of public landfor public use was introduced that imitated the legal code system of Tang, China,
and made improvements to farming lands and irrigation systems along subdivided
lands laid out in a grid pattern based on the Jyori System (ancient system of land
allocation). Males of more than 6 years of age were allocated 2 Dan (about 0.24ha.) of Kubunden (allotted rice field), females received 2/3 of a males’ land, and
3% of production from rice fields was charged as a tax (Handen Shuju System(rice field allotment system)). The unit of 1 Dan (1 Tan) was equivalent to the rice
field area that could produce about 1 Koku (1,000 Gou or about 150kg) of rice,which would support one adult for one year in those days (7~8th century).

Figure 2: Locations and configurations of paddy fields in Yayoi Period. (Citation:
Daichi eno Kokuin, p.64)-Paddy fields had initially been located in semi lowland at an entrance of valley-

Figure 3: Tareyanagi Archeological Site (Provision：Inakadate Education Board)

Figure 4: Iron farming tools (Provision: Department of Cultural Assets, Kobe City)

Figure 5: Tomb of Emperor Sujin in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture (Source: Website
of Geographical Survey Institute)- Even at present, irrigation water is provided to 3 branches from 3 moats-3. Manorial system and Samurai (warrior) societyWith population growth, the agricultural land for continuing the rice field
allotment system became deficient, and the state enacted the Sanze Isshin Hou(the law to assure the possession of new reclaimed land for three generations) in
723 and Einen Shizai Hou (the law permitting the permanent ownership of newly
reclaimed land) in 743 to encourage reclaiming new land. By these measures,
permanent private ownership of newly reclaimed land was officially recognized,
and the system of public land for public use collapsed. Aristocrats andshrines/temples started to expand private land into Shoen (manors). The manorial
system existed for the following 800 years. Taxation rights and profit making on
manors was complicated, and farmers were sometimes forced to repeatedly pay
taxes by landowners.
Around the 10th century, warriors started to gain power as manorial guards andowners of reclaimed lands thus emerging as a ruling class. Yoritomo Minamoto
established the feudal system (Goon to Houkou: reward and service) andpromoted land and water development after positioning a Shugo (governor) for
each province and a Jito (estate steward) for each manor/public territory.
During the Muromachi period (1333-1573), Shugo started to control manors andpublic territories, thus becoming Shugo Daimyo (territorial lord as provincial
constable), who made master-servant relationships with powerful local clans. Afterthe Onin War in 1467, the Sengoku (civil war) period (1467-1615) started, andmanors in the frontier were invaded by warriors. From around the 14th century,
farmers united to organize autonomous village organizations called “Sou”, which
took responsibility for constructing and maintaining irrigation facilities andmanaging Iriaichi (common land.) They also formed a prototype of a management
system unique to Japan.
In those days, the production capacity of rice was the economy’s base, andwarlords actively promoted new paddy field development on a basin scale.
Improvements to the Kamanashigawa and Fuefukigawa rivers in Koushyu provinceby the Takeda clan, the Shinanogawa river in Echigo province by the Uesugi clan,
and the Ohtagawa river in Aki province by the Mouri clan can be listed as examples.
Hideyoshi Toyotomi conducted the Taikou Kenchi (nationwide land cadastral) in
1594 after unifying the country (Figure 6) and adjusted the standard of land
productivity for imposing taxes and awarding territory. With these adjustments, alllands were allocated to specific territorial lords under the principle of “one cultivatedland for one cultivator”. As such the manorial system which started in the Nara
period came to an end.

Figure 6: Kenchi and Kenchicho (land ledger) (Citation: Daichi eno Kokuin, p.171“Tokugawa Bakufu Kenchi Youryaku”）

4. Technology and New Paddy Field Development during the Edo period
The Tokugawa Shogunate established a social order through territorial control by
the Bakuhan Taisei (domain and Shogunate System) and the solid class system(Heinou Bunri: separation of farmers and warriors). By assigning specific yields ofrice to the land based on rice production, rice became the Shogunate’s financialbase. In the village, farmers were organized in units known as Gonin Gumi (5household group), who appointed a Nanushi (it is called Shoya in Western Japanand Kimoiri in Tohoku region) as their leader to govern the village through mutual
aid and monitoring to pay taxes and impose labor contributions based on Murauke
Seido (system of village-wide, collective responsibility for tax payment).
During the Edo period, securing rice production and supply was the policy
foundation, and large-scale new paddy field development progressed all overJapan along with the progress of land technology. In the Kanto Plain, rerouting of
the Tonegawa River and reclamation of marsh land were conducted in the early
17 century with techniques called the Kanto Ryu (Kanto school). Furthermore,th

Yasobei Izawa, who was invited from Kishyu Domain to Edo by the 8th Shogun
Yoshimune in 1722, adopted the Kishyu Ryu techniques to develop the Minuma
Dai Yousui irrigation system (Figure 7.) He did this by abolishing overflow
embankments and Kasumi embankments of the Kanto school while reinforcing theriver channel by solid embankments and bank protections in the river downstream.

Shipping canals were also developed and a transport system linking the Kanto andTohoku regions was established.
In western Japan, uncultivated land was rarely available and coastal zone
development by sea land reclamation was actively promoted along places such as
the Yatsushiro Plain, Kojima Bay and the Ariake Sea (Figure 8).

Figure 7: Intake of Minuma Dai Yousui irrigation system (Citation: Daichi eno
Kokuin, p.142)

Figure 8: Ariake Sea land reclamation area (Citation: Daichi eno Kokuin, p.98)-New reclaimed lands constructed one after another like fish scales can beobserved-

Through land developments during the Edo period, the cultivated land area ofJapan doubled from about 1.5 million ha. during the Toyotomi period to about 3
million ha. over the 100 years of the early Edo period. Likewise, the population of
12.27 million at the start of the Edo period in 1603 increased 2.5 times to 31.28
million by the Kyoho Reform period (1716-1745）.
Since then, three great famines occurred during the Edo Period, namely the
Kyoho (1732), the Tenmei (1782-1787) and the Tempo (1833-1839). The
fundamental cause of these famines was crop failure by natural disasters, butmarket mechanisms further aggravated conditions2)3). In the case of the Tenmei
Famine that mainly devastated the Tohoku region, farmers were impoverished bypoor crops caused by yamase (cold damage). Tsugaru domain and Sendai domain,which were under financial difficulties because of debts to wealthy urban merchants,
imposed heavier rice collection taxes on these farmers and transported the rice toEdo. With such measures, conditions of “starvation emigration” resulted, andaround 0.5 million people (in the case of Tsugaru domain around 1/3 of its
population) are estimated to have been victimized, manifesting a landscapereminiscent of hell. The Great Famine of Tempo triggered a rebellion by
Heihachiro Oshio, but the underlying causes of the rebellion was the transport ofrice to Edo by Machibugyo (town magistrate) and the buy-up of rice by wealthy
merchants for profits in the midst of famine.

5. Modernization and land consolidation (Meiji period (1868-1912))4)
The Meiji government conducted the Chiso Kaisei (land tax reform) from 1873
to 1879 to establish a system of private land ownership and a financial base by
allowing free land trading and shifting land taxes from rice to cash payment.
Introduction of modern technologies including the steam pump in the Asaka Sosui
Project and oil engines (Figure 9) during the Taisho period (1912-1926) brought
about a revolution in water use, which was followed by the appearance of fossil
fuels for allowing large scale construction.
Toshimichi

Okubo

and

Masayoshi

Matsukata

of

the

Meiji

government

implemented land reclamation projects in Asaka waste land and Hokkaido by
setting up the Shizoku Jusan Seido (relief work measure for the descendants ofsamurai system) to encourage feudal warriors who lost their positions by the
Haihan Chiken (abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures) tofarm and settle through reclamation and settlement measures. The centralizedgovernment could concentrate funds for prioritized activities, and large-scaleconstructions including the National Asaka Sosui Irrigation Project (Figure 10)
were initiated.
Private land ownership provided an incentive for production, and landowners
initiated land consolidations called Denku Kaisei (revision of rice fields). Field ridge
improvement by the Shizuoka method during the Meiji 20s (1887~1896) andwestern-style land consolidation (Figure 11) implemented by Kyubei Takata of
Kaga in 1888 were typical Denku Kaisei, which standardized plot sizes by a 10 aland readjustment suitable for animal traction farming including horses.

Figure 9: Lift pump by oil engine (Citation: Daichi eno Kokuin, p.107)

Figure 10: The whole map of Asaka Sosui Irrigation Project (Provision: Asaka Sosui
Land Improvement District)Figure 11: Map of Denso Kaisei by Ishikawa method (Citation: Suido no Ishizue“Kokudo wo Souzoushita Hitobito” (Foudantion of Water and Land Development“People who developed the land”))

Tsuneaki Sakou who returned from Germany (Prussia), described in his
publication “Tochi Seiri Ron" (theory of land consolidation) that the benefits ofconducting land consolidation were significant and in particular land consolidation
projects in Germany were conducted with the support of over 50 % of landowners
due to their law5). The common practice of rice field plot revision in Japan and theland consolidation law system of Germany were merged to enact the Land
Consolidation Act in 1899, and the system of implementing projects wasestablished with the consent of more than two thirds of landowners. The Kounosu
method, named after the land consolidation project, conducted in Saitama
Prefecture in 1902, became the model for land consolidation because it resulted inless non-arable land compared to the Ishikawa method. Hidesaburo Ueno openeda course on Nougyou Doboku Gaku (Irrigation, Drainage, and Reclamation
Engineering) at Tokyo Imperial University in 1900 and organized a landconsolidation study group in 1907.
Arable land readjustment in an early stage was conducted to reduce labor costby modernizing agriculture, but after the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
growing demand for an increase in land productivity arose due to the shortage ofrice production capacity and the increase of rice import. Thus in 1905, the Land
Consolidation Act was revised to include irrigation and drainage as one of the
project's works. The act was fully revised in 1909 to further include reclamation,
land category conversion, management of constructed facilities, and subsurface
drainage works to enrich project contents. Through modernization of agricultural
practices in the Meiji Period's 40 or so years, about 0.67 million ha. land wasreclaimed and the population of 34.8 million in 1872 increased to more than 50
million by 1912.

6. Rice price hike and rice riot (Taisho period)
With the outbreak of World WarI (1914~1918), industries boomed and people
migrated from rural to urban areas. In rural areas, sericulture prospered, andfamily income increased, which prompted the food habit to shift from
wheat/Japanese millet to rice. In addition to the increase demand for rice,merchants bought up rice for speculation after the dispatch of troops to Siberia,
and the price of rice soared significantly, resulting in the destruction, and burningof the residences/stores of rice merchants by workers (rice riots).
After these events, the government enacted the Rice Act in 1921 to adjust thedemand and supply of rice. In 1919, they also enacted the Reclamation Support
Act to provide interest subsidies for subsurface drainage work and reclamation
financing. From 1923, fifty percent subsidy was provided by the central
government to irrigation and drainage improvement projects of prefectural
governments with more than 500 ha. beneficiary areas. This became the first caseof the central government investing directly and significantly in land improvement
projects.

7. Showa depression and national projects (From Showa period (19261989) to World War II)
In 1929, the international price of silk dropped sharply due to the Great
Depression,

triggering

the

Showa

Depression(also

calledagriculturaldepression), which saw the prices of other agricultural products also drop sharply
in a chain reaction. Furthermore, in 1931, the Tohoku and Hokkaido regions
suffered from serious cold damages, and operations and livelihoods of small-scale
farmers came to a deadlock. Tenancy disputes increased and persisted, and thesale of daughters and undernourished children became a social problem. It isreported that the number of daughters sold reached more than 40 thousand
nationwide, but mainly from the Tohoku region.
In the face of such difficulties in rural areas, the government actively promoted
public investment projects called Kyunou Doboku Jigyou (projects to help small
farmers through civil engineering works). This is one of the innovative examples ofutilizing land improvement projects as a relief measure against unemployment. In
particular, the subsidy rate for subsurface drainage work was increased from 30 to50 percent because there were many arable land areas with poor drainage. In 1929,
the study group for arable land readjustment was reorganized to establish theJapanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Reclamation Engineering (nowknown as the Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering).
Small scale land reclamation progressed by the Reclamation Support Act, butthere were about 0.4 million ha. of land suitable for large scale reclamation (morethan 500 ha.) nationwide. To cope with such large-scale development, a largescale reclamation plan was drafted in 1927, and the first national land reclamation
project, Oguraike Land Reclamation, started in 1933 (Figure 12). Many national
reclamation projects were initiated; such as at Sanbongihara (Aomori Prefecture)
and Tazawa Sosui (Akita Prefecture) in 1933, followed by Kawaminamibaru

(Miyazaki Prefecture in 1939), Yabukihara (Fukushima Prefecture in 1940) andShouwairo (Oita Prefecture in 1941).

Figure 12: Oguraike Land Reclamation (Citation: Daichi eno Kokuin, p.109)-Old pond (blue color of about 800 ha.) was overlaid on the current map-

In addition to an increase in food production, improvements in public healthcontributed to decreasing the mortality rate (in particular infant and neonatal
mortality rate) from the Taisho period onward, and the total population of Japan
reached about 70 million in 1935.
When the Sino-Japanese War (1937~) started, food shortages became serious,and a 10-year plan for strengthening major food self-sufficiency was adopted in
1940. In 1941, an Agricultural Land Development Act was enacted andguidelines for projects of a diversified nature including land reclamation andirrigation/drainage improvement were unified to allow the implementation of

national projects over three thousand ha. (with project costs of over 1 million yen)by the Agricultural Land Development Agency.
The Pacific War started in 1941, and during the war period the food distribution
system collapsed, and the dietary lives of people were under extreme difficulty. To
reduce the dependence on foreign imported rice, increased production of potatoes
and coarse grains were promoted on an ad hoc basis in June of 1943 as the firstemergency measure for food production increase. In August of the same year, thesecond emergency measure for food production increase was adopted to
implement small scale land improvements for increasing land productivity incooperation with students and non-farmers, however, large scale reclamation
projects were postponed because they required a large volume of materials andequipment.

8. Measures for food production increase after the World War II (1945~54)
After World War II, about 6 million people returned from overseas to devastatednational land. Furthermore, due to a poor rice crop in 1945 food rations could not
be distributed in large cities, and people suffered from starvation. Before the arrivalof winter in November 1945, a national gathering against starvation deathmeasures was organized in Hibiya Park in Tokyo. During this time, urban residents
had to travel to rural areas by train or go to black markets in the city to obtain foodat unreasonable prices.
The government initiated an emergency reclamation project in 1945 for an
urgent implementation of food production increase and unemployment measures.
The plan included new land reclamation of 1.55 million ha. over 5 years, 0.1 million

ha. of reclamation by drainage over 6 years and implementation of 2.1 million ha.
of land improvements for already cultivated land.
Through land reforms starting in 1946, land was expropriated from landowners
over a 4-year period and allocated to tenant farmers to create owner-cultivators
as major stakeholders. A Land Improvement Act enacted in 1949 establishedbasic procedures for infrastructure improvements to national/prefectural projects
and other actions, including democratic management of land improvement districts,
project implementation based on application principle and project participation
requirements for land cultivators, which appropriately addressed social conditions
after land reform.
Japan recovered her sovereign power in 1951 with the conclusion of the San
Francisco Peace Treaty. To promote real postwar reconstruction, the Aichi
Yousui irrigation project was initiated in 1955 with a loan from the world bankand technical guidance from the U.S., and the Hachirou Gata land reclamation
project (Figure 13) was started in 1957 with technical guidance from theNetherlands.

Figure 13: Aerial photographs of Hachiro Gata land reclamation(Left) before construction, (Right) after construction(source：website of MAFF)

9. Reducing disparities between rural and urban sectors and infrastructural
improvement (1955~1964)
In 1956, the government declared that the country “ no longer be termed
postwar” in economic white papers, and the basic policy of Japan was to becomea big economic power with increased national incomes. With prevailing higheconomic growth, environments surrounding Japanese agriculture markedly
changed, including structural changes in food demand, emigration of agriculturallabor forces to other sectors, an increase of side job farmers, sluggish increase offarm income and pressure of trade liberalization from foreign countries. At thetime of expanding income disparity between primary industry and other sectorsof the economy, the Agricultural Basic Act was enacted in 1961, making laborproductivity increase the priority for land improvement works. In that year,
agricultural land area reached a peak of 6.09 million ha. with a total population of
about 90 million, and consumption of rice also peaked at 118 kg per person,
showing the period of hunger was over.
The naming of land improvement project budgets was converted from the foodproduction increase measures budget to the agricultural infrastructure
improvement project budget in 1960. In 1961 a land reclamation pilot project
was initiated to expand farm operation size, and in 1963 a land consolidation
project was established to improve infrastructure and to consolidate farming plots,
which promoted land consolidation with a standard of 30a-plots, provision ofirrigation and drainage canals, associated construction works including farming
roads and land replotting to increase labor productivity by farm mechanization. In
1966 a head-feeding combine harvester was developed and after 1965 ricetransplanters were widely used. As such around 1970~80, multiple effects of land
improvement, fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, machinery/facilities, extensions,
andguidancefavorably

benefitting

agricultural

productivities,

enormously

increased labor productivity from 1,000 to 5,100 yen/10 hrs. and land productivity
from 24 to 80 thousand yen/10 a. (both figures were real values from a 1980base)7).

10. Surplus of rice and multiple uses of paddy fields (1965~)
With the progress of economic growth, a westernized diet has become popular,
and the consumption of rice has declined sharply since 1965. A good harvest of
rice was achieved in 1967 and 1968, resulting in the problem of rice surplus. Atthat time, the purchasing price of rice by the government was higher than the
selling price, or under negative spread, and controlled by the national foodcontrol system, which expanded the budget deficit of the government. Then thegovernment started a rice production control policy (or what is called Gentan
Seisaku or acreage-reduction policy) by introducing such major measures ascontrolling new paddy field developments, setting the limit of government ricepurchases, allocating acreage of non-rice crops, and paying subsidies for theencouragement of crop diversification8). In response to these changes, agricultural
infrastructure improvement projects were modified in their systems/planning, so
land reclamation was carried out not for paddy fields but upland crop development
after 1969.
The period of high economic growth ended with the oil crisis in 1974, and Japan
entered a period of stable growth. During this period, with the rise in the standardof living, people’s diets diversified, food self-sufficiency rates (particularly those ofland intensive crops such as wheat, feed crops and beans) declined and agriculturalland area decreased. Furthermore, the Soviet Union, faced with poor crops in 197374, purchased a large volume of grain from the international market, which thentriggered a sharp increase in the price of grains, and the low food self-sufficiency
rate of Japan became a major issue.
To cope with such situations, the cabinet approved to adopt a paddy field
farming readjustment measure in 1978 as part of a production adjustment
policy, and priority was placed on diversified uses of paddy fields as a means ofovercoming surplus rice and increasing food self-sufficiency rates, and animplementation mechanism of “comprehensive land improvement projects” and“special drainage improvement projects” was introduced.
In the “Agricultural Land Use Promotion Act” of 1980, a legal basis to expand
operation size by leasehold arrangement was facilitated, and at the same time
technical examinations for promoting the large-scale plot size of paddy fields
was undertaken to establish new infrastructure needs for responding to the liquidityof agricultural land. In 1987, paddy field use readjustment measures weresucceeded by paddy field agriculture establishment measures, and a measure toallocate production adjustment areas through consultation between administrativeand farmer groups, and a collective crop rotation system by regional farming
organizations were gradually established.

11. Globalization and fostering personnel (Heisei Period)
In 1988, one year before entering the Heisei Period, Japan liberalized themarket of beef and oranges after a Japan-US agricultural trade negotiation. In
the midst of controversy over free trade and protection, the government adopted
new directions for food, agriculture and rural areas (new policy) in 1992. This
showed a basic policy of combining food imports and stocks while maintaining andenhancing domestic farming as much as possible to achieve food security. Land
consolidation is a necessary condition for improving productivity, and thegovernment created a large-scale land consolidation project (more than 1 ha.
plot) in 1989 and a land consolidation promotion project for 21st–centurytype paddy fields model in 1991, for which promotion subsidies were provided
when consolidated plots were grouped into a series of production units. Following

the new policy, a certified farmer system was established in 1993 to promote
effective use of farmland and develop viable management bodies through theaccumulation of farmland and its use to viable farmers.
With the agreement of the GATT Uruguay Round (UR) in 1993, rice import(minimum access rice) was approved. In the same year, Japan's rice production
recorded a very bad harvest (crop yield index: 74) due to cold damage, and therice supply was insufficient even with the release of a government rice reserve of
0.4 million tons, leading to the emergency import of rice (rice turmoil in Heisei
Period). After 1994, to compensate for trade liberalization, UR related
countermeasures have been implemented (total of 6 trillion 10 billion yen for 6
years, of which more than half (3 trillion 175 billion yen) was for land improvement
works), which promote infrastructural development at an accelerated rate,
including large scale paddy field plots and others.
During 2007 and 2008, the biofuel policy of the U.S. and poor harvests inAustralia caused a sharp rise in international grain prices, which prompted riots in
20 countries due to social unrest, and export restrictions of food by 14 countries(Table 1). The Japanese government adopted the program of strengthening
competitiveness in agriculture in 2016 to establish a strategic export frameworkand established infrastructural improvement projects in collaboration with
Farmland Intermediary Management Institutions without the needs of cost
sharing and consensus by farmers concerned. After all this, the government
abolished the rice acreage reduction policy in 2018 after 40 years.

Table 1：Countries that imposed import restriction in 2008 (source: MAFF)
Country name

MeasureItems

Cambodia

Embargorice

Indonesia

Embargorice

Vietnam

Embargo

rice

China

Quota etc.

rice, wheat, corn, soybean, buckwheat, etc.

Bangladesh

Embargo

Rice

India

Embargowheat, rice, corn, onion, etc.

Nepal

Embargorice, wheat

Pakistan

Embargo

Wheat

Kazakhstan

Embargo

Wheat

Kirgizstan

Quota, etc.

wheat, sunflower

RussiaQuota, etc.

wheat, barley

UkraineQuota, etc.

wheat, corn, barley, ryeServiaEmbargoWheat, corn, beans, etc.

Egypt

EmbargoRice

Tanzania

Embargofood crops

Argentine

Embargowheat, corn, soy bean, beef, milk products, etc.

Bolivia

Embargowheat, corn & others

BrazilEmbargorice (government rice)

12. Heisei, Reiwa Periods and Further Ahead
Japan is now in a period of decreasing population, in particular an increase in theelderly and a decrease in the farmer population have been proceeding rapidly. In
2018, the total farmer population was 4.18 million, of which 43.5% were theelderly (more than 65 years old). Because of this, the structure of agriculture willchange at an unprecedented rate over the next 10 to 20 years. Thus, fostering
successors and readjusting land uses will be very important as an approach for
future generations, and the policy measure for this will have to be landconsolidation projects.

As shown in Figure 14, land consolidation projects have expanded standard plot
sizes with the progress of farming technology. As of now, the application of smart
agriculture that can enable ultra-labor- saving in farming, and the combining ofGPS, communication, and data processing technologies, etc. is in a validation stage(Figure 15). In the near future, it is expected that wide applications of smart
agriculture combined with land consolidation will foster management entities of anext-generation type. The most difficult issue in promoting land consolidation
projects has always been consensus building, including project cost sharing among
land owners. With the progress of technologies, tools such as databases linked withgeographic information systems, investigations and surveys by drones and a future
prediction simulation are more available, but a certain cost must always be borne.
Based on such technological progress, not only the application of appropriate tools
will be needed, but also steady efforts of consensus building at a grass roots levelis inevitable. In addition, to smoothly form a consensus, a new approach ofadjusting agrarian systems will be needed.

Figure 14: Transition of farming methods and land consolidation.
(Citation: ”Kokudo wo Souzoushita Hitobito”(People who created national land”)
in Suidono Ishizue (Foundation of Water and Land)）Figure 15: Realization of Ultra-labor saving/high quality production with ICT and
Robot technologies(Source: Website of MAFF)

In view of the world's future population trend, depletion of water resources,
degradation of land, and uncertainties of natural disasters, etc., the fact that not
only poor production but also market/distribution problems have caused starvation
along with the risks of embargo during times of emergency must be kept inconsideration. It is necessary to maintain domestic food production capacity rather
than depend only on imports for food supply. To conserve farmland, the mostfundamental center of existence since the dawn of history, and to hand over everlasting landscapes of Mizuho no Kuni (land of abundant rice plants) to next
generations, are the responsibility and the driving force imposed on those who areliving in the present.

Major References
1. Akira Takubo. Suiden to Zenpou Kouenfun. (Paddy Fields and Keyhole-shaped
Tomb”). Nobunkyo Production, 2018.
2. Fusao Akiyama et.al. Shakai Keizaiteki Haikei tono Kanren kara mita Tenmei no
Kikin to Ekibyou (A Study on the Famine, Epidemic, and Socio-economic
backgrounds in the Tenmei period). Minzoku Eisei (Journal of the JapaneseSociety of Health and Human Ecology), Vol.43, No. 1.2, 1977
3. Isao Kikuchi. Famine-History of Starvation and Food in Japan. Shyueisha Shinsho,
2000.
4. Keizou Nonomura. Meijiki no Kindaiteki Tochikairyou Seido no Seiritu Katei to
Genzai eno Shisa (Process of establishing modern land improvement system andimplications to the present. Suido no Chi (Wisdom of water and Land) Vol. 86,
No.9, 2018.
5. Youhei Sato and Junichi Hirota. Wagakuni Kouchiseirihou no Seiritu to Doitsu
Kouchiseiri Housei no Eikyou (Influence of German Legislation on Enactment of
the Arable Land Readjustment Act Japan). Journal of the Japanese Society of
Irrigation, Drainage and Reclamation Engineering. Vol.67, No. 8, 1999.
6. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Nourin Gyouseisi (Administrative History of
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry). 1957-1976
7. Fumin Kyoukai. Zude Miru Showa Nougyoushi (Agriculture History of Showa
Period with Drawings). Nougyou to Keizai (Journal of Agriculture and Economy).
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