Community chapter – History of Community Development in Japan(Primitive-Ancient Period)

1. Rice Cultivation and the Beginning of Japanese Culture
Humans are considered to have appeared in Japan about a hundred thousand to
fifty thousand years ago. From then until the Jomon Period (ca.16,000 ~3,000BCE) was known as the Paleolithic age. Few settled housing remains have beenfound from this era and people seemed to have moved around to live by hunting
and gathering in this glacial period.
During the Jomon Period, people started farming alongside hunting andgathering, and sedentary settlements were established. Settlements in thisperiod were generally arranged in a semi-circle with an average population of 30
people, with pit dwellings of 4~5 houses surrounding the central open space.
Spirituality seems to have been the center of livelihood, with people conducting
religious services through animism (worship of spirits) and situating tombs inthe central open spaces of the settlements. People during the Jomon period did nothave social class separation and lived in cooperation, based on the evidence fromthe findings at tomb and housing remains.
When rice cultivation technology was imported from the Asian continent in thelatter Jomon Period ~ Early Yayoi Period (300BCE – 300CE), valleys or low marsh
lands were cultivated as paddy fields, which formed the behavioral principle of theJapanese people. The land of Japan was called Toyoashihara Mizuho no Kuni
(the land of abundant reed plains and rice fields) in the Kojiki (the Records ofAncient Matters). Rice cultivation needed to be practiced in collective action,

which did not allow individual or family related selfish behavior (Figure 1). Blood
related groups formed mura (villages), and moated settlements were establishedby digging moats and constructing earth mounds around them. In the village, rice
was stored and collectively managed in storehouses with elevated floors. Whenrice began to be used as material money, disparities in wealth started to emerge
and so did disputes between villages. Livelihood in those days was powerlessagainst natural disasters, and people worshiped ancestors to prevent them. Sincearound this period, agricultural rituals in each season have become the base ofannual livelihood; Minakuchi (paddy sluice) and Otaue (rice planting) festivals in
spring (Figure 2), Amagoi (praying for rain) and Hiyorigoi (praying for good
weather) in summer, Kaze Matsuri (wind festival) and Shyukaku Sai (harvesting
festival, Figure 3) in Autumn and Tauchi (tilling paddy fields) and Shyogatsu (Newyear) have all been inherited to the present.

Figure 1: Rice cultivation during Yayoi Period(Citation: Zusetsu Nipponshi Tuuran (Overview of Japanese History by Figures),p.30, Teikoku Shoin)

Figure 2: Hanataue Festival (flowery rice planting) inherited from Kamakura Periodin Mibu (Hiroshima Prefecture)
Cheering with Sasara, drum, flute, whistle and hand clapping, and rice planting
ladies sing songs. Held on the first Sunday of June –Figure 3: Niiname Sai (the Harvest Festival) thanking gods for abundant harvest(Ise Shrine)
November 23rd became “Labor Thanksgiving Day” after W.W. II.-（Citation: IseShima Economic Newspaper Homepage (2016.11.24)）

Equipment used in rituals, such as dotaku (bronze, bell-shaped vessel), weremade of bronze imported from the Asian continent. Iron was used for not only
farming tools but also weapons/defensive armament, thus the group with goodaccess to iron could expand their power. In the late Yayoi Period (ca. 1 centurystC.E.), the Wano Nakoku (Na State of Japan) emerged as a Kuni (a small state.)
In the early 3 century, the Yamatai koku (kingdom) ruled by the priestess queen
rd

Himiko was established with about 30 Kuni under its control. (This information
comes from the Gishi Wajin Den (the account of the people of Japan in the historyof the Wei Dynasty)).
In the meantime, the Yamato Chotei (Imperial Court), that could even control
labor power to construct giant ancient tombs, started to master paddy fielddevelopment technology (agricultural and rural engineering technology). Largepaddy field areas or ‘Kuni no Mahoroba’ (great and splendid land), shining green
in summer and gold in autumn, were created in the south-eastern Nara basin(Kojiki). Religion during the Kofun Period (mid of 3 ~ 7 century) became ardthprimitive form of Shinto based on the ancestor worship of the Yayoi Period (10century B.C. ~ mid of 3 century C.E.), and shrines were built to enshrine naturerdgods, ancestor gods, etc. in each region.

2. Dark period for ruled farmers (Period of manorial System)
Prince Shotoku enacted Jushichijo no Kenpo (a constitution consisting of 17
articles), stating the primitive values of Japan, and made cooperation andharmony national virtues. This can be observed in the ordering of articles withinit. Article 1; “harmony is to be valued”, and article 2; imported religion “Buddhism
is to be worshiped”, came before article 3; “Imperial commands are to be obeyed”.
When the nation governed by the Ritsuryo codes was established by the
Taika Reform in 645, people received allotted paddy fields under the Kouchi
Koumin Sei (a system of state-owned land and people), but the livelihood of
farmers was very miserable, as described in Hinkyu Mondo Ka (dialogue poem onpoverty) in Manyoshu (the oldest anthology of Japanese poems). Before long,
allotted paddy fields started to become scarce, and the state allowed the private
ownership of newly developed land by enacting the Konden Einen Shizai Act (anact allowing farmers/developers to own cleared land permanently) in 743, which
led to the expansion of privately owned lands (manors) by aristocrats andtemples/shrines. For about 800 years, from then until the end of the manorial
system, a period of competition for the right of taxing manors by aristocrats,
temples/shrines and warriors continued. During this period, few provincial
governors or manor lords invested in constructing costly water sources or
irrigation facilities, and neither population nor agricultural land increased
significantly. Manorial farmers could barely live and were not even allowed toconstruct tombs or hold funerals. They were forced to work cultivating the privately
owned land of the lord without having any rights to the agricultural land or meansof production and were exploited in many ways because of complicatedly entangled
land ownership.

3. Solidarity of Self-government Organizations, So and the Formation of
Water Use Orders (Muromachi Period (1336~1573))

In the Muromachi Period, Shugo Daimyo (Japanese territorial lords as provincial
constables) deprived the rights of manorial lords, and the status of small andmiddle size farmers who had been forced to work like slaves improved. This led to
the formation of So (rural self-governing organizations), made up of regionallygrouped and naturally-formed settlements as a unit. So established Mura Okite(rules of the village) through yoriai (village assembly), consisting of all community
members as a decision-making body, and collectively conducted farming activities,
operation and maintenance of irrigation systems and iriaichi (common land) andpublic security/disaster prevention activities; and sometimes even practiced selfgovernment trials for executing punishments (ex.mura hachibu (village
ostracism), etc.). When the ruling class threatened the rights of farmers in an
unjust manner, they were confronted by such measures as gouso (direct petition
to the lord), chousan (fleeing in a group) and ikki (group uprising with weapons).
Water disputes and disputes over common land frequently occurred between
Sos, which were united with strong solidarity. The Takinagawa River in Iwate
Prefecture had scarce water resources, and the mainstream and the branch stream
were separated into two in front of Shiwa Inari Shrine. When drought continued,
farmers on one side of the stream often banded together and closed the water
intake of the other stream, resulting in a record number of water disputes 36 times(water disputes of Takinagawa River) during the 300 years from the Edo period(1603~1868) to the Taisho period (1912~1926) (Figure 4). In the dispute of 1865,
2 thousand people from the mainstream side and 3 thousand people from thebranch stream side confronted each other, and Tajibei Nomuraya was stabbed todeath in the brain with a sickle and Matsuzo was killed by being hit on the head

repeatedly with a fire fighter’s hook. In agony, Matsuzo asked for help, but his
opponents mercilessly urinated on his face, saying “drink the water of your last
moment” . Long lasting water disputes in this area finished with the construction
1)of the Sannoukai Dam in 1952, and the word “Heian” (peace and security) was
written with plants on the dam body and is still maintained.

Figure 4: Fox statues with damaged ears and mouths by stone throwing during
water disputes (Shiwano Inari Shrine)(Photo taken by：Tohoku Agricultural Administration Office of MAFF)

Without water, no food is available. Thus, it literally became “a matter of life anddeath” for a village to obtain water. In spite of severe water disputes as mentioned
above, farmers understood that it would be a loss for all if the whole water system
was damaged. Thus, adjustments were repeated at every water dispute, andwater use orders were established in everywhere by exchanging signed deeds.
In particular, water divisions to allocate intake amounts were of the mostimportant concern for villages. In the Ichinose weir, diversion volume was adjusted
by setting two natural stones, called kagen ishi (mimakuri ishi: stones toadjust/allocate water) (Figure 5). Circular tank diversion works (Figure 6) candivide water in a fair way for dissolving water disputes, but have only been usedsince after the modern period (1914~)2).

Figure 5: Kagenishi at Ichinose weir (Miyakicho Town, Saga Prefecture) (Upperright) Document for water allocation(Citation: Daichi eno Kokuin, p.124)

Figure 6: Circular tank diversion works at Kurimoto weir (Fukushima City)

(Photograph by Fukushima City Land Improvement District)

During periods of drought, a rotational water supply was adopted for sharing
water equally by dividing times for water intake. In the Sanuki region (Kagawa
Prefecture) where rainfall is very scarce, allocation of irrigation pond water was
adjusted by the burning duration of incense (Senkou Mizu: incense water) (Figure7). In the Takatokigawa River, in Shiga Prefecture, the ritual called “Iotoshi”(breaking weir) had been practiced for more than 400 years until 1943, in which
farmers of a downstream village wore white clothing and broke down part of awood pile/sod weir of the upstream village at the time of drought (Figure 8). Rice3)

cultivation has been considered a practice with public interests beyond theframework of individual organizations and drawing water for one’s own field has
been considered criminal.

Figure 7: Incense box and a dram to use for Senko Mizu(Photograph provided by Tochikairyo Section, Nourin Suisan Division, Kagawa
Prefecture)

Figure 8: Ritual of Iotoshi at Takatokigawa River(Top) Representatives confronted and made a statement before Iotoshi(Bottom) A ritual based on promises was solemnly practiced respecting the historyof blood shed
(Citation: Kohoku no Inori to Nou (Praying and Agriculture in Kohoku) in Suido no
Ishizue (Foudation of water and land))4. Agricultural villages with a strong attachment to land and community(Edo Period（1603～1868)）
After Hideyoshi Toyotomi unified Japan to end the Sengoku Period (1467~1590),
he confiscated weapons from farmers by katanagari (sword hunts) and prohibitedthe change of social positions (Heinou Bunri: separation of warriors andfarmers). He also initiated Taiko Kenchi (cadastral surveys) to register cultivators

of the land (Honbyakusho) to the Kenchi Cho (cadastral book) and obliged
farmers to pay annual taxes (Nengu) based on their yields (Kokudaka). After thedeath of Hideyoshi, Ieyasu Tokugawa controlled land and people with the Bakuhan
Taisei (feudal system of the Shogunate and domains). He determined village
boundaries (murakiri) taking into account such factors as availability of irrigationwater and access rights to common fields/mountains and allocated annual
taxes/other contributions using villages as a unit (murauke seido: village contractsystem). There were about 70 thousand villages in Japan, and 80% of the
population were farmers living in them.
A village was mainly managed by Murakata Sanyaku (three key officers of avillage): Nanushi (Shoya, Kimoiri) (a village headman), Kumigashira (a groupleader) and Hyakusho Dai (a farmer representative). Whole villages cooperatively
conducted fire and crime prevention activities, festivals and annual events and bore
all their costs, using Gonin Gumi (a five family neighborhood unit) (5~6 land
cultivator farmers) as a management unit. Farmers started to have strong
attachments to their land after their right to cultivate their land was formallyrecognized, which allowed them to let the eldest son inherit the land and house.
When they developed their land, they dreamed that their descendants could havea better livelihood. As such, new paddy field developments had been promoted.
In Ukiha City, Fukuoka Prefecture, the Go Shoya (five village headmen) made agrand plan of withdrawing water from the very distant Chikugogawa River when
their villages were impoverished by water scarcity and appealed to the lord after
making a survey by themselves. With cooperation from a county magistrate, theproject plan was approved by the domain but only on the condition that the fiveheadmen would be crucified on the construction site if the project failed and thatthe works proceeded in front of crucifying platforms. After the completion of the
Oishi weir in 1674, barren land was turned into an extensive granary, and in later
years the Nagano Sui Jinja Shrine (Go Reisha (a five-spirit shrine)) wasconstructed to worship the Go Shoya.
In Saito City, Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyuemon Kodama, a second son of a village
headman, had an idea of withdrawing water from the Hitotsusegawa River to makethe village prosper, and initiated an irrigation project with funding from a wealthy
merchant while explaining the project plan by visiting house to house. With
enormous difficulties, including interference from opponents worrying about flood
damage, the weir being washed away by a flood, and having to give up all his
private land/house properties after the investor left him, he became penniless yet
continued with the work. He finally completed the Sugi Yasui Zeki weir in 1720
after a new investor offered his support. In this way, new paddy field developments
progressed rapidly in all parts of Japan by the aforementioned predecessors who
devoted themselves to developing their areas. During the 100 years in the early
Edo Period, cultivation area in Japan doubled from about 1.5 million ha. to about 3
million ha. Many stories of predecessors in the local areas related to a new paddy
field development have been inherited in all parts of Japan.
Many people became victims of construction work related to regulating water byembankments or weirs, so burying people alive in the earth or water bottom had
continued until the modern period as a custom of offering human sacrifices to thegods. In Seki Jinja shrine, Fujisaki Town, Aomori Prefecture, Tarozaemon whosacrificed himself and contributed to the weir construction is enshrined as a god,
the situation of which is shown in the picture of Figure 9.

Figure 9: Painting of Tarozaemon who sacrificed himself and contributed to a weirconstruction(Citation: Website of Tourist Information of Fujisakicho Town, “Fuji Sanpo”)

Local ancestors who developed land and established communities wereenshrined by farmers as Ubusuna Gami (a guardian deity of one’s birthplace) or
Uji Gami (a tutelary deity) in the Chinju no Mori (forest of the village shrine) andwere worshiped for the prosperity of the village. The Shogunate even allowed poor
farmers to build tombs with Danka Seido (the system of support by a temple,)and the people prayed for the happiness of their family to the spirits/souls ofancestors who were buried at the tomb of the supporting temple. These temples
and shrines functioned as a place of gathering, and through annual events

connected deeply with agricultural rituals people enjoyed the seasons, prayed forwishes and strengthened the bonds inside the community. As such, the Japanesestarted to have a strong attachment to their community with a common fate,including the land which had been obtained by the struggles of their ancestors andthe village/domain.

5. Modern Capitalism and the Japanese Family System (From Meiji Period(1868~1912) to the Period before the World War II.)
The Meiji government implemented the Haihan Chiken (abolition of the feudal
domains and the establishment of prefectures) in 1871. The government
established the Ministry of the Interior in 1873 to consolidate the centralized
national system of governance by establishing about 16 thousand cities/towns
nationwide using the Sisei/Chouson Sei (municipal administration system) in
1889. Also, Gunze (district policy direction) and Chousonze (town/village policy
direction) were the basic plans of action for the new administrative districts
established in many places in Japan. In this way, a village during the Edo Period(an old village=a natural village) became an Oaza (a large village section) in a
new administrative district of cities/towns/villages and functioned as a village
community as seen in water users' associations.
The Meiji government carried out land tax reform (1873~) and recognized theprivate ownership of land by issuing a land certificate to landowners and ownercultivators as well as changing the tax payment system from nengu (payment inkind) to a cash payment equivalent to 3% of a land's price. This change
contributed to stabilizing the tax revenue of the government, but the land tax

was the same even during price declines caused by an abundant crop, a natural
disaster, or a poor crop. Thus, many owner-cultivators fell to become tenant
farmers because they had to sell their land, handed down from generation to
generation, in order to pay the land tax. In 1898 civil law (the Meiji civil law) was
enacted to legalize modern land rights such as property rights, farming rights
and rights of lease, which led to the establishment of a farming structure where
small tenant farmers were exploited by landowners.
Another characteristic of Meiji civil law was the system of inheritance. Until the
Sengoku (Civil War) Period (1467~1590), farmers could only survive by living inlarge extended family compounds (Figure 10) including extended relatives(couple of second son, etc.) and servant/slave farmers, but during the Edo Period
the number of small single families increased because of the progress of
Shounou Jiritsu (independent small farmers). During the Meiji period, Uji (afamily name) was even given to farmers, and Ie (a family name) along with Uji
became a composing unit of the society. Under Meiji civil law, the Koshu (the headof the household) and the other family members had a master-servant
relationship. The Koshu had the obligation of supporting his family and wasgiven the Koshu right (the right of the head of the household). The system
included Danson Johi (predominance of men over women) and Choushi Yuugu(privileged treatment of the first son), allowing only the first son to inherit all family
properties including the land and assets. The grandfather became an Inkyo Mono(a person who withdrew from official household affairs) after he handed over theheadship of the family, but for a farming family the grandfather and grandmotherwere important labor sources, whose wisdom of living, including farming

techniques, was indispensable. As depicted in the Kyoiku Chokugo (Imperial
Rescript on Education) in 1890, “Be filial to your parents, affectionate to yourbrothers and sisters and as husbands and wives be harmonious” was considered
to be the ideal family image. Thus, a unique Japanese social system of a wholefamily as a social unit was established in contrast to the unit of a family of
husband and wife (nuclear family) in western countries.

Figure 10: Family-tree diagram of a compound big family and a monogamy smallfamily(Citation: Professor Hiroomi Baba (Tokai University) Homepage)

Capitalism developed during the Meiji Period (1868~1912) and gave themajority of a village's land ownership to the land-owning class. However a Gounou(a relatively large land owner who not only lent the land to tenant farmers but also
cultivated it himself) from the Edo Period and a Tezukuri Jinushi (a landowner
who cultivates the land himself utilizing labors of servants or day labors) had thedesire of cultivating the land, so they took the leading roles in rural communities

by engaging in Denku Kaisei (rice fields revisions) (Figure 11 in Land Chapter)from the early Meiji period to around the Meiji 20s (1887~1896). But after the Meiji
30s (1897~1906) the number of Kisei Jinushi (a parasitic landowner) who
depended on farm rentals and Fuzai Jinushi (a nonresident landowner) who lived
outside of a village increased, and even though they were active in side businesses
such as money lending at an excessive interest rate, they were not involved incommunity affairs, which resulted in the loss of a sense of village unity.
For about 70 years from the Meiji Reform to the start of the Pacific War, Japan,
aiming at Fukoku Kyouhei (increasing the wealth and the military power of thecountry), had tried to catch up with the great powers of Europe and the UnitedStates by shifting from a rice producing country to a manufacturing country. In
fact, western countries took 3~4 centuries to achieve economic growth byindustrialization, while Japan completed it in less than a century.
Japan faced the Great Depression in 1929 and was hit by extremely poor
harvests due to cold damages in 1931 and 1934. Impoverished farmers who could
not afford to buy food came out in huge numbers (the agricultural depressionof Showa). Undernourished children and the selling of daughters became asocial problem, and there were frequent tenancy disputes in which tenant farmers
organized themselves into a union to demand the reduction/exemption of farm rent
and the improvement of conditions from the landlord.
During this period, the cultivation area expanded but the population also
increased. As a result, rice was in chronically short supply, and farmers went
abroad to find places for paddy fields. Similar to powerful Western nations, Japanfollowed the path of expanding its territory, but Japan's ruling policy foroverseas territories was different from the colonial policy of western nations.
Hard-working and diligent Japanese farmers developed the land, covered in mudand sweat under the harsh climate of overseas territories. They had to live unstable
lives in unfamiliar places and built temples/shrines on developed land to form acommunity.
The overseas Japanese, living in groups doing paddy field farming, started todevelop values similar to those of their homeland through prioritizing the interestsof one’s own group rather than private interests, which became a driving force
for modernizing Japan in a short period. These values had the aspect of
totalitarian ideology that limited individual rights, and sometimes individuals
often had to repress their tears for the interests of the group, including the nation,a village, or a family that they belonged to. It was during this time that womenoften had to marry reluctantly for their families, and many youths lost their lives
for their country during World War 2. In the end, Japan was defeated in the war,and became a modern nation of freedom and democracy.

6. The Restoration after the War and the Progress of Land Improvement
Works (1945~1954)
In the postwar period, the landlord system was dissolved by land reform(1946~) and principal farmers became owner cultivators (the share of tenantland decreased from 46% to less than 10 %). The Land Improvement Act of1949 was legalized after the application for the project by owner cultivators(Sanjyo Shikakusha: a person qualified under article 3 of the Land Improvement

Act), who led a process of repeated discussions until a consensus was reached.
This process played important roles in maintaining and developing the collective
working powers of the rural communities. Organizations to coordinate rights
and maintain/operate facilities were united into land improvement districts, andprefectural/national federations of land improvement districts were established by
the act ’ s revision in 1957. The Agricultural Cooperative Act in 1947, theAgricultural Committee Act in 1951 and the Agricultural Land Act in 1952 wereenacted and the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and the National
Chambers of Agriculture were established in 1954 to unify all activities concerned.
During the period of post-war restoration, emergency land reclamation
projects were implemented for Kinou Sokusin (which promoted the engagementof soldiers/unemployed persons to farming) and increasing food production.
After this, agricultural and rural engineering (land improvement) started to
expand their scope of work to include rural planning focusing on subjects such ascommunity planning, public facilities planning and water/sewage planning,in addition to the usual works of irrigation/drainage and agricultural land
reclamation. By the enactment of the Comprehensive National Development
Act in 1950, the scope of its works expanded to include the development of land
and water resources, and social problems such as compensation for land
submergence and relocation because of dam construction, the allocation of
costs for multipurpose facilities and water use coordination among different
users. When Japan entered into a period of high economic growth after 1955,
large scale projects including the Aichi Yousui irrigation system, Toyokawa
Yousui irrigation system, Hachirogata Land Reclamation (Land Chapter Figure13) and Shinotsu Peat Land Development were implemented, and land
improvements became a comprehensive rural development technology
together with the emerging Nougyo Doboku (agricultural and rural engineering)consultants.

7. Period

of

High

Economic

GrowthandtheDeclineofVillages(1955~1964)
By 1960 the need for food production increase declined and the program ofdoubling national income was promoted. To narrow the gap between the farmand industry sectors the Basic Act of Agriculture was enacted in 1961, and suchproject support systems as the reclamation pilot project (1961) and the landconsolidation project (1963) were introduced to promote a labor productivity
increase and a selective expansion of agricultural production.
Land consolidation promoted farm mechanization and increased laborproductivity, while side job farmers increased as exemplified by the vogue saying
San Chan Nougyou (farming by 3 chans; Jii-chan, Baa-chan and kaa-chan) which
depended on farming by grandparents and a mother. In rural villages, mixed living
between rural and urban residents progressed, and the second and third sons offarm households migrated to cities for employment opportunities.
Former rural residents who started to work in urban companies began torecognize the company organization as a community with a common fate, andthey followed the specific behavioral principle of rural residents to realize aremarkable productivity in Japanese companies . They understood their roles
4)

through repeated consultations inside a company similar to a village meeting andpledged their loyalty to the company and held discipline to the end without claiming
excessive rights or a wage increase under an enterprise union. Corporate
managers also rewarded the service of employees by giving them lifetime
employment and seniority-based wages. Corporate managers and employees
worked together to expand the market as villages had developed the land toprosper. Founders of large corporations were admired as gods of management
similar to the guardian deity of one ’ s village. Through such Japanese-style
management, Japan has achieved a continuous high annual economic growthof over 10% from around 1960 and became the second strongest economic powerin the world in 1968.
The standard of living for urban residents has thus been improving rapidly, but
in rural areas “hollowing-out of people” (depopulation) in the 1960s, “hollowingout of land” (increase of abandoned land) in the late half of the 1980s onwardand “hollowing-out of villages” (marginalization of settlements) in the 1990s
onward have progressed and collective activities of villages have begun todeteriorate due to the degradation of the spirit of mutual help5).
The degradation of feelings of mutual help can be regarded as the reaction ofpeople against repressions by a country, a village, and a family until the pre-war
period. Since around the Japan-China war, village or town groups were nationallyorganized. Under this nationalization existed Tonari Gumi (a neighbor group)(Figure 11). The Tonari Gumi was a keystone of living that distributed suchinformation as a rationing by a Kairan Ban (a circular notice), but it alsofunctioned as a substructure of individual control by the government. After
World War 2, town groups etc. were dissolved by the order of the occupation army

in 1947 because they supported the war in a grass roots manner. However, thespirit of mutual help in the region was necessary and in spite of the ordinance withpunishments, nearly 80% of them were reconstructed with nominal name changes
within 3 months of the resolution. The order prohibiting such groups was lifted by
the Peace Treaty in 1952, and town groups were revived as Jichi Kai (anautonomous association.)

Figure 11: Circular notice of Tonari Gumi
Tonari Gumi were organized around 10 households as a unit in a town group.
(Provided by: Showa Kan)

After W.W.II, autonomous associations lead diverse local activities including
crime prevention, traffic safety control and festival management, however theiractivities needed to make a clear distinction from those of temples/shrines in theregion because of the principles of freedom of religion and the separation ofreligion and politics in the constitution. The consciousness surrounding the family
has also changed. With farm mechanization, opportunities for farming collectively
with three generations of parents, children and grandchildren have decreased
compared to before, and the second/third sons or daughters after growing up
started to migrate to urban areas for convenient living. Furthermore, marriage is
no longer a matter of family and society, but an individual matter based only on
the mutual consent of both sexes. Then the number of mediators decreased andthe cases of late marriage and unmarried people have increased. As a result,
nuclear families have increased and become isolated from their local area by thedegradation of village communities.
In the end, cases of caring for children by grandparents instead of parents,
attending to grandparents at their deathbed, or even taking care of children or theaged by neighbors instead of family members have decreased. Husbands and wives
in a nuclear family must give birth to and raise their children without relying on themutual help of a village community and take care of their aged parents who areliving away from the family. The year 1973 is the Fukushi Gannen (the first yearof a welfare system) when the present social security system of healthcare andwelfare services started. Until now, the declining birth rate and aging
population has followed a path of deterioration, and the cost of social security

has placed a financial burden on the government (the share of social security costin the national income stood 0.6% in 1970, but increased to 31% in 2016).
Furthermore, villages drastically changed around 1965 when excessive rice(over production of rice) started to become eminent. Eating rice sufficiently had
been the symbol of prosperity for Japanese people, however, when that stage wasreached, rice became overproduced and excessive. For a long time, engineers in
the field of land improvement have devoted themselves to developing paddy fields
by constructing dams and reclaiming marsh lands, but now face new challenges.
8. Rural improvement projects to narrow the gap between the urban andthe rural areas (1965~)
After 1965, phrases such as “Balanced development of national land” and“ civil minimum ”

became popular, and narrowing the gap in the living

environment between urban and rural areas became an issue. To cope withunregulated land developments (a sprawling phenomenon) for economic
development, land use zoning was implemented by legislating the Urban Planning
Act in 1968 and the Agriculture Promotion Area Act in 1969. Since rural areas
are where agricultural production and rural living are carried out together, the land
improvement technology which has been transformed into a comprehensive
regional development technology has incorporated rural improvement projects
to improve living environment facilities together with production infrastructure.
This move was based on the social demands from rural areas nationwide, where
the government budget allocation was not enough to fully improve living
infrastructures.

In February 1970, “the promotion of a comprehensive agricultural policy”
was approved by the cabinet, and the pilot project survey on comprehensive
improvements of agricultural infrastructure (Soupa Chosa) was initiated.
From

1972,

improvements

toproduction

infrastructure

togetherwithimprovements to living infrastructures, such as the creation of housing land for thesecond/third sons of a farm household, the improvement of community roads andwater facilities for farming/drinking/miscellaneous uses, rural sewage facilities, and
rural

parks

becamepossible

by

the

pilot

project

oncomprehensive

improvements to agricultural infrastructure (Soupa Jigyo) with 60% of thenational government subsidy.
At the start of Soupa Jigyo, the necessity of enacting the Rural Planning Act
for establishing comprehensive rural planning was discussed. More specifically, it
was considered that the Agricultural Promotion Act would be integrated with the
Rural Planning Act and the Land Improvement Act would be expanded to become
the Rural Improvement Act . However, as a result of coordination between the
8)

Ministries of Finance, the Home Affairs and the Construction, the Rural Planning
Act proposed by MAFF did not materialize. Concerned ministries agreed that rural
improvement would be implemented under the integrated rural improvement
plan (a master plan) formulated by municipalities with the guidance of the
National Land Agency (established in 1974) through cooperation among
concerned ministries. But in the process of coordination among concerned
ministries, a memorandum was exchanged that “ the master plan does notnecessarily determine the plan and the implementation of projects of concerned

ministries ” and the plan was only partly implemented by the model ruraldevelopment project (a model project) of MAFF.
The model project covering a small area of an old village was easy to implementcompared to Soupa Jigyo projects covering a wide area, and more than 1,300
municipalities (over 40% of municipalities at that time) implemented the projectby 1997. In 1970 the wide-area farm road improvement project (Kouiki
Noudou:wide-area

farmingroad),

and

in

1976

the

integrated

rural

infrastructure improvement project (Mini Soupa) covering a settlement of avillage were established. In 1983 the rural community sewerage treatment
project was separated from Mini Soupa projects. During the -sharp land price riseby the Plan for Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago in 1972, the replottingof non-agricultural land system was expanded by the revision of the Land
Improvement Act in the same year to create land for public facilities, including
lands for industrial or housing uses and sports parks through the land replotting ofa land consolidation project, which enabled an ordered land use by responding to
a new land demand in rural areas.

9. From the technology of agricultural and rural engineering to rural
improvement technology (Early Heisei Period (1989~2019))
After the start of the Heisei Period, attention was given to fostering farmers as
leaders to cope with globalization, together with related measures for lessfavored areas and conservation of beautiful landscapes and environments.
In 1991, two project-support systems were established; the water environment
improvement project to construct facilities for landscapes and the ecology

conservation and living environment improvement project for rural area
vitalization to create land for housing/parks, etc. by integrating scatteredfarmland conversion demands with the land replotting for new lands. To support
these projects, the Advice Center for Rural Environment Support wasestablished, and then the naming of the national government support system forthe agricultural infrastructure development project was converted to theagricultural and rural development project.
The concept of a hilly and mountainous area under the law was legally
introduced by establishing the support system which included the integrated
improvement project for vitalizing rural areas in less favored area (renamed
to the integrated improvement project in less favored area in 1995) topromote integrated improvements of a production infrastructure and a living
environment in 1990, the farmland environment improvement project toimprove the infrastructure covering abandoned farm land in 1992, and the Specific
Rural and Mountainous Village Act enacted in 1993. As a result of these actions
the share of the rural area development projects in the total agriculture and ruraldevelopment projects expanded to more than 40% in 1996.
Regional conservation activities by joint efforts of local and urban residents were
supported by such non-hardware support systems as the Furusato Mizu to Tsuchi
Kikin (a fund for water and land of hometown) in 1993 and the Tanada Kikin (afund for terraced paddy fields) in 1998. The Japan Groundwork Association wasestablished in 1995 to cope with the conservation and management of rural
facilities through the collaboration of local residents, an administration andcorporations applying the method of England's groundwork. A rural landscapeimprovement project was also initiated in 1998 to improve rural areas as ecomuseums modeled after the écomusée of France.
The Agricultural Basic Act was changed to the Food, Agriculture and Rural
Areas Basic Act in 1999. In January 2001, by the reorganization of the central
government (from 23 to 13 ministries and agencies), the Rural Development
Bureau was established after transferring affairs under the authority of “the policy
proposal and coordination related to rural development across ministries” fromthe National Land Agency. With these affairs, the Japanese Federation ofAgricultural Engineers (established in 1947) was renamed the Japanese Societyof Rural Development Engineers in May 2002, and the group of land
improvement engineers called themselves the rural development engineers andreaffirmed their determination to contribute to rural development. The public
nickname of the Land Improvement District became Midori Net (network of water,
land, and community) in 2002 and in 2007 the name of the Japanese Society of
Irrigation, Drainage and Reclamation Engineering became the Japanese Societyof Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering.

10. Decentralization and Integration of Regional Policies (Late Heisei Period(1989~2019) ~ Reiwa Period (2019~))
Rural development projects have been expanding since the time between 1965
to the early Heisei Period, and have been implemented based on the policy
supported by the Rural Development Bureau of the MAFF’s subsidy program.
However, because of decentralization (the Reform of the Three Major Policies)
after 1998, the delegation of authority from the central government to regional

governments progressed rapidly, resulting in the integration of the Rural
Development Bureau’s budget into the Grant Program for Improving Rural
Areas. This occurred after a budget program screening in 2009 and a major
reduction of the land improvement project budget in 2010.
To support the maintenance of agricultural production in less favored areas as a
non-hardware support system that is closely tied to infrastructure improvement
and support for community functions through regional resources conservation
activities, the direct payment to farmers in the hilly and mountainous areas
throughvillageagreementwasestablished

in

2000,

and

the

farmland/water/environment conservation and improvement measure wasintroduced in 2007. These programs were legalized as a Japanese-type direct
payment system (“Japanese-type” comes from the fact that the payment is madeto regions and communities but not to individuals). In addition, in view of theshortage of motivated farmers and an urgent need for an income increase, the
Rural Development Bureau is in charge of programs that receive close attention
from the prime minister’s office including Nou Haku (farm stay) to show theappealing charms of rural areas to tourists, gibier to effectively utilize gamebirds/animals as local resources that are the source of damage in rural areas, and
Nou Fuku Renkei (farming-welfare partnership) to improve employment
opportunities and social participation/health for handicapped people in farming.
The Head office for revitalizing town, people and employment wasestablished in the cabinet secretariat in September 2014 and made a basic
approach for coping with regional issues, such as a rapid population decrease andaging, by eliminating problems of vertically structured government andworking together as one government. To develop rural areas, it is important toeffectively utilize a supporting system of various ministries concerned including
grant aid related to regional vitalization (the regional vitalization promotion
office), local-community vitalization volunteers (the Ministry of Home Affairs),
and Chiisana Kyoten (a small base) (the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure andTransport). In the basic plan for food, agriculture and rural areas approved by
the cabinet in March 2020, “ the integration of regional policies ” is to bepromotedthrough“thecooperation/collaboration

among

concerned

ministries/agencies, prefectures/municipalities, businesses with MAFF as the center,to grasp the needs of rural areas and solve problems, whiles sitting close to the
local area by mobilizing rural development policies altogether.” The integrated
improvement project for agriculture and rural areas in less favored area toimprove production infrastructures and living environments together was
established in 2020 as a subsidy support project in agriculture and ruraldevelopment projects.

11. Conclusion ~ Beyond the Trajectory of Water, Land and Communities ~The Japanese who started their group activities with paddy field cultivation had
the value of giving priority to benefitting the group they belonged to rather than
individual benefits and succeeded in modernizing the country. After W.W.II, theJapanese lost their backbone of “mura” (a community) but devoted themselves tocompany organizations and made the country into an economic giant. Land
improvement engineers in the modern period have coped with various social issues
that needed the support of people in rural areas to promote projects and developedtheir technology into a comprehensive development one for rural areas. To achieve“integration of local policies” from now on, collaboration beyond the barriers ofdifferent administrative organizations will be required, as villages established water
use systems after experiencing severe water disputes. In the process ofcoordination and collaboration, the roles of engineering groups that have achievedconsensus building in rural areas by coping with substantial issues in the frontlines
will become important.
In the frontlines of workplaces, the reduction of overtime work is being promoted
under the work-style reform, so rural development workers (national project office,regional development bureau of prefectures, municipalities, land improvement
districts, etc.) who are burdened with daily works need to have opportunities to“go out to the site”. Thus partnership among the industry, the government andschools (agricultural and rural engineering consultants and universities, etc.) is
important, and the central ministries/agencies and prefectural governments should
establish a more simplified system, improve the readability of documents and adopt
a simplified approach to the investigation.
Living in a world of information overload, it is important to preserve information
relating to the history of water, land and the predecessors who built theirfoundation in order to pass this on to the next generation. In the new educationalcourse of study, revised after 10 years, from 2020, “traditional culture of the region
and the works of predecessors who contributed to the regional development (grade
4 of an elementary school)” and “food production (grade 5 of an elementary
school)” will be studied through subjective and interactive deep learning (active

learning), so stakeholders of land improvement work in each region are expected
to fulfil important roles.
Trajectories that have been drawn by water, land, and community developmentin the country of abundant rice over 2,000 years have developed and expanded
paddy fields through the work of our ancestors and by integrating technology andlabor while hoping for the prosperity of descendants of village communities. For
the future, it will be necessary to revitalize villages (communities) and then handthem over to the next-generation’s core members in each district and organization
by establishing partnership among different interest groups for the whole benefitof the country and improving the production and living infrastructures byconcentrating the technology and resources in the present.

Major references
1. Kouhou (public relations magazine) Shiwa. Furusato Monogatari (a story of ahome town) 27 (Shiwa Cho homepage)
2. Entou Bunsui Dotto Kom Homepage (circular tank diversion dot com homepage)
3. Terumi Kaneko. Daremoga Shitteiruhazunanoni Daremo Kangaenakatta Nou no
Hanashi (Story of agriculture everybody knows but did not ever think), 2007.
4. Akira Takubo. Suiden to Zenpou Kouenfun. (Paddy Fields and Keyhole-shaped
Tomb”). Nobunkyo Production, 2018.
5. Tokumi Odagiri. Nouson to Nouson Seisaku no Jittai to Tenbou (Reality andprospects of rural areas and rural policy), Study gathering at MAFF, Nov. 12,2019.
6. Fukuyama Jichikai Rengoukai Homepage

7. Tochi Kairyou Kensetu Kyoukai (Land Improvement Construction Association).
Tokubetu Kikaku Heisei Tochikairyou Kou (Special Issue on Land Improvement
Consideration during Heisei Period). Journal of Land Improvement, No.305,
2019.
8. Yohei Sato. Nouson Seibi Sesaku no Ayumi to Nouson Keikaku Kenkyu no Tenkai
Houkou (Historical review of rural development policy in Japan and some
implications for rural planning studies). Journal of rural planning, Vol. 30, No. 3,
2011.