Original sentence: Atarting in the 1770s, there was a sharp decline in crop yield in Tōhoku, which is the north-eastern region of Honshū, due to poor and cold weather, so food stocks in rural areas were exhausted.The massive Icelandic Laki eruption of 1783 disrupted weather patterns all over the Northern Hemisphere, and may have worsened matters as well.The situation was exacerbated by natural disasters: Mount Iwaki erupted on April 13, 1783 (3rd month, 12th day, in the year Tenmei-3, according to the Japanese calendar), as did Mount Asama on July 6, so volcanic ash was sent down into the atmosphere of Japan.This was intended to commercialize agriculture and thus increase tax income, which was paid in rice
Edited sentence: In Tōhoku, which is the north-eastern region of Honshū, starting in the 1770s there was a sharp decline in crop yield due to poor and cold weather, so food stocks in rural areas were exhausted.The massive Icelandic Laki eruption of 1783 which disrupted weather patterns all over the Northern Hemisphere undoubtedly worsened matters as well.The situation was exacerbated by natural disasters: Mount Iwaki erupted on April 13, 1783 (March 12, Tenmei 3 in the Lunisolar calendar), as did Mount Asama on July 6 (August 3 in the Lunisolar calendar), so volcanic ash was sent down into the atmosphere of Japan.This was intended to commercialise agriculture and thus increase tax income, which was paid in rice