Reallocation of Arable Land Use Rights in Early Modern Japan: Hypothesis on Its Origin and Functions

Abstract

"In contrast to standard interpretations that stress the direct ties between individual peasant and each piece of land, substantial evidence indicates that for up to half the arable land in Early Modern Japan, village communities controlled a family's access to farmland. This phenomenon was present in regions with diverse climatic, topographic, and economic characteristics. It can be documented from circa 1600 to well into the twentieth century."