| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 1990: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1989: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Northeastern Japan was periodically visited by crop failures and famines during the Tokugawa Period. In particular, deaths during the Temmei Famine of 1783-84 were particularly severe, with conditions being so bad that some victims reportedly ate human flesh. This study has collected surviving reports on famines in Northeastern Japan to investigate how the populace in this region either dealt with, or failed to deal with the problem of starvation. At this stage in the project, collection of basic materials has proceeded according to schedule, but so far, only one paper on "charity shelters" [seko koya] (otherwise called onsukui koya ["alms shelters"] or hinin koya [outcast shelters]) has been completed. I have focused initially on the charity shelters to see how the ruling class dealt with the problem of large numbers of starving people. In particular, rather than just focus on whether aequate steps were taken or not, I have dealt with the matter of the relationship between ruler and ruled in a period of starvation. Tokugawa seigneurial rule was based on selfーadministering communities both in the urban and rural areas. It follows from this basic premise that the initial responsibility for dealing with people suffering from starvation lay with the local communities, not with the ruling class. However, when conditions grew so severe that the problem exceeded the capabilities of local communities, the ruling class had to come to the fore and set up "charity shelters." These "chality shelters" were set up mainly as expression of the ruling class's sense of duty to provide paternalistic relief for those reduced to beggarse, and in consideration of potential problems in maintaining the public peace. Furthermore, a change in popular attitudes towards the "charity shelters "can be observed as the latter changed from being outrightly discriminatory towards beggars, to an attitude of tolerance as the "charity shelters" developed into relief centers for the starving.
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