2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

TOTAL STUDY ABOUT A LARGE-SCALE "Gono" (rich farmers) AND LOCAL SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION IN NINETEENTH CENTURY

Research Project

Project/Area Number	16520381
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Japanese history
Research Institution	Yamagata University
Principal Investigator	IWATA Kotaro Yamagata University, Literature and Social Sciences, PROFESSOR, 人文学部, 教授 (30184881)
Project Period (FY)	2004 – 2006
Keywords	"Gono" (rich farmers) / regional society / 19th century / economic history / Murayama-gun / Horigome Shiroubei / management / nation-wide market
Research Abstract	In this study, I examine the structure of regional society in Japan in the 19th century. The purpose of this re- search is to promote the study of regional society, which has been vigorously pursued recently in the field of pre-modern history from the perspective of economic history. It is an examination, in particular, of the manner in which "Gono" (rich farmers involved land ownership, financial business, production and commerce) consolidated and restructured political and economic aspects of regional society. I pursue the study citing as an example the family of Horigome Shiroubei, who lived in Yachi-go, Murayama-gun, in the land of Dewa (the present Kahoku-cho, Nishi-murayamarun, Yamagata Prefecture). The Horigome family, a large-scale "Gono" (rich farmers) family that held economic sway over the society of the region, undertook wide-ranging business activities while cooperating with village representatives and "Goyado" in Murayama-gun.

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