Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (2.1972/1975)

172

H. HORIO

technical considerations. He regretfully said,
“Many persons say that they do their work
with the conventional spade and hoe, and they
would not use the more efficient tools,” (N.B.R.
preface) and “How can only hoes in Kinai
be useful, the other not useful?” (N.B.R. 1, 8).
At that time, the type of farming in Kinai,
which was the most advanced in the country,
was probably also being promoted in develop-
ing regions. By contrast, Nagatsune emphasized
the relationship between the hoe design and
particular soil conditions.


Fig. 7. A harrow Kuruma-Maguwa for dry heavy soil.
Sizes are in mm (N.B.R. vol. 2, 13).

Egge, Kuruma-Maguwa, fur trockenen, schweren Bo-
den. Grossen in mm.

It is remarkable that an abundance of tool
illustrations was presented and the dimensions
of major parts of the tools were given in the
illustrations. They give a perfect quantitative
description of the tools that have been dis-
cussed in his treatise.
The virtues of his books led to repeated
publication through the early Meiji period
(1868-1911), and particularly the Benri-Ron.
The technical text book for a lecture on farm
tools and machinery, published about 80 years
later than the Benri-Ron, states in the preface,
“From the oldest times there is only one good
document on farm tools and that is the Nogu-
Benri-Ron in three volumes by Okura Nagat-
sune in the 5th year of the Bunsei period”2

(Nishimura 2). The descriptions of manual
tools, specially of hoes, in this text book are
chiefly taken from the Benri-Ron, as also in
several text books for lectures during the Tai-
sho period (1912-25) and during the early
Show a period (1926 to the present day).
Benri-Ron was rated highly even in the aca-
demic world of modern Japan, which had a
tendency to neglect traditional agriculture. The
Benri-Ron was excellent from the technologi-
cal standpoint of the period and its accuracy
was supported by the author’s rich, versatile,
knowledge and excellent technical judgement.
His descriptions in the Benri-Ron also give us
abundant, comprehensible information about
the farm tools and techniques of that period.
In the following paragraphs various tools and
implements in the Benri-Ron are considered.
Animal tillage at the EDO period
During the Edo period, the development of the
use of the plough stagnated. Nagatsune attach-
ed little importance to the plough in the Nogu-
Benri-Ron; “many persons say they do their
work with the conventional spade and hoe,. . .”
Farmers also used hoes and spades because
they were more familiar with them than with
ploughs.
The plough used at that time was the long-
sole plough, called Kara-Suki (fig. 1). It was
introduced from China or Korea and kept its
original form developed for dry farming in
north China. It was not modified for Japanese
conditions (linuma 1969 Ne-no-hi, 107; linuma
1969 Meiji System 295-296). Descriptions of
ploughs are to be seen in the farming literature
from the western, but not from the eastern
parts of Kinai. The partial difference brought
about by the use of ploughs therefore came
to a halt in west Japan (Furushima 1949,
518-523). Generally, the plough was rated
very low; for example in the Hyakushd-Denki:
“On Kara-Suki. It is used specially in Chugoku,
Kinai and Omi . .. The unskilled in operating a