Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (4.1980/1983)

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLOUGHS
IN JAPAN

By

Jiro I intima

In 1969 I described an early Japanese plough
The Ne-no-hi-kara-suki of Shosoin, in: Tools
and Tillage (linuma 1969, 105-116). The
present article expands that study with re-
cent materials and studies, and describes the
development of ploughs in Japan from early
times to the middle of the 20th century.
In my opinion, there are two basic types
of ploughs used in the world. One, used in
the dry zone, is suitable for shallow tillage to
conserve the water in the soil. The other,
used in the humid zone, is suitable for deep
tillage for weeding. Deep tillage in the dry
zone is bad for soil water conservation,
while shallow tillage in the humid zone is
not effective for weeding. How are the dry
and humid zones differentiated? The most
generally used theory is the “index of aridi-
ty” invented by a French meteorologist,
E. de Martonne. This is obtained by making
use of the formula I = R/(T+10) where I is
the aridity index, R is the total rainfall in
millimetres over a fixed period, and T is the
average temperature in degrees centigrade
for the same fixed period. If, calculated in
this fashion, the annual aridity index for an
area is in excess of 20 then the area falls in the
“humid zone”; if it is less than 20 the area
falls in the “dry zone” (Martonne 24-250).
According to this method of calculation, the
northern part of China is in the dry zone,
and south China, Korea and Japan are quite
clearly in the humid zone. It hardly needs to

be stated, therefore, that the plough which
probably came into being during the Ch’un-
ch’in period (770-413 B.C.) in north China,
was of the shallow ploughing type (Sekino
27-29; Amano 1962, 736 and Amano 1956,
82, 91). Fig. 2 shows one of seven iron
plough shares unearthed from the Chan-kuo
period (403-221 B.C.) grave in Huixian (He-
nan). Three were quite fragmentary and the
remaining four were V-shaped plough-
shares, but only two of these were perfect V-
shaped shares. The lengths of these four
shares were 17.9 cm, 17.5 cm, 18 cm and
18.5 cm. The width of the last two (perfect)
shares was 23.5 cm (Chugoku ... 82, 91).
According to Guo Bao-gou: “This plough
is small and narrow and not suitable for deep
tillage” (Chugoku 82) and Huang Zhan-yue
says: “Observation of the excavated plough-
shares shows that the neck has an angle of
120°, but each wing only measures 10 cm.
Even if these ploughs were pulled by oxen
they could not till very deeply” (Huang 105,
cited in Amano 1962, 737).
Until recently, scenes from figure-stones
were the only available sources for ascertain-
ing the use of the plough and the way in
which the share was attached to the body of
the plough (fig. 3) (Amano 1962, 755). Re-
cently, however, the Han period (206 B.C.-
220 A.D.) wooden toy unearthed at Wuwei
(Gansu) has offered fresh information (fig. 1)
(Yomiruri fig. 58). This shows that the