Rental hoe - Kashiguwa

Japanese: 貸鍬 - かしぐわ

This refers to the practice of people other than farmers owning large numbers of hoes and lending them to farmers, as well as the hoes themselves. This was once widespread in Niigata Prefecture, mainly in the Upper and Chuetsu regions. The hoe tips such as furo hoes and sanbon hoes were lent out, as well as farm tools such as rice threshers. The rental fee differed depending on the era and region, but it was generally 2.5 to 3 sho of brown rice per hoe per year. The majority of lenders were agricultural blacksmiths, but in the Sanjo and Mitsuke regions, this was sometimes the case for blacksmith wholesalers or hardware merchants, and it was not uncommon for a single household to own nearly 3,000 hoes for rent.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

農具の鍬を農家以外の者が大量に所有し，これを農家に貸与する慣行およびその対象となる鍬そのものをいう。新潟県下で上･中越地方を中心にかつて広く存在した。貸されるのは風呂鍬や三本鍬などの鍬先で，稲こきなどの農具もあった。貸料は時代や地域によっても異なるが，鍬1挺年間玄米2升5合～3升というのが一般的である。貸主は農鍛冶が大部分であるが，三条･見附地方では陸（おか）鍛冶という鍛冶問屋や金物商がこれにあたることもあり，一軒で3000挺近い貸鍬を持つ場合もまれではなかった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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