Tenant farmer - Kosakunou

A peasant is a person who owns almost no land himself, but cultivates land that he rents from a landowner (landlord) and pays rent. This type of peasant was seen in ancient and medieval times, but the term tenant farming became common only from the mid-Edo period onwards, and took the form of perpetual tenancy or pawned tenancy. Tenant farming was widespread only after the Meiji Restoration. The land tax reform of 1873 (Meiji 6) legally recognized private ownership, but the old tenancy practice and high rent in kind continued, paving the way for landlords to own land. Furthermore, the Matsukata deflation of the 1880s was a turning point that promoted the disintegration of the peasant class, and the loss of land led to widespread tenant farming. The majority of tenant farmers could not make a living from farm management alone, and could only maintain their livelihood by supplementing it with wages from women, children, and second and third sons who worked away from home. Thus, by the 1900s, tenant farms that supplemented high rents with low wages for migrant workers had appeared widely, which corresponded to the nature of the landlord system that developed to support the low-wage structure of Japanese capitalism. The number of tenant farms, which was 950,000 households (20.6% of all farms) in 1888 (Meiji 21), increased to 1.49 million households (27.6%) in 1908 (Meiji 41), and continued to increase gradually until the mid-Taisho period. From the Taisho period onwards, some tenant farms began to show a stronger inclination towards small commodity production, expanded the scale of their operations, and showed a desire to own land, progressing to become independent tenant farmers. This is shown by the fact that between 1920 (Taisho 9) and 1930 (Showa 5), ​​the percentage of owner-tenant farmers increased from 40.7% to 42.4%, while the percentage of tenant farmers decreased from 28.0% to 26.4%, but even as late as 1941, tenant farmers still made up 27.7% of the population, and the situation of tenant farmers struggling under the landlord system had not been fundamentally resolved before the war. It was during the postwar land reforms that the number of tenant farmers drastically decreased, with many turning to owner-tenant farmers or self-cultivating farmers. By 1950 (Showa 25), tenant farmers made up just 5.1% of the population, and the trend has continued to decline ever since.

[Masakatsu Daimon]

``Research on the history of modern Japanese landownership'' by Masanori Nakamura (1979, University of Tokyo Press)' ' ▽ ``Development of Japanese agricultural problems'' by Shuzo Kishun, Volume 2 (1970, 1984, University of Tokyo Press)''

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

自らは土地をほとんどもたず土地所有者（地主）から借りて耕作し、小作料を支払う農民をいう。このような農民の姿は古代や中世などにもみられたが、小作という名称が一般的になるのは江戸中期以降のことに属し、永小作、質地(しっち)小作などの形態をとる。小作農が広範に形成されるのは明治維新後のことである。1873年（明治6）の地租改正は私的所有権を法認したが、古い小作慣行と高率現物小作料を継続したため、地主的土地所有への道を開くことになった。さらに1880年代の松方デフレが農民層分解を推し進める画期となり、農民の土地喪失による小作農化が広範に進行した。小作農の大多数は農業経営だけでは生活できず、婦女子や二、三男の出稼ぎ賃金に補充されて初めて生活が維持できた。こうして1900年代ごろまでには、高率高額小作料を出稼ぎ賃金（低賃金）によって補う小作農家が広範に出現したが、それは、日本資本主義の低賃金構造を支える形で発展した地主制のあり方に照応したものであった。1888年（明治21）には95万戸（全農家の20.6％）であった小作農家は、1908年（明治41）には149万戸（27.6％）にまで増加し、以後も大正中期まで漸増した。大正期以降、小作農家のなかからは、小商品生産への志向を強め、経営規模を拡大し土地所有への意欲を示して自小作農に前進するものが現れる。1920年（大正9）から30年（昭和5）にかけて自小作農は40.7％から42.4％へと増加し、逆に小作農が28.0％から26.4％へと減少する動きにそのことが示されているが、1941年に至っても小作農は27.7％存在し、地主制のもとで呻吟(しんぎん)する小作農の姿は、戦前には基本的に解消されなかった。小作農が大幅に減少し、自小作農あるいは自作農に転身していくのは戦後の農地改革においてである。1950年（昭和25）には小作農は5.1％にすぎなくなり、以後も減少傾向をたどっている。

［大門正克］

『中村政則著『近代日本地主制史研究』（1979・東京大学出版会）』▽『暉峻衆三著『日本農業問題の展開』上下（1970、84・東京大学出版会）』

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