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This is a labor situation survey report published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce's Engineering Bureau in 1903 (Meiji 36). In 1900, the ministry set up a temporary factory investigation section, which conducted surveys of various factories from 1902 to the following year in order to prepare basic materials for drafting the Factory Act. The survey covered the industries that dominated at the time, namely cotton spinning, silk reeling, and weaving, as well as ironwork, glass, cement, matches, printing, cotton manufacturing, braiding, light bulbs, matchsticks, brushes, flower mats, and wheat straw sanada. The survey covered the ratio of male to female workers, age groups, working hours, holidays, employment methods, wages and savings, rewards and punishments, sanitary conditions in factories and dormitories, housing, discipline, and mutual aid systems. In addition, the appendix includes inquiries and replies from the factory investigation section to various prefectures regarding issues such as the recruitment, kidnapping, and abuse of female workers, which were widely covered in newspapers at the time, as well as interviews with factory owners, female workers, and employment agencies. This survey was conducted by the government, and, together with Yokoyama Gennosuke's "Japan's Lower Class Society," it detailed the harsh working conditions during the period when capitalism was established, and pointed out their atrocities. In particular, the testimonies of female spinning and silk-reeling workers provide a thorough account of the inhumane working conditions of the time.

[Motoko Oki]

“Job Situation” edited by the Commerce and Industry Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, edited by Takao Tsuchiya (1976, Shinkigensha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1903年（明治36）農商務省工務局が刊行した労働事情調査報告書。同省は1900年に臨時工場調査係を置き、工場法案立案の基礎資料を作成するため、02年から翌年にかけて各種工場の実態調査を行った。調査は、当時の支配的産業である綿糸紡績、製糸、織物のほか、鉄工、ガラス、セメント、マッチ、印刷、製綿、組物、電球、マッチ軸木、刷子(ブラシ)、花莚(かえん)、麦稈真田(ばっかんさなだ)の各工業にわたっている。その内容は、職工の男女比、年齢層、労働時間、休日、雇用方法、賃金および貯金、賞罰、工場や寄宿舎の衛生状態、住居、風紀、共済制度などである。また付録として、当時新聞で盛んに取り上げられた女工の募集、誘拐、虐待などの問題に関する工場調査係からの諸府県への照会と回答、さらに工場主、女工、口入れ業者などの談話が収められている。この調査は政府が行ったものだが、横山源之助『日本之下層社会』とともに、資本主義確立期における過酷な労働事情を詳細に伝え、その劣悪さを指摘した。とくに紡績や製糸の女工の談話は、当時の非人道的な労働条件を余すところなく伝える証言となっている。

［大木基子］

『農商務省商工局編、土屋喬雄校閲『職工事情』（1976・新紀元社）』

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