The Book of Fan Shengzhi (English: Fàn Shèng zhi shū)

Japanese: 氾勝之書 - はんしょうししょ（英語表記）Fàn Shèng zhī shū

A Chinese agricultural book from the Han dynasty. Written by Fan Shengzhi. The dates of Fan Shengzhi's birth and death are unknown, but he is thought to have been an official during the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Former Han Dynasty (reigned 32-7 BC). It is assumed that this book described cultivation methods for average-sized farms, as well as the land division method, which was aimed at small-scale farms on mountain tombs, sloping land, and in urban suburbs, with the latter being the more famous. There are two types of land division method: the furrow seed method and the kan seed method. The former involves alternating 10.5 shaku-wide towns (sowing areas) and 1.5 shaku-wide furrows (work roads) on a rectangular plot of land measuring 180 shaku by 48 shaku (1 shaku = 23 cm), and then alternating 1 shaku-wide ridges and furrows within the towns, and sowing seeds in the furrows.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国，漢代の農書。氾勝之撰。氾勝之の生没年代は不詳であるが，前漢成帝(在位，前32‐前7)のころの官吏と思われる。本書には普通の規模の農家の耕作法と，山陵･傾斜地，都市近郊の土地狭小の零細農家を対象とした区田法とが書かれていたと想定され，後者が有名である。区田法には溝種法と坎種（かんしゆ）法の2種があって，前者は180尺×48尺(1尺＝23cm)の矩形（くけい）の地に幅10.5尺の町(播種地)と1.5尺の溝(作業用の道)を交互に作り，町の中をさらに1尺幅の畝と溝とを交互に作って溝中に播種する方法である。

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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