Old farmer - ronou

Tokunou (good farmers), landlords who encouraged industry in the Meiji period. In the process of promoting agricultural policies by the government after the Meiji Restoration, they played a major role in improving and spreading agricultural techniques, and also had influence in local government. The origins of old farmers can be found among the landlord class at the end of the Edo period. In addition to being landowners, they also played a role as spiritual leaders in the recovery and rehabilitation of impoverished rural areas. Nakamura Naozou, one of the three old farmers of the Meiji period (Funatsu Denjihei, Nara Senji, and Nakamura Naozou), studied Sekimon Shingaku at the end of the Edo period, and worked to spread Shingaku throughout Yamato, while at the same time working to improve and spread agricultural practices. From around 1874 (Meiji 7) after the Restoration, seed and seedling exchange meetings and agricultural discussion meetings were held in various places, mainly for old farmers, and were useful for spreading empirical agricultural techniques, but their role declined with the development of modern agricultural science.

[Isao Denda]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治期の勧業型地主、篤農(とくのう)。明治維新後の政府による勧農政策の推進過程において、農業技術の改良や普及に大きな役割を果たすとともに、地方自治の面などでも影響力を有していた。老農の生成は幕末期の地主層のうちに見いだされる。彼らは地主であるとともに、窮乏する農村の復旧更生の精神的な指導者としての役割を果たしていた。明治三老農（船津伝次平、奈良専二、中村直三）の一人中村直三(なかむらなおぞう)は、幕末に石門心学を学び、大和国内に心学の普及を図り、同時に農事の改良普及に努めている。維新後1874年（明治7）頃から、各地で老農を中心とする種苗交換会や農談会が開かれ、経験的な農業技術の浸透に役立てられたが、近代的な農学の発展とともにその役割は低下することとなった。

［伝田　功］

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