18. AGRICULTURE IN JAPAN. His tory.— The ancestors of the modern Japanese seem not to have been eaters of meat and milk, and butter and cheese were unknown to them. These facts, together with the mountainous character of the country, fully justify the su position of the non-existence of any nomadic tribe. It is very probable that from the earliest time the Japanese understood how to till the soil, whose only crop, however, with the possi bk -exception of hemp,, was rice.. European authors seem to think that the Japanese started agriculture after the Chinese pattern, but there is reason to believe that the cultivation of rice was introduced from India. Rice in those days was probably sown in marshy places, year after year in succession, without fallowing and with out manure. But it was soon found that marshes were not sufficient. As the agricul tural lands gradually extended, the first great effort of the government to foster agriculture was in making arrangements for irrigation. When we consider that low tracts of land only were devoted to rice culture, where rain water irrigation rrigation were productive of large quan tities of rich soil, we can understand why suc cessive crops of rice have not exhausted the soil's fertility. Moreover, as nitrification does not occur in wet soils, nitrogenous compounds were little wasted.
Breaking up land for rice was much en couraged, which led to the proprietorship of land at a very early period. But lack of knowl edge and capital only permitted the irrigation of low tracts of land, and the resources of paddy fields were soon exhausted. Then it became necessary to till the dry fields and the cultiva tion of barley was gradually introduced, but we cannot say the exact date. Indian millets, soybean and other crops were also introduced and their cultivation encouraged. Indeed we find in very early literature the name of ogokolcu" (the five grains), which signified rice, barley, soybean, awa and hiye, the latter two being kinds of Indian millets, or some times rice, barley, awa, soybean and adzuki (Phaseolus radiatus).
It is very probable that silkworm raising began at a much earlier date than is generally believed, but the silk industry was not greatly encouraged until after the eggs of Chinese silk worms were introduced in 195 A.D. Thereafter silkworm raising continued to occupy an im portant place in farming, until it fell into de dine on account of the civil wars, its revival taking place only after the mikado was restored to power in 1871.
Whether or not any live stock, such as cattle and horses, existed in the remotest antiquity is much disputed, but if so they were certainly not much used. At first even cattle were used solely as beasts of burden, for which purpose, on account of the mountainous character of the country, and the narrow and rugged roads, they were better suited than horses. They were often slaughtered, not for meat, but for their hide. The use of milk as food was unknown.
It was in the reign of Kotoku (645-654) when the use of milk as medicine was introduced, but such use was discouraged by Buddhism. Horses came into use very early for the saddle and as beasts of burden; indeed the north eastern provinces were celebrated for their horse breeding.
The use of live stock as meat came gradually into use and even swine were raised to some extent. But after Buddhism came into power the• government prohibited the slaughtering of live stock, so the raising of swine was stopped entirely. Cattle were then used solely as beasts of burden and for cultivation, for which pur pose small farmers often preferred them to horses especially in mountainous districts.
i It is evident, therefore, that Japanese agri culture must. have been the tilling husbandry from the very • beginning and remains so to the present day, except in mountainous districts where large tracts of natural pasture are found, on which cattle and horse-breeding is conducted by farmers. The Japanese greatly esteemed agriculture and believed in the Chinese saying, translated into Japanese, No wa Kuni no moto," which means ((agriculture is the founda tion of the country," and every sagacious• em peror and his advisers encouraged the improve ment of agriculture, mainly after the Chinese pattern. But before the establishment of feudalism, when the nobles became very power ful, its encouragement was largely neglected and the land gradually fell into the possession of a few, and heavy rent was levied by landlords. From that time also, on account of the dis turbance of internal peace, farmers suffered and agriculture greatly declined. Notwithstanding these discouragements various circumstances helped the farmers to improve their agriculture, and new crops and improved implements were gradually introduced, and in some districts agriculture made noteworthy progress. But universal progress began only after the restora tion of peace by Taiko Hideyoshi. During the eras Keicho and Genna (1596-1623) many im portant crops were introduced, among which may be mentioned cotton (whic'h indeed had been introduced once before), tobacco, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, etc. Under the long peaceful Shogunate of Tokugawa, agriculture flourished and made great progress. As the country became closed to foreign intercourse, the people were more and more dependent upon agriculture to supply their needs, and Toku gawa Shogun and many feudal lords greatly encouraged it on their estates, though there were other lords who cared very little for their people, and there, under heavy tax, agriculture could not make much progress. Thus even at present great differences can be seen in the state of agriculture in various localities. After the restoration to power of the mikado, and the beginning of the Meiji era, there was rapid and great progress, which will be treated under another heading.