First, could you briefly describe what kind of research you are doing?
Koriyama : From a historical perspective, I am researching what policies the shogunate and domains, which were the public authorities of the time, adopted to ensure the survival—that is, protect the food sources—of their subjects during the Edo period, when natural disasters and famines occurred frequently. My primary focus is on bikō chochiku, or famine relief stockpiles. Famine relief stockpiles refer to storing grain and money in warehouses to ensure preparedness in the event of a disaster, poor harvest, or famine. During the Edo period, various types of stockpiling were practiced throughout Japan, with the shogunate issuing edicts on stockpiling as a matter of policy and some domains keeping their own stockpiles.
What kind of research have you conducted so far?
Koriyama : I have conducted a nationwide survey of famine relief stockpiles to identify national trends in the methods and types of stockpiling and how the warehouses were maintained.
Throughout Japan, most of the goods stored in the warehouses were grains such as rice, unhulled rice, millet, and wheat, but in some regions, they also stockpiled money. However, when grains are stored for a long time, they may end up getting eaten by rodents or insects. To prevent this, feudal lords loaned the stored grain to their subjects, who had to pay it back with interest (additional rice) to periodically replace the grain in the warehouses and maintain its function as famine relief stockpile. That being said, it is not hard to imagine just how big of a burden it was on the subjects of the domains to pay their annual tributes and contribute to stockpiles to prepare for disasters or famines, which could happen at any time. This led to opposition, and in some regions, they even stopped keeping stockpiles. What’s more, when domains ran into financial difficulties, they would convert the rice stored in their warehouses into cash and divert these funds to their finances, which sometimes led to the depletion of the stockpiled goods. If a disaster or famine struck following the depletion, the domains were made keenly aware of the need for stockpiles and would resume stockpiling. Historical records show that famine relief stockpiling in each region followed this kind of cycle. This goes to show just how difficult it was to maintain a famine relief stockpile.
What kind of research are you currently working on?
Koriyama : My current research focuses on the Zeze Domain in Omi Province. The Zeze Domain possessed more than 60,000 koku of territory in Ōmi and Kawachi provinces. I am attempting to clarify the actual situation of the Zeze Domain’s famine relief stockpiling policy from historical documents held by the Otsu City Museum of History, Takashima City Board of Education, Kawachinagano City Library as well as municipal histories such as “The Revised and Updated History of Otsu City” and “Kawachinagano City History.”
According to historical records, between 1804 and 1805, the Zeze Domain established warehouses called anminroku (“public welfare granaries”) in villages throughout its territory as part of its famine relief stockpiling policy, and it began storing rice and unhulled rice as well as money and rope in these warehouses. Remaining records show that in Takashima County of Ōmi Province, 43 to 47 bales of unhulled rice were stored in anminroku warehouses annually from September to November over a period spanning from 1809 to 1830. Since the accumulated stockpiles increased year by year, it can be inferred that no major disasters or famines occurred during this period.
Furthermore, by looking at the borrowing requests for anminroku rice that each village submitted to the lord, I have come to understand how the anminroku warehouses functioned to counter food risk. One such request, which was submitted to the domain from Ōta Village in Takashima County in 1807, states: “Because peasants are suffering due to flood damage, we would like to borrow 18 bales of rice” and “We would like to borrow unhulled rice stored in the anminroku to distribute to the peasants who are in dire need.” This request also includes a note that “both the borrowed rice and the unhulled rice from the anminroku will be repaid over 10 years with interest.” I found that, in response to this request, the Zeze Domain granted permission to loan the village 70 bales of rice. Another example I found has helped to shed some light on the shogunate’s relief measures. To provide relief to villages in the domain’s holdings in Kawachi Province that were affected by the Tenpō Famine (1833-1836), the domain submitted an osukui-negai—a petition requesting permission to use stockpiled rice accumulated under the shogunate’s decree.
Even within the same Zeze Domain, there were likely differences in both the speed at which petitions and reports reached Zeze from the villages, and the domain’s disaster and famine countermeasures and responses, between the area around Zeze in Ōmi Province and the exclave of Kawachi Province, which was far from the castle. I plan to continue my analysis and conduct comparative research on these kinds of regional differences.
Tell us about the research you plan to do going forward.
Koriyama : By examining famine relief stockpiles throughout Japan, I have found that there were also differences in the stored items by region. For example, grain was the main item stockpiled in the Tohoku region, which suffered from many natural disasters and major famines. On the other hand, in the Kyushu region, especially in the Saga Domain, I have found that a wide variety of items were stockpiled, including pickled plums, salt, shiso, hijiki and, wakame seaweed, soy sauce, and miso. This is largely due to the unique regional characteristics of Saga, which has many remote islands. Demonstrating the attention that the lord of the Saga Domain at the time paid to disaster preparedness, this was also the result of efforts to ensure that stockpiles were not depleted, such as ordering people to store substitute items even in years when grain crops failed. This suggests that not only regional characteristics but also the awareness of the lord and his subjects toward disasters and famine had an influence on the stockpiles. I will continue to pursue my research on both the nationwide development of famine relief stockpiles and the actual conditions of the Zeze Domain's famine relief stockpiles as an individual case study.
Even now, when large-scale natural disasters occur frequently worldwide and food shortages are a cause for concern, how to respond to food risk remains a critical issue. During the Edo period, many people, through their first-hand experiences, acquired the knowledge they needed to survive and overcame numerous natural disasters and famines, the latter of which no longer exist in Japan today. I believe that conducting research on famine relief stockpiles to learn from our ancestors can help both Japan and the world devise future food risk countermeasures.