- 著者
-
國 雄行
- 出版者
- 社会経済史学会
- 雑誌
- 社会経済史学 (ISSN:00380113)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.67, no.6, pp.647-669, 2002-03-25 (Released:2017-06-16)
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the agricultural policy of the Ministry of Home Affairs by analyzing National Industrial Exhibitions, agricultural meetings, agricultural communications and agricultural districts. Since research up till now has concentrated on the technical aspects of the Ministry's agricultural policy, for example the introduction of western technology, the policy has received a negative evaluation. However, this evaluation is challenged by the new analysis of the institutional aspects of agricultural policy undertaken in this paper. National Industrial Exhibitions and agricultural meetings promoted domestic industry and encouraged farmers, while agricultural communications helped to set up agricultural exhibitions and spread knowledge about agriculture all over Japan. On the other hand, agricultural districts, which had been conceived as a way of encouraging agriculture, only served to define the routes followed by agricultural inspectors. In conclusion, it is clear that the negative evaluation of the Home Ministry's agricultural policy is somewhat distorted. A positive contribution was made to the development of agricultural techniques, to the growth of an agricultural information network, and to reforming the way in which farmers thought.