ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF INHERITANCE OF PEASANT FAMILY IN THE TOKUGAWA ERA

1. Introduction 2. Case studies on mono-inheritance 3. Case studies on plural-inheritance 4. Economic and social structure of village communities in Southern Musashi-no-Kuni 5. Conclusion-Economic conditions of inheritance of peasant families During the first half of the seventeenth century, when agricultural productivity was developing remarkably, there was a tendency that small holdings increased in largenumber by partitioning old large holding or by creating new arable land out of waste or forest land. They associated with each other to preform their agricultural reproduction in the community. But the increase of these small holdings would be checked by the limit of the development of agricultural productivity, for that would surpress not only their own agricultural reproduction but also that of old holding. When village population was still growing, some of the surplus labor was cutflowing out of the village, or would appear in the same village as an exceedingly small holding-mizunomi, while partitioning in. inheritance of peasant family still proceeded among peasantry.3KJ00005072388departmental bulletin pape