A Study on Prewar Upland Field Cropping in Kikuchi Platou Kumamoto Prefecture

Kikuchi plateau is a major upland field cropping area in Kumamoto Prefecture as well as the east side of Mt.Aso. This study focused on the upland field cropping in Kikuchi plateau from 1867 to 1940 and studied the rational husbandry system in Kikuchi which achieved high labor productivity by using various horse works and gears corresponded to each horse work. Kikuchi plateau is located in the center of Johoku region where advanced husbandry system, \u22Higo Noho,\u22 was developed. In this region, a triple cropping system of naked barley-soiling soybean-rice was popular since Edo era on paddy fields, while a triple cropping system of naked barley-soybean-foxtail millet was popular on upland fields. Horse tillage rate in the region was 89.5% in 1935, and it was also larger by far than 46.8% of Japanese average. Since sizes of upland field were large, horse power applied to various works such as plowing, harrowing, leveling, rowing, intertillaging and ridging. Corresponding to those horse works, advanced horse gears were developed, for example, \u22naga-suki\u22 plows with long landslide; small \u22nagasuki\u22 plows, single harrows, \u22kurewari\u22 harrows, and \u22doraku-maga\u22 rowing machines for seeding. While larger farmers used horse power, smaller farmers used various hand tools such as \u22tesuki\u22 hand push plows and \u22atobiki\u22 hand pull plows. Needless to say, the triple cropping system accompanied an internal crop. Wheat was not an internal crop in the system and seeded on virgin land. There were three types of widths between rows of narrow (42cm), medium (60cm) and wide (84cm). Widths between rows depended on what crop would follow and whether it was internal crop or single crop. Typical combinations of crops were naked barley-soybean-foxtail millet/buck wheat, and wheat-sweet potato, and wheat-upland rice. The cropping systems were simple and largely depended on staple grains. Seeds were mixed in the fertilizer made from domestic compost and super phosphate fertilizer, which was grabbed and dropped on a row by a hand and covered with soil. It was an efficient way to apply limited amount of fertilizer