Studies on the Structure of the Relationship between Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land in Okinawa (Department of Bioproduction)

1. Objectives The inherent problems concerning the ownership and use of Japanese agricultural land have been an important issue throughout the course of modern Japanese history, while their structure and form have changed. Before the Second world War, there were three major problems concerning the relationship between ownership and use of agricultural land. The first problem was that a few landlord exploited the tenant farmers who actually farmed the land. The second was that agricultural land was managed as property of the Ie, family system grounded on patriarchy. The third was that farm size was generally very small. After the Second World War, the Japanese landlordism and the Ie system were finally abolished. The next attention was paid to the accumulation and transfer of agricultural land rights for the purpose of getting rid of small size farming and increasing farm size, especially since the Agricultural Foundation Law was enacted. However, the transfer of rights on agricultural land has not advanced as expected, and there is little hope for progress in the situation. An allergy to leasing agricultural land and the rapid rise in land prices during the period of high economic growth have generally been pointed out as the reasons for preventing the transfer of agricultural land rights. However, a more fundamental reason may be that land is essentially not produced as a commodity but is connected with human existence as a basis of maintaining life and production. From this standpoint, getting rid of small size farming is not only a matter of increasing farm size by transferring the rights of agricultural land but may be said to be required to establish a land use system based on diversity connected with human life, production, and agricultural land in each region. In Okinawa, the landlordism had not formed, and the Ie system had not developed before the Second World War. Agricultural land has been loaned for use more easily in Okinawa than in mainland Japan since the prewar days. Although Okinawa has been included in the Japanese capitalistic economic system, her land ownership and use have considerably been different from that in mainland Japan. What are the structure and process of the land ownership and use in Okinawa? Clarifying the answers to the above question will provide an understanding of the characteristics of the Okinawan agricultural structure as well as the life of the inhabitants of Okinawa. In addition, it may provide clues for solving the problems of ownership and use of agricultural land in Japanese Agriculture. The aim of the present study, therefore, is to analyze the structure of land ownership and use in Okinawa. 2. Methods of analysis The following methods were adopted for this study. The first was to analyze the problem from the view point of the social characteristics of farm households related to the ownership and use of agricultural land and management of production. Hitherto, the analysis of the ownership and use of agricultural land in Okinawa has used only a morphological approach. The social characteristics of farm households that live on the land and produce there have been neglected. Previous studies have pointed out smallness of farm size, low productivity, and backwardness as characteristics of Okinawan agriculture. They have not, however, analyzed the social characteristics of farm households and their relation to production. It is exceedingly important to approach the subject from the relationship between the life of the people and agricultural land for the purpose of analyzing the land ownership and use. The second was to analyze the ownership and use of agricultural land in Okinawa from an historical perspective. Land use customs had formed in Okinawa before the advent of private ownership of land, and they have continued to exist in an independent social and economic environment after the Second World War. In this sense, the land ownership and use in Okinawa are exceedingly historica