History of Land Improvement Districts

ORIGINAL PAPER

History of Land Improvement Districts

Keijuro Nagata

Faculty of Agriculture, Shimane University

(Manuscript Received May 15, 1984)

SUMMARY

The subject of this paper is to discusse the history of land improvement districts in

Japan.For undrestanding correctly the history of land improvement districts it is necessary to

have a knowledge of the history of agricultural water use organizations in Japan. This history can be divided into three era as follows.

1. Formation of association for water management which was called "igumi" or "mizugumi" in the Edo era (1603-1867) .

2. Establishment of irrigation association and arable land readjustment association in the Meiji era (1868-1912).

3. Establishment of land improvement district after World War II. Therefore, I would like to approach the subject in this paper depending on discusses

about the main characteristics of agricultural water use organizations in three era.

I. INTRODUCTION

A land-improvement district is an agricultural water use organization which has the

qualification of a juridical person and implements land improvement projects, operation and maintenance of land improvement facilities and control of irrigation and drain-age in compliance with the Land Improvement Law. According to a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the number of the districts established as of 1980 is 9,278. Most of these land improvement districts have benefited areas of 1,000 ha or less, but there are also 16 large-scale land improvement districts each of which has a benefited area of 10,000 ha or more. Typical examples of such large-scale districts are Hokkai Land Improvement District in Hokkaido, Nishikanbara Land Improvement District in Niigata Prefecture, and Minuma Land Improvement District in Saitama Prefecture (see the location map).

For understanding correctly the history of land improvement districts it is necessary to have a little preliminary knowledge of the characteristics of organizational structure and the development of agricultural water use organizations in Japan.

The land improvement district is a typical agricultural water use organization in

Japan. However, as described below, other agricultural water use organizations also exist in Japan.

Land improvement facilities which are operated and maintained by a land improve

Irrigation Engineering and Rural Planning No.7, 1985

HISTORY OF LAND IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS 13

ment district are limited to diversion weirs, main canals, main division works and the like; the operation and maintenance of branch canals and other smaller facilities are

performed by village water use organizations, which are organized on the basis of villages and do not have the qualification of a juridical person. The same is true of control of irrigation and drainage. In other words, there exist in Japan two kinds of agricultural water use organizations: the land improvement district, which is a juridical person, on the one hand; and the contracted cooperation, which is not a juridical person, on the other hand; the latter is in fact subordinate to the former, representing stratiform organizational structure.

It has been reported by studies in the past that the stratiform organizational structure was constructed during the formation of organized irrigation systems in extensive paddy-field development projects in downstream basins of big rivers, during the time from the beginning to the middle of the Edo era (1603-1867). The organizational structure formed in this way in the early modern age was reorganized by the completion of the modern national legal system in the Meiji era (1868-1912). The fundamentals of the old organizational structure, however, were not changed by this reorganization and continue to exist even today, as described below in detail. Therefore, it can be said that the stratiform structure of agricultural water use organizations formed in the early modern age is the predecessor and the prototype of the structure of today's land improvement districts.

As above discussed, for correctly understanding the history of land improvement districts, it is necessary to keep in mind two points: first, agricultural water use organizations other than land improvement districts should also be observed; and second, great care should be given to the formation, reorganization and continuation of the stratiform structure of agricultural water use organizations. Therefore, I would like to approach the subject in this paper by taking these two points into consideration.

II. DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS AND THE FORMATION OF AGRICULTURAL WATER USE

ORGANIZATIONS IN THE EDO ERA (1603-1867)

The development of paddy fields had been conducted since old days and strongly advanced especially during the period from the 17th century to the first half of the 18th century. However, it is not possible to know exactly how many paddy fields were developed during that period. Using existing data we can estimate only that about 2 mil. ha of arable lands were developed during the period from the 10th-15th century to the first half of the 18th century (Table 1). However, when we consider that political integration and development of civil engineering are needed for active advance of paddy-field development, a fairly large part of the roughly 2 mil. ha shown in Table 1 may be seen to have been developed during the period from the 17th century to the first half of the 18th century. It was just during this period that the national integration in Japan had been advanced after the age of civil wars, and civil engineering connected with mining engineering and fortification technology had been developed, making possible the control of big rivers and the construction of large-scale irrigation facilities.

As the construction of large-scale irrigation facilities was completed in downstream basins of big rivers, agricultural water use organizations were required for management


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Table 1 Estimated cultivated acreage in Japan

(Cho=2.451 acres)

Sources: Toshio Kikuchi, "Development of New Paddy Fields," Vol. 2, p. 124,

Isaburo Nagai, "History of Rice," pp. 133-137 , etc. as quoted in Akira Tamaki and Isao Hatate, "Climate," p. 247.

of the facilities; associations for water management were set up, which were called "igumi" or "mizug

umi." These associations were organizations of associated villages

based on the villages which had developed depending on water taken from big rivers .

The associations, therefore, were composed of villages as members, not of individual

farmers.

A Yousui Kumiai (water management association), as an organization of associated

villages, had two functions for implementing organized irrigation: operation and main

tenance of water use facilities; and distribution of water and adjustments of water use .The most important task in operation and maintenance of water use facilities was to

maintain the functions of headworks, main canals , main division works and other facili

ties which were closely related to the interests of the whole area covered by the water

management association; the labor force necessary for performing the task consisted of

farmers from the whole area, mobilized through individual villages . However, those

facilities which were related only to local interests , such as branch canals, ditches and the

like, were operated and maintained independently by the relevant village . Thus, a

stratiform agricultural water use organization consisting of villages at the lowest level —

water management associations controlling branch canals at the intermediate level•¨and

a water management association controlling a main canal at the highest level was formed

in a large-scale irrigation system where canals diverged complicatedly, as shown in

Figure 1.

(1) Water management association(2) Branch canal water management association(3) Village

Figure 1 Diagram of organizational structure of water management associations

Irrigation Engineering and Rural Planning No .7, 1985


The most critical point of the distribution of water was distributing the flow between upstream and downstream areas. It goes without saying that the interests of different areas in distribution of water could hardly be in accord with each other, and water disputes occurred very often between upstream and downstream villages. These disputes reflected the power relationship between the villages involved, and anarchic conditions were sometimes brought about by violence. As a result, an authority in a "higher

positon" was required to adjust differences of interests among the disputing villages. The political power of a feudal lord symbolized this authority. The lord himself, how-ever, lacked something in ability to solve the dispute concretely, since he could not understand the conditions in enough detail to dispose of such a concrete problem as a water dispute. Eventually, a water management association positioned at the top of a stratiform agricultural water use organization appeared as an entity which had the ability to solve water disputes. As the water management association operated and maintained a main canal over and above the local interests of each village, it was able to adjust and solve the water disputes from "higher position."

In this way, rules of water distribution had been established in line with habitual water use within each water management association or among different water management associations toward the second half of the 18th century. The right of water use based on the habitual water use was recognized by the River Law enacted in 1896, and the right continues to exist today.

The stratiform agricultural water use organization was typically formed in river irrigation areas in the eastern part of Japan. In this organization system the water management association positioned at the top had strong authority, and individual villages could use water only if they were incorporated into the social order created by this authority. In other words, the stratiform agricultural water use organization was operated on the basis of strict collective regulations, details of which could be seen at the village level in the following ways.

At the level of a village, which was a unit organization of operating and maintaining terminal water use facilities, "mizosarae" (cleaning of ditches) in the spring and "mogari" (cutting water grasses) in the summer were the most usual routine works. "Mizosarae" was the work of removing the mud in the canal to maintain necessary cross-sectional area of flow, and "mogari" was the work of cutting water grasses in the canal and weeds on the bank to make easier for water to flow through the canal. Both were indispensable for securing water for rice fields, and therefore the necessary labor was supplied by "Bueki" (substitution on labor tasks for tax payments) assigned to all the families in the

Village. "Bueki" was labor without remuneration and an inevitable duty for the people of the village.

Conditions were considerably different in a reservoir-irrigation area from those in a river-irrigation area. In many cases management of a reservoir was performed by a group of villages, and there were few conflicts over water distribution between different reservoirs. Accordingly, a stratiform agricultural water use organization as seen in a river-irrigation area was not formed there. However, it was common in both areas that the village concerned was the organ performing water management and that water use of individual farms was subject to strict collective regulations. Such collective regulation by the village in a reservoir-irrigation area was evident typically in a rigid control of water distribution. In a reservoir-irrigation area rainfall was sparse and water supply was unstable, so the village concerned was forced to implement strict control over water


16 K. NAGATA

distribution. For example, in Kako plateau, located in Hyogo Prefecture (see the location maps), the village controlling a reservoir employed a full-time water distributor who was given a full authority over water delivery to individual farms, and individual farmers were inhibited from operating canals or inlets for irrigation water . This practice was continued until recent times. As far as water utilization is concerned , a village had strong controlling power.

III. ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL WATER USE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MEIJI ERA (1868-1912)

The government established on the basis of the Meiji Reform initially had no consistent

policy for agricultural water use. This is because a policy for agricultural water use was not an urgent necessity in the process of constructing a new modern state; control of agricultural water use could well be left to the discretion of already existing organizations.

It was not until the enactment of the Ordinance on Water Management Associations in 1890 that the Meiji government established an agricultural water use system and began to administratively control agricultural water use organizations. There were two fundamental reasons why the Meiji government, which had been rather indifferent to policy for agricultural water use, was pressed to establish an agricultural water use system.

The first was the need to complete new local administration organizations . The reform of the local administration system begun with "Haihan Chiken" (abolition of feudal domains and substitution of a prefectural system) was completed with the implementation of the system of cities, towns and villages in 1890. The process of this reform was also the process in which old, traditional villages were reorganized into the administrative system in which villages were the lowest administrative unit. Accordingly, there was a problem of how to reposition the old agricultural water use organizations as associations of early modern villages within the new local administration system.

The second factor was the need to establish private ownership of land in accordance with the reform of the land tax. As above described, an agricultural water use organization in the Edo era was composed of villages as its members, not of individual farmers. This organizational structure, however, needed to be changed to one based on individuals as landowners in accordance with the establishment of private ownership of land.

According to the reorganization of early-modern agricultural water use organizations by the Ordinance on Water Management Associations, Suiri Kumiai (irrigation associations) were set up with the purpose of operation and maintenance of water use facilities. Unlike the old agricultural water use organizations composed of villages as members, the new associations were composed of individual landowners; this provided the organizational conditions leading to the control of agricultural water use in line with the particular interests of the land-owing class (land owners as high-class people in rural area) . Therefore, irrigation associations had been organized all over the country by the middle of the Meiji era when the landowners' land property system was built up. The enactment of the Irrigation Association Law in 1908 confirmed this development as a legally sanctioned system.

An irrigation association was organized when the operation and maintenance of the irrigation facilities concerned could not be included directly in the administrative framework of a city, town or village; therefore the area covered by an irrigation associa



tion included several cities, towns and villages. This means that only those old strati-form agricultural water use organizations which had controlled main canals were reor

ganized into new irrigation associations; almost all the smaller water management associations which had controlled branch canals and ditches were excluded from the reorganization. Therefore, the water management association at the level of the village still

performed in a traditional manner the operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities and distribution and adjustment of water use. Kunio Yanagida, one of the scholars of agricultural policy in the Meiji era, suggested in his paper published in 1907: "The subject of the right for irrigation water is a village but not an individual." His suggestion seems to have been based on the fact that water management associations at the village level still had the characteristics of the early modern age, although new irrigation associations had been organized with individual landowners as members.

It must also be emphasized that the agricultural water use organizations established during the Meiji era included not only irrigation associations but also arable land read

justment associations.The administration of agricultural water use focussed on the organization of irrigation

associations, like the administration of river controls established by the River Law enacted in 1896, was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At the same time the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce began the administration of land improvement 30 years into the Meiji era and enacted the Arable Land Readjustment Law in 1899 to encourage arable land readjustment works. In 1905 the Law was revised to enable arable land readjustment associations to also implement irrigation and drainage works. Thus, the administration of agricultural water use was partly included in the

jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce; the result was sectionalist quarrels between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. The enactment of the Law on Irrigation Associations in 1908 meant that the Ministry of Internal Affairs could compete with the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce by establishing and strengthening the organization of irrigation associations. The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, however, in turn enacted a new Arable Land Readjustment Law in 1909 to intensify the organization of arable land readjustment associations.

The arable land readjustment association was a business organization implementing land improvement projects including irrigation and drainage works; it differed in pur

pose from the irrigation association, which was in charge of operation and maintenance of water use facilities. Members of the arable land readjustment association were land-owners, as were those of the irrigation association. They showed a positive attitude to the organization of arable land readjustment associations, because irrigation and drain-age works could lead to stabilization and increase of farm rents and the cost of the works was partly subsidized by the government. Water use facilities completed by the irrigation and drainage works were operated and maintained by an irrigation association or by a city, town or village. Thus, a dual system, in which irrigation and drainage works were carried out by arable land readjustment associations under the jurisdiction of the Minis-try of Agriculture and Commerce and operation and maintenance of completed facilities were performed by irrigation associations under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, continued until the start of land improvement districts in the postwar era.

However, in Hokkaido (see the location maps), where development was started in the

Meiji era, Hokkaido Doko Kumiai (Hokkaido reclamation associations), which had the


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functions of both the arable land readjustment association and the irrigation association,

were organized by the Law on Hokkaido Reclamation Associations enacted in 1902. (Law on Hokkaido Doko Kumiai)

IV. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LAMD IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM ON

THE POSTWAR ERA AND LAMD IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS

The most remarkable change in Japanese agriculture after World War II was the farm -land ownership reformation (rural land reform) . This reformation is quite a thorough one which has no other comparable example-he reformation of farmland ownership implemented in a society based on the private property system .

Under this reform implemented during the period from 1946 to 1950, tenant farmlands totalling 1,930,000 ha were purchased by the government and sold to 4,750,000 farm households at low prices. Tenant lands , which had occupied about half of the nation's

total farmland before World War II , decreased to about 10% by the farmland ownership reform. Thus, the landowners' land property system which had prevailed in Japanese rural areas since the Meiji era was destroyed , and a new Japanese agriculture was started mainly based on owner-farmers.

In 1949, when the farmland ownership reform was coming to the end , the Land Improvement Law was enacted to abolish the prewar land-improvement system depend -

ing mainly on landowners and to construct a new land-improvement system based on owner-farmers. The main characteristics of this law , which became the principal regulation defining the postwar land-improvement system, were as follows.

1. A legal basis, which had been lacking in the past , was given to government-operated and prefecture-operated works , and the structure of implementation of land improvement projects was completed with the system of government-operated , prefecture-operated and organization-operated works.

2. The arable land readjustment associations , irrigation associations and (Hokkaido reclamation associations , based on the Arable Land Readjustment Law, the Law on Irrigation Associations and the Law on Hokkaido Reclamation Associations , respec-tively, were all dissolved and land improvement districts were created as an integrated organization. Accordingly, the administration of agricultural water use under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

3. A land improvement district was to be set up with the membership of only actual farmers, in principle. Thus, a new agricultural water use organization was created which had quite different characteristics from the old arable land readjustment associa-tions and irrigation associations, whose members were landowners .

4. A land improvement district could be established by obtaining the approval of the

governer when 15 or more farmers who had the qualifications prescribed in Article 3 of the Land Improvement Law wanted to implement a land improvement project . For the implementation of a land improvement project , an application was required with the agreement of 2/3 or more of potential beneficiary farmers . When the project was implemented according to the application , even dissenting farmers were forced to participate in the project. Accordingly the assessment for general expenses in a land improvement district could be collected forcibly like a tax.

5. As the land improvement project was considered to give benefit individual farmers



by its implementation, it was defined to be a subsidiary project and a part of its cost was assigned to beneficiaries as a burden charge (charge on the farmers concerned).

The postwar land improvement system established by the enactment of the Land Improvement Law played a key role in the development of agricultural production, especially rice production, and achieved the expected aim of the increase in food production. Substantial government funds were invested in agriculture continuously and systematically through this system. Cultivator-farmers (farmers who, cultivate their own land) who were emancipated from the landowners' property by the farmland ownership reformation have been quite willing to increase productivity, have utilized to the greatest extent the government funds invested in land improvement projects, and have improved and further developed their own farm management.

One major achievement of the Land Improvement Law was in creating land improvement districts. In particular, it was.a quite radical change for a land improvement district to consist of cultivator-farmer members, in contrast to the old irrigation association or arable land readjustment association composed of landowners. Needless to say, this reflected the spirit of the farmland ownership reformation.

As described above, the land improvement district has two functions. The first function is that of the body promoting land improvement projects. Cultivator-farmers, who have received the benefit of the farmland ownership reformation and are auxious to increase productivity, have tried actively to set up land improvement districts to promote land improvement projects. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the number of land improvement districts established as of the end of March 1958 was 6,302, of which 3,163 were reorganized from old irrigation associations and arable land readjustment associations and 3,139 were newly established. That is, about the half of the land improvement districts was set up by farmers for the purpose of implementing land improvement projects, which shows their strong approval to the

projects.The second function of the land improvement district is to operate and maintain 'the

facilities completed by the land improvement projects. This function has greatly contributed to realization of the effect of land improvement projects. In other words, the

proper operation and maintenance of land improvement facilities has enabled rational control of irrigation and drainage, contributed to establishing the intensive rice-

production technique developed in the postwar time, and constituted a basic condition to increase productivity in agriculture. Thus, the land improvement districts have had not only the hardware to provide infrastructure (land improvement facilities), but also the software to complement it. In this way, they have played an important role in developing agricultural production in Japan since World War II.

V. ORGANIZATIONAL FUNCTION OF LAND IMPROVEMENT

DISTRICTS AND PROBLEMS ON THE FUTURE

The above-mentioned important role played by the land improvement districts has been supported in fact by the stratiform organizational structure of agricultural water use organizations in Japan.

As discussed in the beginning of this paper, a land improvement district has these agricultural water use organizations as its substructure, each of which is organized on the basis of a village and has no qualification as juridical person. The land improvement


20 K. NAGATA

district can smoothly perform operation and maintenance of facilities and control of irrigation and drainage only by having these village-based irrigation organizations as its substructure. It can be said that the land improvement districts have played a key role in the postwar agriculture in Japan by having supplanted the traditional organization structure of argicultural water use organizations continuing since the Edo era .

Operation and maintenance of facilities, irrigation and drainage have been performed in many cases in accordance with the traditional manner dating from the Edo era. The labor force necessary for operation and maintenance of facilities was mobilized as

"Bueki" and the control of irrigation and drainage was also exercised principally in compliance with the water use practices formed in the Edo era. Accordingly, the formation of a rational water use system at the level of individual farmlands was often prevented and the development of agricultural productivity was frequently restrained . This is because the traditional manner of water use dating from the Edo era aimed at adjusting conflicts of interest between different areas rather than supporting the development of individual farm management.

Postwar agricultural water use organizations , however, can reflect in their operation the needs of cultivator-farmers, in contrast to the organizations before the war which

gave priority to the interests of the land-owing class (land owners as high-class people in rural area). Therefore, farmers have make efforts to realize an appropriate water use system at the level of individual farmlands in order to guarantee the development of their own farm management. As a result, the traditional operation and maintenance system of village-based irrigation organizations has changed , and a rational water use system called "individual water use" was formed by the last half of the 1950's. This change has also affected the land improvement districts, the superstructure of village-based irrigation organizations, and made operation of the district far more democratic than in the

prewar period. The function of the software in the land improvement districts, as above pointed out, becomes that of supporting the development of agricultural productivity only by being connected with this change.

In other words, various gaps appeared between the land improvement administration in postwar Japan promoted strongly on the initiative of the government , and the needs in agricultural production of cultivator-farmers have been covered by the organizational function of the land improvement district having village-based irrigation organizations as its substructure; this in turn has enabled the postwar land improvement administration to achieve the expected aim of the increase in food production .

At the same time, however, it must be remembered that the functions of the village-based irrigation organizations, which have in fact carried out operation and maintenance of land improvement facilities and the control of irrigation and drainage , have been disturbed substantially by radical changes in the agricultural structure during the period of rapid economic growth; this has given rise to various difficult problems in operation of land improvement districts. These are the important problems which land improvement districts must resolve in the future .

References:

1) Keijuro Nagata, "The Structure of Water Use in Japanese Agriculture," 1971, Iwanami-shoten.2) Akira Tamaki, Isao Hatate, "Fudo" (Natural Features), 1974, Heibon-sha.3) Naraomi Imamura, Keijuro Nagata, et al., "Centennial History of Land Improvement ," 1977, H

eibon-sha.


Documents

History of Land Improvement Districts