In recent studies of the migration process (Åkerman, 1975; Ostergren, 1979, 1981, etc.), both the regions of emigration and immigration have been taken into account to clarify the characteristics of migrants, the decision making process of migration, the migration flows, and so on. However, in the studies of agricultural migrants to Hokkaido the factors of emigration and the processes of immigration have been dealt with separately without no focus on the process of migration as a whole.<br> The aim of this paper, therefore, is to shed light on the migration process to Hokkaido which was initiated by the Meiji era policy of inland colonization by examining the experience of individuals within both the emigrant and the immigrant regions. The area selected for study is Yamagata-chiku in the city of Bibai, Hokkaido, where many of the settlers originted from Murayama region of Yamagata prefecture.<br> Yamagata-chiku was first colonized by the Yamagata-dantai which immigrated in 1894. The Yamagata-dantai was a migrant group of farmers consisting of twenty one families and officially provided for under “the rule for collective migration”. The first sixteen households immigrated in 1894 and the remaining five households followed a year later. Yamagata-dantai was organized by the poor peasant and tenant farmers of Murayama region, primarily Yamaguchi-mura (village) and Kurazo-mura. Yamaguchi-mura's potential was limited by its small supply of arable land and Kurazo-mura was a district which was frequently damaged by floods. In addition to these geographical circumstances many of the farmers in Kurazo-mura were economically constrained by the high land tax under 1875 tax reform law. The reasons why Kurazo-mura sent thereafter many emigrants to Hokkaido can be found in those geographical and socio-economic conditions.<br> The members of Yamagata-dantai were closely tied to one another by the migration contract. This phenomenon is apparent in the social aspects of the sessions of ‘Shudan-kai’, a general meeting of Yamagata-dantai; the formation of ‘Kumi’, which had been organized in its home land as a neighbor group; and the establishment of Yamagata-jinja (shrine). Additionally, social ties were strengthened as a result of the form of land ownership established. The alluvial plain of Toinuttapu-genya (wasteland) along the Ishikari-gawa (river) was divided into equal lots of 90 meters in width and 540 meters in length, with one lot per dantai member.<br> Almost all members were granted farming lots without compensation, basically 5 hectars of land per one household. But six households emigrated from Yamagata-chiku by 1913. The wasteland in Yamagata-chiku was largely a peat bog and the productivity of the arable land declined due to the practice of the commercial dry farming without manure. Immigrants with a shortage of labor and capital were forced to move out. In their place rich immigrants came to improve productivity by expanding the farmland. With this expansion independent farmers had immigrated. As a result a differentiation of immigtants by social classes occurred from the end of the Meiji era to the beginning of the Taisho era (around 1910-1920), and some upper-class farmers began to appear. The agricultural management in Yamagata-chiku became stable after the farmland was changed to the paddy field in 1921 and the upper-class farmers became in need of Hoko-nin (employees) or tenants as a labor force.<br> As mentioned above a number of settlers continued to immigrate into Yamagata-chiku after the initial immigration of the Yamagata-dantai.