Farm Leading of KATO Kanji in Agricultural Settlement “Shirakawa” of Postwar Japan

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Other Title
  • 戦後開拓における加藤完治の営農指導
  • 戦後開拓における加藤完治の営農指導--入植者の反応に着目して
  • センゴ カイタク ニ オケル カトウ カンジ ノ エイノウ シドウ ニュウショクシャ ノ ハンノウ ニ チャクモク シテ
  • Farm Leading of KATO Kanji in Agricultural Settlement ^|^ldquo;Shirakawa^|^rdquo; of Postwar Japan
  • 入植者の反応に着目して

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of the settlement in “Shirakawa Houtoku” from the viewpoint of how settlers reacted to their leader.<br> 　　　The Leader KATO Kanji, who was one of influential advocators of Manchuria emigration project in prewar Japan, settled in Shirakawa Heights in Fukushima prefecture with other settlers, who were his followers, soon after the end of the war. They started farming in October 1945. Based on his own thought he instructed them a collective farming for their self-sufficiency. But as the crop was further worse than expected, it caused a mass leaving of the settlers from “Shirakawa” . As the number of leaving reached the peak in 1952, KATO Kanji was forced to retire from the head of cooperative association and he also soon left there. KATO Yasuhiko, a new leader, changed former farming policy dramatically. He introduced dairy farming based on individual management. This new farming, having brought about a rapid development of “Shirakawa Houtoku Reclamation Agricultural Co-op”, made the life of settlers become stable. However, this means that the KATO’s initial farming thought was, even if not entirely denied, really eviscerated.<br> 　　　Therefore we cannot regard the development of “Shirakawa Houtoku Reclamation Agricultural Co-op” as a successful example of postwar Japanese agriculture policy. But we must pay attention that there are many settlers who have evaluated Kato Kanji very high, even if not as their leader, as superior educator for peasants. They have found his idea an important factor which enabled to continue their settlement, although facing the serious crisises repeatedly. In contrast to former studies on postwar agricultural settlement from the viewpoint of either agriculture or social policy, we emphasize that it had simultaneously an educational function.

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