近世後期中国山地地域の農民経済

This paper reexamines the accepted theory that the villages in Chugoku Mountains were in poverty. This paper clarified the following points. Most wasteland since the first half of early modern times was recovered. Many of Burnt fields were abandoned in early modern times. The area of the arable land of these areas increased by peasants cultivation. However, since there were many lean years, the peasant debt increased, and they were troubled by payment. Moreover, since there were few places of earnings other than agriculture, payment was not completed easily. And in these areas, the number of houses and population did not increase by the collective norm which a villager should protect.