Takase Katsumori: Spatial Diversity and Temporal Changes in Plant Use in Sagami Province— Classical Japan, An Archaeological Approach

Spatial Diversity and Temporal Changes in Plant Use in Sagami Province—
Classical Japan, An Archaeological Approach

by TAKASE Katsunori
Conference presentation given Dec. 8-9, 2010

Agriculture, one of the most important economic foundations for classical Japan, was practiced in two forms: paddy cultivation and dry field cultivation. I post that the balance between them should have a close relationship with land use in each region. But it is difficult to reconstruct the micro-scale spatial diversity of farming due to the paucity of documents. Nevertheless, wooden tablets and pictorial diagrams have begun to play an important role in studying this problem. In this paper I will demonstrate that archaeological evidence—specifically analysis of plant remains and site locations in Sagami province—provides good clues to the regional character of farming in classical Japan. 

Presentation PDF
Paper (in English) PDF