It was once said that in the Edo period, the life of the peasants of Fuso was better than that of China, but the author disagrees.

There are data showing that the yield of rice per mu in the Warring States period of Fuso is very similar to that of the Ming Dynasty in the same period, and there are articles in the Ming Dynasty that describe that the average yield of rice should be within 2 to 3 stones per mu (Chinese stone), and a stone of brown rice in the Ming Dynasty weighs about 71.4 kilograms, that is, the yield per mu of Chinese rice in the Ming Dynasty is kilograms, and Fusang's own data records,

A stone is a unit of volume, and the weight of a stone is different for different brown rice. "Research on the yield per mu of grain in China in the past dynasties" believes that a stone weighs 153.5 kilograms in the Ming Dynasty, and a kilogram weighs 594.6 grams, according to this algorithm, the yield of Chinese rice per mu in the Ming Dynasty is 182.5 kilograms to 273 kilograms, and the yield is somewhat high, and it is still calculated according to the Ming Dynasty that a stone of brown rice weighs about 71.4 kilograms.

In the Edo period, the development of agriculture was relatively rapid, and according to the data, "the average yield per rice field was 1 stone and 3 buckets in 1594 AD, and by 1686 it was 1 stone and 5 buckets", and it is estimated that the yield per mu in the early Edo period increased by 13%, and by the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, the fertilizer application increased, and the yield should have increased somewhat.

(I can't find the specific text information of Fuso, if any reader can provide it, the author is very grateful to you!) ）

Rice can be cultivated widely in Fuso due to geographical reasons, and the yield of rice is higher than that of wheat, but it cannot be said that the living standard of Fuso farmers in the same period was higher.

First, the output varies from place to place. According to the Meiji government's report, rice production in the Fuso Great Plains region is significantly higher than in other regions, and the Fuso Mountains cover more than 70% of the area, so the general yield per mu should be lower than that of China.

Second, at this time, the per capita iron production of Fuso was lower than that of China, and there were fewer iron farming tools, and the level of animal husbandry in Fuso was also significantly worse, only cattle were used to plough the fields, horses were used for war and riding, and there were no donkeys among the people, and there were no mules to talk about, and Fusang did not have windmills, so it was weaker than China in terms of efficiency.

As for the impression that the life of the Fuso peasants in the Edo period was better than that of China, it is believed that it came from the shogunate imperial domain, which was located in the Great Plains and some places where there was a lot of production, and ukiyo-e at that time mainly depicted life in these places, so there was a feeling of abundance of food and clothing in the Edo period. In fact, the life of the peasants in the Edo period was very miserable.

In the case of Saga, for example, the feudal gakuko-dokan in Saga only provided rice and salt when the finances were tight, but at the time, it was perfectly acceptable for the lower-ranking samurai, and the samurai were like this, so you can imagine the standard of living of the peasants.

The Tokugawa shogunate once warned the peasants: "It would be a waste to throw away radish leaves, cowpea leaves, soybean leaves, etc., and these things are mixed with some grains and boiled to eat, and they taste very delicious." In fact, the shogunate thought too much, and until the Meiji Restoration, the middle peasants could only eat bibimbap or porridge with wheat, chestnut rice, and weeds plus leaves, rice bran, or radish and other vegetables.

In the Hida region during the Edo period, it was common for local farmers to eat dumplings made from acorn flour or poisonous nut flour.

As the four virtuous marquis, Matsudaira Keinaga returned to the feudal clan in the 14th year of Tenpo (1843), and when he knew that the local people were in hardship and could only live on "vegetable chowder and weed dumplings", Keinaga ordered him to eat them, but as a result, he felt that it was "extremely difficult and astringent" and could not swallow. At this time, the Tenpo murder had basically subsided, and as one of the pro-feudal clans, the Echizen Domain, the commerce was relatively developed, and the land was relatively fertile, and the situation was still so bad, which shows that the peasants' lives at that time were unbearable.

In 1649, the "Qing'an Notice" clearly stipulated: "Cultivation must be diligent", "both husband and wife must work, if a woman does not wait for her husband well, likes to drink tea and gossip, and travels in the mountains and rivers, although she has a beautiful appearance, she should also withdraw from the marriage"; "From the head of the household to the child servants, they should try their best to diet at home", and they should not "eat rice indiscriminately", and even more "they should not buy wine and tea", "the people's clothing should be limited to linen and cotton cloth, and they should not use clothing other than cotton and linen", "if there are not many people who have land and it is difficult to get by, if they have many children, they must give them away, and they must be called to others", and they should avoid the consequences of "borrowing rice from others at usurious rates" and causing "increasing interest year by year" and "eventually exhausting the family property".

At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, the average life expectancy in Kyoto was 40 years old, but Kyoto is one of the three capitals of Fuso, and the standard of living is high.