AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 47 



of the three meals amon^ the Japanese, these are called simply 

 Gozen, and are spoken of as Asa-gozen, Hiru-gozen, and Yu-gozen 

 (h'terally, morning, noon, and evening rice), just as the Germans say 

 Moi'gen-, Mittag'^ and Abendbrod} 



The chief rice-harvest, that of the Oku, occurs towards the end 

 of October, but the sowing in the latter half of April or the early 

 part of May ; so that this, the most important variety of Japanese 

 rice, requires half a year to develop. Rice has an almost equally 

 long term of vegetation in the Batta Lands of Sumatra and in 

 various other tropical monsoon regions. Comparing in this respect 

 the rice of the plain of the Po, about Vercelli, e.g., with Japanese, 

 it appears that the former begins to grow and stops growing a 

 month earlier. Ostiglia and Japanese late rice are here sown about 

 the end of March and harvested towards the end of September. 

 After the first week in October, very little rice is to be seen in the 

 fields of Northern Italy. 



It has been already stated that the revenues of the Daimios 

 and Samurai used to be reckoned in kokii of rice ^ and were paid in 

 kind, and also that the receipts from rice-land form the staple of 

 modern taxation. Even the censuses were formerly made, — incom- 

 pletely enough to be sure, — according to the production and con- 

 sumption of rice. Nevertheless, there are hundreds of thousands 

 of poor mountaineers who are glad if their small fields bear barley 

 and millet. With them rice is a luxury, which at the most is given 

 to the sick and to delicate children, but seldom to healthy adults. 



Three principal rice districts are to be distinguished in Japan. 

 The northern one of these sends its surplus chiefly to Tokio. From 

 the middle and southern, the greater part still goes to 6zaka, which 

 was always the great market for the rice and silk trade while the 

 country was closed. The foremost rice-growing neighbourhoods 

 of Honshiu or Hondo are as follows : the larger plains along the 

 lower courses of the three leading rivers (San-dai-ka), the Tone-, 

 Kiso-, and Shinano-gawa, the plain of the Kuwanto, the plain of the 

 provinces of Mino, Ovvari, and Ise, and also that of Echigo. Be- 

 sides these are also to be noted the plain of Ozaka on the lower 

 Yodo-gawa, the Sendai plain, the plain of Akita on the Sea of 

 Japan and of Mongami in the interior, the Aidzu-taira and Iwaki- 

 taira, and several others. On Shikoku the following places are 

 noted for extensive rice-culture : Awa, parts of Sanuki, and the 

 neighbourhood of Kochi ; on Kiushiu, Higo, especially near the 

 capital, Kumamoto, besides Bungo, Chikiigo, and Eastern Hiiiga, 

 on the Pacific. 



Japanese rice is esteemed the best in all Eastern Asia, and is 

 valued higher than that of Java or India. When hulled, it shows 



^ In China a meal-time is similarly termed ischi fa?!., " to eat rice." 

 Williams : "The Middle Kingdom," vol. i. p. 772. 



2 A koku of rice (182*5 liters weighs on an average 145 kg. and costs in Japan 

 3 to 4^ dollars (12 to 18 shillings). 



