Change of subsistence activities and egalitarianism in small communities of rural areas : A research based on life histories

实地调查主要在日本农村的两个小社区进行。一个是位于兵库县山区的三内村，另一个是冲绳县的小岛久田。过去和现在的生存活动数据是通过生活史访谈和直接观察以及文献收集的。在Miuchi和Kudaka，都存在着与自然环境相适应的生存活动系统。Miuchi以木炭生产和在周围陡峭的山坡上种植“魔芋”而闻名。库达卡岛民主要靠在岛屿周围的珊瑚礁上用各种方法进行小规模捕鱼为生。很明显，平等主义在这样的小社区中发挥了重要的社会作用，保持了村庄的和谐与团结，使自然资源的开发具有可持续性。特别是在库达卡，生存活动、社会生活和仪式表演在平等主义的基础上是密切相关的。然而，从昭和时代开始到现在，两个村庄都经历了巨大的社会和经济变化，这也对当地人的生存活动产生了很大的影响。这种变化的结果之一是集体主义的衰落和个人主义在生存活动和社会关系中的增加。这些村庄还受到年轻人向大城市迁移的影响。在过去，平均主义有助于维持自然资源的可持续开发，但现在过度开发的问题已经变得严重。人与自然的关系反映了人与人之间的关系。人们必须寻找一种能够取代过去的平均主义的原则，以适应新的社会和经济形势。

The field survey was conducted mainly in two small communities of rural Japan. One was a village called Miuchi located in a mountainous area of Hyogo Prefectuye, and the other was Kudaka, a small island of Okinawa Prefecture. Data on the subsistence activities of the past and the present were collected through interviews of life histories and direct observations and also from literature. Both in Miuchi and Kudaka, there was a subsistence activity system well adapted to the natural environment. Miuchi was famous for charcoal production and "konnyaku" (Amorphophallus rivieri var.konjac) cultivation on the steep sloops of surrounding mountains. Kudaka islanders lived mainly on small-scale fishing on the coral reefs around the island using various mathods. And it has become clear that egalitarianism playd an important social role in such small communities for keeping harmony and solidarity of the village and making the exploitation of natural resources sustainable. Especially in Kudaka, subsistence activities, social life and ritual performance were deeply interrelated depending on egalitarianism. From the beginning of Showa era to the present, however, both villages have experienced large social and economic changes which also influenced subsistence activities of local people very much. One of the results of such changes is the decline of collectivity and the increase of individualism in subsistence activities as well as social relationship. The villages also suffer from the migration of young people to the large towns. In former days egalitarianism contributed to the maintenance of sustainable exploitation of natural resources, but now the problem of over exploitation has become serious. The relationship between man and nature reflects the relationship among the people. People have to search a principle that can replace egalitarianism in the past to adapt to new social and economic situation.